Mashetani

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Mashetani" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Mashetani (Devils) is a play written in 1971 by Tanzanian playwright Ebrahim Hussein. Mashetani was written in Kiswahili and takes place in Tanzania shortly after the political independence. The play centers around the relationship of the characters Juma and Kitaru. The play is four acts. Mashetani has some absurdist elements, including a play within the play and a dream sequence. Hussein also adds descriptions in the stage directions which give the play a more abstract, surreal impression. In Swahili, shetani (singular) is the word for an East African spirit. These spirits are mostly malevolent and appear as distorted figures. The play has been translated to English by Joshua Williams (Oxford University Press: 2021 forthcoming).