Postcolonial tensions in a fictitious African State: The unconventional first-person point of view in Anthills of the Savannah (1987)

In the three decades, or so, postdating the attainment of independence in Africa, a whirlwind of coup d'états ravaged many African countries. A subject which Chinua Achebe explores in Anthills of the Savannah. This article explores post-colonial tensions in the novel’s fictionalized state of Kangan, as postulated by two of the three first person narrator-characters. By applying the textual methodology of close reading and anchored on American Formalism, particularly on the tenets of Robert Kellogg and Robert Scholes’ nature of the narrative and Percy Lubbock’s craft of fiction, the article argues that spatial and temporal positionality of the character-narrator informs narrative perspective. Aware that the two of the three first person narrators, under discussion in the article, die before their narrative is articulated, the article explores this unconventional first person point of view by making a critical review of Chris Oriko’s complicit positionality to the explosive events of Kangan on the one hand and the ideological idealism of Ikem Osodi on the other to foreground the implausibility of their having to survive the fatalistic logic of the tensions in Kangan, hence their physical vacation of the narrative space, and yet, their retention  as  witnesses to the tragedy

Staging Nation Statist Self-Identity in Jaramogi Odinga’s Not Yet Uhuru (1967)

This article argues that an autobiographer, at the time of writing about self, is aware of existing public perception about who s/he is. The construction of self in the autobiography is therefore a form of staging self as an interplay between knowledge of self against nuanced public understanding of the autobiographer and circumstances which produce him. The paper employs Istvan Dobos’s argument on autobiography as a staging of self to analyse how Oginga Odinga constructs self in his Not Yet Uhuru. The paper is also informed by Craig Calhoun’s theory of nationalism particularly his arguments on the construction of civic nationalist identities. The paper relied on close reading of the text to evaluate how the autobiographical self-constructs self-relative to his thematic thrust a well as relative to other characters in the text. However, insights of the context which informed the autobiography were gleaned by extrapolating other secondary texts

The discourse of autobiographical intention: An analysis of selected Kenyan autobiographies

The death and resurrection of the author has made for interesting discourse since Wimsatt and Beardsley famously attacked the author’s intention in writing as a fallacious presumption in 1946 and Barthes declared, in 1967, the death of the author, to when critics such as Carlier and Watts resurrected her/him in the first decade of the new milleum.  By anchoring itself on Autobiographical theory, particularly on the tenets of Linda Anderson and Francis Hart, and by lending itself to a critical methodology of textual evaluation, this article particularises the discourse of intentionality in the genre of autobiography by making a close reading of selected Kenyan autobiographies: Not yet Uhuru, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles; My Story and Unbowed; One Woman’s Story. The article argues that the significance of intentionality in authorship gains credence in the emerging critical engagement in marginality, particularly on women’s writing, writing on differently sexualised bodies, writing on differently abled bodies and equally significant in the emerging narratives of re-imagining the postcolonial project of national construction and citizenship. The article argues that to thematise these spaces the re-instantiation of the subjective presence of the author in time and place is as significant as the re-instantiation of her/his voice

Imagining cultural antecedents in constructing autobiographical self: Duncan Ndegwa’s Walking in Kenyatta Struggles: My Story (2006)

This article argues that autobiography is a site in which cultural antecedents can be retrieved in the construction of the autobiographical self. The article relies on exploratory research design by interrogating literature related to the recollection and retrieval of the autobiographer’s past to situate self in time and place. The article analyses Walking in Kenyatta Struggles: My Story as an insight stimulating example and demonstrates that the author retrieves the provenance of his community, the Agikuyu’s cosmology to construct an autobiographical self whose engagements in private and public spaces is highly motivated by the cultural history of his people and the primordial patterns of governance and social justice. The article argues that autobiographical writing is an important practice in which thinkers and practitioners of Africa’s modern day’s socio-cultural spaces can engage in the process of (re) production, circulation, consumption, archiving and retrieval of past African knowledges and cultural spaces in view of their significance in the modern world. This process would be important not only to restore the pride of place of traditional institutions of governance and social justice but also to assure that these past institutions remain relevant in the present and the future imagination of Africa’s socio-cultural spaces

Schisms of Pre-Independence Nationalist Movement

The decade between 1950-1960 was a decisive period for both the coloniser and the nationalist movement in Kenya. After the world wars which had devastated her economy, Britain was confronted by the unsustainability of the empire, while the nationalist movement agitated for self-governance and self-determination. Anchored on the theory of New historicism, particularly on Stephen Greenblatt’s historicities of texts and textualities of history and Hayden White’s historical emplotment the article employs the methodology of explorative reading to interrogate autobiographies, biographies and historical accounts of that transitive period with a view to explicate the nationalist movement’s vision and programme of action. The article argues that the three streams of the nationalist movement: the political prisoners in detention; political party agitation and military insurgence were asynchronous and in some cases at cross purposes. Further, even within each stream were aggravated personal rivalries: Kenyatta/ Kaggia, Odinga/ Mboya and Kimathi/ Mathenge which blurred clarity for a nation state ideology. The coloniser exploited this discordance to imperil the nationalists’ agenda for self independence and firmed up continued post-colonial subjugation under a neocolonial framework. The article suggests re-instantiation of nationalist frameworks for self-governance and determination in view of the cacophonic global political order

Historical Narratives and the Politics of Identity: A Comparative Analysis of Hotel Rwanda, Shooting Dogs and Sometimes in April

Identity is a contested construct grounded in various narratives such as history. As a result of that, it appears to have stable and fixed borders. However, characters with multiple identities cross their borders in different contexts to co-exist, hence disavowing the assumed fixity. The study used exploratory research design to explain its findings. Data analysis and presentation was guided by tenets of the theory of nationalism: primordialism; instrumentalism and constructivism by Ernest Gellner (1964) and structuralist film theory by Leo Kuleshov (1920). This study concluded that history is among the multiple narratives that can be used to mark identity. However, identity is a fluid construct that keeps refashioning in different contexts

Film and the Construction of Ethnic Identity and National Difference: A Comparative Analysis of Hotel Rwanda, Shooting Dogs and Sometimes in April

This paper explains the construction of ethnic and national difference using physical traits and the national identity card in selected films. It argues that identity is a fluid construct that is manipulated for different ends. This study was guided by tenets of the theory of nationalism: primordialism; instrumentalism and constructivism by Ernest Gellner (1964) and structuralist film theory by Leo Kuleshov (1920).The study arrived at the following findings: Through primordialism, the study found out that the Hutu construct their nation using  physical traits and the national identity card. Nevertheless, the study concluded that identity is a fluid construct that keeps refashioning in different contexts as seen in the border crossings in the films where Hutu characters cross their ethnic borders and protect the Tutsi during the genocide

The Role of Soundtrack in Audio-Visual Advertisements: A Case of Coca-Cola Commercials

Audio-visual Coca-Cola commercials are conceptualized as art that falls in the genre of film. They use soundtracks that are in congruence with advertisers’ messages. The review of extant literature shows that the frame by frame presentation of images is enhanced by the use of the right melodies that are in form of customized popular music. Following the principles of semiotics, the researcher conducted a content analysis on a sample of twelve audio-visual Coca-Cola commercials, identified through convenience sampling from YouTube. The purpose of this paper was to assess how soundtracks interact with visuals in audio-visual Coca-Cola commercials to create images that are a representation of mediated reality. The findings of this study indicate that the audio-video Coca-Cola advertisements rely on a combination of visual image and sound to create signs (constellations of signifiers) that encourage audiences to identify with characters featured taking Coke drinks, as they exhibit excitement and enthusiasms. The interaction of lyrics and other visual elements enable the audience to interpret created images, assign meanings, and assume the subject positions defined by themes in commercials

Representation of the Big Man Typology in The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin

This article interrogates the figurative representation of the Big Man typology in the film The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin. Using textual analysis, the paper examines how the film director grapples with the reproduction and portrayal of the Big Man within the African context. The article establishes that there are several figurative ways in which the Big Man is depicted in the film such as through the use of metaphor, metonymy and heteroglossia. The paper also established that Big Man’s mannerisms are not only pervasive but also replicated in his cronies. The article contends that the Big Man syndrome is a teething problem afflicting governance in African countries

Symbolism of a Journey in Selected Ekegusii Proverbs

This essay examines how a journey is symbolically used to express different ideas in selected Ekegusii proverbs. The study analysed the forms of imagery used in the representation of a journey in selected Ekegusii proverbs. Further, the study investigated the symbolic meanings of the journey in the selected proverbs. Data for the study comprised twenty-two proverbs making reference to a journey. The proverbs were obtained from a purposively selected collection of Ekegusii proverbs; Atemba (2011), Ekegusii Wisdom Revisited. A qualitative research design that involves a self-interpretive reading method was used to identify and select proverbs making reference to a journey. The acquired data were analysed using the Stylistics theory. The analysis revealed that various forms of imagery are used in the representation of the journey in the selected proverbs. The study also established that a journey is symbolically used to represent human activities, conditions, situations, and conditions. The study concluded that the journey in Ekegusii proverbs serves both as a stylistic and educational tool