Tusidanganyane – Let’s not fool ourselves! Knowledge production and HIV Prevention in Nairobi (Kenya)

Abstract

Empirically situated in the Swahili-Sheng speaking context of Nairobi (Kenya) and based on ethnographic conversation analysis, this paper presents a case of knowledge production through a particular verbal routine, i.e. a speaker initiated repair which turns Common Ground into Common Knowledge. With this particular routine young disadvantaged youth strategically make use of their local knowledge producing means to fundamentally and powerfully reject messages about HIV prevention during a prevention game adapted to the Kenyan context from Germany. As the activities of the facilitator show, this is possible because the modes of knowledge production of the game compared to that of the young people differs with respect to the role of authority and normativity of knowledge.