2014/06/04 by Mary Ann Mhina · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #African history and culture studies #Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies #African studies and sociopolitical issues #Poetry #Newspaper #Narrative #Literature #Salience (neuroscience) #Politics #Audience measurement #Power (physics) #History #Sociology #Chose #Media studies #Aesthetics #Law #Art #Political science #Psychology
paper · doi:10.1080/17531055.2014.917857
openalex publication_date 2014/06/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
This article takes as its starting point readership poetry published in newspapers following the death of Julius Nyerere in October 1999, taking these as an incidence in which popular literature can help us to explore political phenomena. Through analysis of these poems it explores the ‘Father of the Nation’, as Nyerere was often known, as both narrative and discoursive. Using this particular manifestation of mourning for his death as a starting point, it explores some of the ways in which the powerful discourse about Nyerere functioned both during his life and immediately after his death. In doing so, it illuminates both the power and salience of the familiar discourse which surrounded him and the extent to which at the same time readers, and the public at large, might chose their own interpretations despite the powerful narrative surrounding him.