DICTION AND SYMBOLISM IN SISTA D’S VITENDENI: A SEMIOTIC APPRAISAL

Abstract

In exploring agency and phenomenology in the fight against child abuse and molestation, we turn to Sista D’s Vitendeni, zooming in on two interrelated aspects of semiotics: diction and symbolism. Composed and launched at the height of cases of girl child abuse and molestation in Zambia, Vitendeni mixes diction and symbolism to provide phenomenological commentary, awareness, and prescribes the punitive measures to end the scourge as encapsulated in the song title. Thus, the article conflates two theoretical constructs – semiotics and literary appraisal – to explore the semiotic potential of diction and symbolism in Vitendeni as lenses into the appreciation of agency and phenomenology. We conclude that: as both a semiotic and literary text, the song Vitendeni, provides analysable materiality, which extends beyond the immediate context of the song, and confirms not only the attitude of the artiste towards the vice in question, but also re-echoes the collective feelings and judgments of the public towards the perpetrators of girl child abuse. Invariably, attesting to the idea that meaning making is always a joint project arising from the shared socio-cultural knowledge and histories of a given society and polity.