Memory Books as Family Historiography: How a Rural Ugandan Family Wrote Their Experience of HIV

Abstract:In Uganda, thousands of memory books have been written since the late 1990s by parents, mostly underprivileged widows, living with HIV for their children about their families. This article first addresses the background of memory books and then analyzes three memory books by one rural Ugandan mother in collaboration with her children. This article is based on six field visits I made between 2008 and 2016, mostly to Tororo, Uganda. I was shown over forty memory books, and interviewed writers, their family members, NGO staff, and community group leaders. Through a close textual analysis of the three memory books, I argue that the memory book represents a new form of family historiography that allows less literate people to speak and be heard.