Postmodernism as seen through the Swahili novel: a reading of Babu alipofufuka and Dunia yao by Said Ahmed Mohamed

In this article the interpretation of two Swahili novels by the Zanzibari writer Said Ahmed
Mohamed, Babu alipofufuka (Grandpa’s Resurrection) and Dunia yao (Their World), will be
related to the current critical debates around the interrelationships between postmodernism
and African literatures. In the African context, postmodernism, a broad category which
refers to a wide range of literary discourses and practices that disrupt rationality, unity, and
exclusivity, can be linked to the writer’s aspiration to dismantle the realistic trend and its
implicit optimistic view of national development, which characterized the emergence of
modern African literatures after independence. The aim of the article is to focus on the
Afrophone novel, by exploring some of the new literary techniques employed by Said
Ahmed Mohamed and relating them to the writer’s changing perspectives on East African
society.