Texts on Swahili cultural artefacts in Tanzania and the representation of women’s voice

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine how women express themselves in Swahili through household cultural artefacts in Tanzania. The paper focuses on words or texts written on the cultural artefacts, especially food covers and hand fans. We analyze these two artefacts together due to the fact that in Swahili society they are mainly used by women at homes and they have some parallels in the content of their texts. Although these artefacts are found in various parts of the country, they are mostly widely available in the coastal areas. The data of this paper, therefore, were collected in three coastal areas in Tanzania, namely Kilwa, Tanga and Dar es Salaam. The paper uses the Semiotic Theory in the analysis of of its data. It is generally revealed that food covers and hand fans serve as an important means of communication among Swahili women. The artefacts present issues of the women while at the same time communicating their messages to a wider audience.