How People in the Small Fishing Communities along Lake Victoria Acknowledge or Deny Poverty

Abstract

This paper examines how people in small fishing communities along Lake Victoria employ discourse to acknowledge or deny poverty. The people involved in small-scale fishing are reported to be among the vulnerable groups (URT, 2001:2). They are reported to be susceptible to complex interactions that lead to HIV/AIDS prevalence due to their overall context of poverty. Following Bamberg, de Fina, and Schiffrin’s Discourse and Identity Construction (Bamberg et al., 2011), this study drew digital data from Hubert Sauper’s Darwin’s Nightmare (2004) to find out how these people acknowledged and denied or detached themselves from the poverty in their communities. The findings show that Tanzanians of African origin apply discourse in a way suggesting that they are objects (undergoers), constructed by the way the world is. They are tired of the situation they are in but they have no way out. On the other side, Tanzanians of Asian origin suggest that they are subjects, using discourse to indicate that they construct the way the world is. These two groups have overly used discourse in ways that reflect their economic status without having to spell the words ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ to identify themselves.

Keywords: Discourse, fishing community, identity theory, poverty, Tanzania

DOI: 10.56279/jlle.v19i2.2