Miriam Osore

Defamiliarization in the Novels of E. Kezilahabi and S.a. Mohamed: Kiswahili Literature Miriam Osore

The study investigates the utility of defamiliarization techniques in selected novels of Euphrase Kezilahabi and Said Ahmed Mohamed. The novels analysed were purposefully sampled. Kezilahabi's Rosa Mistika (1971), Kichwamaji (1974), Gamba la Nyoka (1978), and Mohamed's Utengano (1980), Dunia Mti Mkavu (1980), Asali Chungu (1978), Kiza katika Nuru (1988) and Babu Alipofufuka (2001) were analysed within specified parametres. The study, thus, examined the following defamiliarization techniques: metaphor, irony, simile, synecdoche, metonymy, analogy, symbolism, juxtaposition, allusion, dream and magical transformations and adopted Critical Discourse Analysis Theory (CDA). This post-modernist conceptual framework is an interdisciplinary approach in the study of discourse, which views any use of language as a form of social practice. It postulates that discourses are shaped and constrained by social structures and culture. Critical Discourse Analysis employs methods developed in areas, such as context analysis, narratology and textual semiotics. The theory proposes that relations of power in our society affect and shape the way we both communicate with each other and create knowledge.