Tradition and the culture of rights at the crossroads: A literary perspective

Abstract

Using cultural theories, this article focuses on a literary text that presents a fresh perspective on one of the cultural practices of disposing of a dead body, namely cremation. The scarcity of burial sites is increasingly becoming a concern for municipalities, yet traditional ways of thinking are strongly against cremation. The liberty to investigate the burning issue of cremation as an alternative burial method in this way derives from the fact that through the ages literature (oral and written) has been effectively used by creative writers to offer an allusive quality and fictitious setting which has allowed them to comment on contemporary issues without blatantly seeming to do so. In this sense, the novel Intando kamufi (“Will of the deceased”) by S. Mathaba contributes to various discourses on cremation, either reinforcing or critiquing it.