Rethinking African sexualities in the context of HIV and AIDS: the life and death discourse of 'modernised polygamy' in Sue Nyathi's The Polygamist

Abstract

This article is a study of Sue Nyathi's novel The Polygamist as a cultural production dealing with African modern polygamy1 in the context of HIV and AIDS. What is termed ?modern polygamy? in this article is a practice where men have several ?wives? but not in the African traditional sense, especially within the Shona culture, but in the sense of what is popularised as a ?small house? phenomenon. Nyathi's novel is discussed within the following frameworks corresponding to the three distinct parts of the article. In the first part of the discussion, the dichotomy between economic/ social status and ?modern polygamy? is explored. The second part of the discussion is a gendered perspective of ?modern? polygamy and particularly highlights gender constructions in Nyathi's representation of ?modern? polygamy. In the last section, multiple sexual relations and HIV and AIDS are discussed. Significantly, the article demonstrates that imaginative literature is a cultural site that can help...