The satirical portrayal of Africa’s development issues: Examples from Kiswahili short stories

Abstract

The 20th and now 21st centuries have witnessed the outpour of satirical works that are purported to be portraying and discussing Africa’s development problems. Certainly this is the case in East Africa where, for example, cartooning, comedy shows and oral and written literary satires are flourishing. While this paper uses Kiswahili literary satire to make some theoretical deliberations on what satire is, it also discusses the place of two popular Eurocentric satirical traditions propounded by Horatio and Juvenal. Several questions are raised and an attempt has been made to answer them regarding the satirical mode and its place in examining issues that affect the people of Africa: What is the nature of African/Kiswahili literary satire? Can we formulate our own theories regarding African satire that aid in portraying and discussing Africa’s development? Why has satire become a dominant artistic mode in the portrayal of Africa’s development path? Of what practical use are wit/humour, irony, and sarcasm – the main ingredients of satire, in exposing and discrediting vice and folly in Africa? In short, using examples from Kiswahili short stories, the paper examines the relevance or, indeed, irrelevance of satirical mode and traditions to Africa’s development and the discourse of such development in deliberating on the future of Africa.