Literary Analysis of a Memory Book by a Schoolteacher with HIV in Rural Uganda: Writing about Living with and Dying of HIV

Abstract

AbstractMemory book projects encourage parents living with HIV to write workbooks for their children about their family background and life experiences, to guide the child in the parent’s future absence. In Uganda, site of the first memory book projects in Africa, most writers have been widows with agrarian background and limited schooling. Oike conducts a close literary textual analysis of an exceptionally intensive memory book written by a schoolteacher, examines how the book helped the author to represent her traumatic experiences of living with and dying of HIV, and explores the possibilities of memory books as a tool for grassroots writing.