PHD-Department of Literature

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Children's literature in Tanzania: A literary appreciation of its growth and development
(Kenyatta University, 1995) Mpesha, Nyambura Grace Alice
This study is a critical appraisal of the growth and development of children's literature in Tanzania. It arises from a recognition of the dearth of critical works on this literature and is based on the premise that children's literature requires an evaluative framework for guiding the literary and creative needs of children in Tanzania. The thesis collates the various categories of this literature and establishes a framework for assessing their literary qualities, wholesomeness, suitability for and impact on the child reader. It traces the growth of this literature from its oral beginnings through the colonial written literature to the contemporary works written in English or Kiswahili. The first sections of the thesis present an analysis of the context, stylistic features and visual presentation of colonial, East African and Tanzanian literature available to the child in Tanzania. The study collaborates this discussion with further analysis and interpretation of children's responses to the subject matter, moral, style and illustrations of the most widely read children's books in Tanzania. From these analyses it isolates and evaluates both the existing literature and its emerging trends. It points out that the best literature for children is always skilfully and carefully written and communicates meaningfully to the child about childhood and experiences relevant to his/her world; that this literature is enjoyed by the child reader and has tremendous significance and influence on him or her. The study concludes that Tanzanian children's literature has gradually emerged as a noticeable branch of literature in its own right, but that writers will in future need to be more conscious of children's interests so that the growth in the future can point more towards a wholesome, meaningful and diverse literature.
The Child Character in Adult Literature: A Study of Six Selected Caribbean Novels
(Kenyatta University, 2003-08) Mugubi, John G.O.; Francis Imbuga; Nyambura Mpesha; Muigai Wa Gachanja
This study examines the child character in post- emancipation and colonial West-Indian fiction in order to determine his position in' that society and his role as a literary agent. Our samples in this endeavour are six Caribbean novels namely: Merle Hodge's Crick Crack, Monkey, Michael Anthony's The Year In Sail Fernando, Jan Shinebourne's The Last English Plantation, Ian McDonald's The Humming Bird Tree, Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea and Namba Roy's No Black Sparrows, The study adopts the sociological literary and psychological approaches as the theoretical framework, These approaches enabled us to understand the development of the child within the Caribbean social experiences. This Study argues that the child characters in novels designed for adult readership are employed intentionally for concrete goals. Such children, particularly in West Indian novels, while essentially childlike, are not gullible and puerile. They are cogently perspicacious and active. -Reasonable and cognizant of their surrounding, these children are invested with boundless potentials. Hence, although childhood is seen as a period when diverse influences impinge on the child, each child is endowed with the capacity to either withstand or succumb to negative influences, The genius of the child disregarding, owing to the psychic and physical stature of the child vis a vis that of their adult guardians, the position of the child is delineated as that of a gudgeon, a sacrifice to the adult world's benightedness, selfishness and savagery. The anatomic and intellectual vulnerability of children makes them easy prey to varied forms of victimization from adults. The child's plight in a racially stratified and class society is seen as ghastly. The child from the subjugated race and class suffers triply. He is debased as a member of a disfavoured race, execrated class and also as a child .. The girl child suffers additionally because of her gender. The child from the advantageous group is also seen as a victim of the ravages of her people's jaundiced eye. Made to feel the ultimate in perfection, such a child is obtuse, psychologically and ethically stunted since he becomes blinded to his own limitations. Such a child is impaired and is therefore incapable of moral advancement. Subsequently, the child character emerges as a metaphor. It is therefore feasible to read the Caribbean childhood novels as allegories in which the child characters epitomize a breed of people at a particular moment in their history. The eminent nonwhite children embody the confidence and aspirations of their people. Together with the tolerant white children, such children seek to make sense out of the jumble of racism, colonialism, class and gender-oriented compartmentalization and thereby endeavour to construct structures of 'sanity'(and therefore 'stability') that tally with their ideals. As metaphors therefore, the child characters in Caribbean novels are employed to underscore an array of childhood idiosyncrasies that may restore the muddle of human relationships. The thesis concludes the argument by reiterating that the child is an effective tool for inquiring into not only the plight of the child but also the racial, class and gender disparities and struggles in the Caribbean during the enfranchisement (post-slavery) and colonial periods. Through prudent exploration of a child's psychological makeup, the authors delineate the child as a powerful agent thr~ugh which other themes such as: poverty, police brutality, alienation, religion and politics are surveyed. Generally, we have established that the child has been employed by the West-Indian writers to express their humanism and consequently, the kind of society they espouse. The child has therefore been revealed as a beam of ethicalness through which the world can be humanized.
Alternative potraits of power and empowerment in selected African female writers' works
(2011-11-17) Shigali, Hellen Roselyne
Western radical feminist critics (Frank 1978, Andrade 1990, Stration 1994) inappropriately applied their separatist strand of feminist ideology to African literature. Their interpretation alienates African female writers from their target audience, but most importantly it silences the unique contribution they make to contemporary global power and empowerment discourse. Both African female writers and critics have contested this interpretation (Emecheta 1986, Ngcobo 1986, Nwapa 1993, D'Almeida 1994, Nnaemeka 1995, Zongo 1996). However, the latter have not interrogated the concept of power and empowerment which underpins western feminism literary criticism. This qualitative library study attempts to fill this gap by interpreting selected African female writers' works using an alternative conceptual framework that defines power and empowerment from an African feminist perspective. The conceptual framework combined with literary stylistics is applied six novels by four African female writers. The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter One forms the introduction to the study. Its highlight is the identification and description of alternative framework for interpreting the portraits of power and empowerment in the selected texts. Chapter Two is an analysis of two of Buchi Emecheta's novels: The Slave Girl (1977), and Naira Power (1982). In these texts Emecheta vilifies dominance and elevates positive forms of power. In Chapter Three, we examine Mariama Ba's, So Long a Letter (1980) and Scarlet Song (posthumous 1981). In the two novels the writer interrogates the basic of male supremacy, especially the version espoused by negritude ideology. In Chapter Four we analyse Amma Darko's portrait of conventional indicators of power and empowerment in The Housemaid (1998). Contrary to popular belief, this writer shows that value-free education and property ownership does not necessarily empower women. In Chapter Five we focus on Ama Ata Aidoo's potrait of romantic love in Changes (1991). In this novel Aidoo situates romance in contemporary empowerment discourse. She shows that romance and marriages are not incompatible with empowerment of women. Chapter Six includes a summary of portraits of power and empowerment in the selected novels and recommendations.
A critical analysis of conformity and subvertion in Gikuyu children's oral poetry
(2011-12-02) Mbugua, W. K.; Muigai Wa Gachanja; Oluoch, O.
Children's oral poetry is an important genre in the way it uses verse to inculcate social values and conditions the child's mind to conform to social expectations. It is potent in lodging in the child's memory social lessons through stylistic presentation of social expectations. It is not only a pedagogical tool but also a commentary on the society from which it emerges. While one would expect the poetry to make the children conform to social norms designed by adults, the poems stage stylistic, thematic and performative moments of subversion against certain values embraced by the privileged especially adults. Children are not passive recipients of the message, but are active participants in the creation of an ideal society. Looking at themes, performance, stylistic devices and the social background against which the poetry is created, the thesis analyses the tension between conformity and subversion engendered in the children's oral poetry. The agency of children performers has not been systematically analysed. Most studies of children's literature seem to see children as passive objects that need to be moulded into whole subjects through literature. The study attempts to fill this gap in scholarship by investigating whether Gikuyu children's oral poetry exhibits patterns that express subversion and conformity at the same time. It also analyses how the conflicting issues of conformity and subversion are reconciled into an aesthetic and thematic unity. It examines whether the songs' themes, style, and the artists' performance provide reconciliation of the conflicting elements. The study uses library research, preliminary field survey, actual collection of data and finally processes and analysis. The study investigates whether children's oral poetry expresses the gender, philosophical and moral consciousness subject to their composition, performance and reception. The overriding question is whether stylistic devices employed in the composition and performance are appropriate for the content of the poetry. The study is anchored on ethnopoetics theory which is complemented by deconstruction, hermeneutics and psychoanalysis as theoretical tools to probe the dialectical relationship between conformity and subversion. The study critically investigates and analyses how the tension between conformity - and subversion in Gikuyu children's oral poetry impacts on composition, performance and reception of that poetry against a backdrop of adult values. We make the assumption that Gikuyu children's oral poetry uses thematic, stylistic and performative patterns that bring together subversion and conformity, and that the conflict between conformity and subversion is an expression of the social consciousness of the Gikuyu children. This study is justified by its pertinent concern for and contribution to the understanding of contemporary children's art. This study makes a contribution to an area that is gaining popularity not only in Kenya but other parts of the world. It stimulates further research into the area. By association, the study illuminates our lives as products of our childhood.
Rereading selected black African autobiographies: a deconstructionist approach
(2011-12-07) Kamau, Benson Kairu
This study examines the nature of writing and reading of Black African autobiography. Specifically, it analyzes the transformation of persons into narratives, the concept of self and non-self in shaping the story and the diversity of meaning in selected autobiographies. To do this the study uses purposive sampling of three autobiographies; Camara Laye's The African Child, Mugo Gatheru's Child of Two Worlds and Ezekiel Mphahlele's Down Second Avenue. These three texts form the core of this study although other autobiographies are used for comparison at various stages. Our theoretical framework combines the strategies of deconstruction and sociology of literature. Deconstruction allows us to interrogate the premises and assumptions that are taken as given by readers of autobiography, while the sociology of literature gives us the chance to link the process of creating the self with the underlying social context. The present study argues that while life may sometimes render itself to linear development in the same way a work of art proceeds, there are unique circumstances that compel the literature African to write his life. There exists a favourable narrative tradition especially the oral autobiographical discourses among non-literate African communities that the educated African utilize to tell their stories. In addition colonialism, which took different systems in different African regions, is such a disruptive force that it compels the authors to record its consequences. However the study also reveals that there are internal influences as well. Reflective environments coupled with the human urge to immortalize oneself are important motivations to the three authors to tell their lives. Another finding of this study is that while the African Autobiography is modeled on its Western counterpart, it differs from it in some key respects. The African autobiographer, for instance incorporates the individual and the communal within the largely African philosophical worldview of "I am because were are" rather than the Descartian "I think therefore I am". Again the binary differentiation of either/or is deconstructed into an inclusive concept of both/and in African autobiography. This same worldview inevitably shapes the treatment of such themes as gender and time in these autobiographies. The study also reveals that self-recreation in the selected autobiographies depends on memory, incorporation of ritual and the degree to which an individual author manages the resources of fiction such as character, plot and scene. Finally the study finds that there exists an unwritten contract between the autobiographer and the reader. While it is not written, both parties seem to proceed -to write or to read-with the awareness of the other's expectation. And that the urge to read other people's stories is inherent in all of us as a way of sharing where the author gives himself on the page and the reader gives back through reading
Analysis of style and themes in J.M.coetzee novel: disgrace
(2011-12-07) Kamau, Joseph Wahome
The study evaluates the role of J.M. Coetzee plays in addressing the social political and economic concerns of his society. It also establishes Coetzee’s opinion as the social, political and economic drama of post apartheid South Africa unfolds. In order to analyse themes and features of styles in the selected text, we employ two theoretical frameworks, Foucault’s perception of power, authority, knowledge and truth within the wider postmodernism theory. In his analysis, Foucault demonstrate how power and authority is exercised in our societies, he also questions the concept of a singular objective truth that is transcendental instead he advocates for multiple and situated knowledge. The theory is appropriate in analyzing the experience of South Africa society which for a very long time has been experimenting disharmony that seem to emerge from the knowledge various individuals and communities hold over each other, as a result different attitudes about each other has emerged which in turns inform their social political and economic relationships. Stylistic theory is important for this study for it help us analyse the language of the text. As new knowledge emerges, language is no longer viewed as an instrument that is used to carry a text message but it is viewed as part of that message. Hence we have used this theory to explore how the selected text utilizes symbolism, allusion, irony and paradox to enhance communication about post apartheid South Africa social, political and economic realities. The study is divided into four main chapters; Chapter one forma the introduction, while chapter two evaluate thematic concerns, chapter three analyses features of style whereas chapter four concluded our study. This is a qualitative library research that involves textual and historical analyses. The study uses purposive sampling method. Data from both primary and secondary texts is analysed to provide historical and textual contexts in which to evaluate Coetzee’s concerns and opinions about post apartheid South Africa.
Verb tonology in Olunyala
(2011-12-15) Onyango, Jacktone Okello
The purpose of this study was to investigate the inherent relationship between the three grammatical categories of tense, mood and aspect and the tonal pattern of the Olunyala verb. It also attempted to determine the rules and principles that govern those tonal patterns in view of the verbal grammatical categories. Fifty-four tape-recorded interviews were conducted, from which two hundred and six verbs were sampled and classified. Lexical Phonology and Morphology theory was used to analyze the verbs by comparing the basic verb tone pattern with the derived tone pattern conditioned by the grammatical category of the verb. This was followed by the formulation of rules governing the tone patterns. The study was presented by using textual description, diagrams and tables. It was found out that various tense and mood categories affect the tone pattern of the Olunyala verb but aspect does not. The study also showed that there are six productive tone rules that govern surface tone patterns in the Olunyala verb and that these surface tone patterns are influenced by phonological, morphological and syntactic factors. This study is an important source of information for people who need teaching materials for Olunyala language and translators of Olunyala into English. It also contributes to the stock of reference materials for researchers on Bantu tonology. The study calls for further investigation on issues related to verb tonology. These include the syntactic aspects of tone, the tonal patterns of other word categories including adjectives, adverbs and nouns, the lexical and pragmatic functions of tone in language, and the tonal similarities and differences between Olunyala and other Oluluyia dialects.
The child character in adult literature: a study of six selected Caribbean novels
(2012-01-05) Mugubi, John G. O.
This study examines the child character in post-emancipation and colonial West-Indian fiction in order to determine his position in that society and his role as a literary agent. Our samples in this endeavour are six Caribbean novels namely: Merle Hodge's Crick Crack, Monkey, Michael Anthony's The Year In San Fernando, Jan Shinebourne's The Last English Plantation, Ian McDonald's The Humming Bird Tree, Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea and Namba Roy's No Black Sparrows. The study adopts the sociological literary and psychological approaches as the theoretical framework. These approaches enabled us to understand the development of the child within the Caribbean social experiences. This study argues that the child characters in novels designed for adult readership are employed intentionally for concrete goals. Such children, particularly in West Indian novels, while essentially childlike, are not gullible and puerile. They are cogently perspicacious and active. Reasonable and cognizant of their surrounding, these children are invested with boundless potentials. Hence, although childhood is seen as a period when diverse influences impinge on the child, each child is endowed with the capacity to either withstand or succumb to negative influences. The genius of the child disregarding, owing to the psychic and physical stature of the child vis-á-vis that of their adult guardians, the position of the child is delineated as that of a gudgeon, a sacrifice to the adult world's benightedness, selfishness and savagery. The anatomic and intellectual vulnerability of children makes them easy prey to varied forms of victimization from adults. The child's plight in a racially stratified and class society is seen as ghastly. The child from the subjugated race and class suffers triply. He is debased as a member of a disfavoured race, execrated class and also as a child. The girl child suffers additionally because of her gender. The child from the advantageous group is also seen as a victim of the ravages of her people's jaundiced eye. Made to feel the ultimate in perfection, such a child is obtuse, psychologically and ethically stunted since he becomes blinded to his own limitations. Such a child is impaired and is therefore incapable of moral advancement. Subsequently, the child character emerges as a metaphor. It is therefore feasible to read the Caribbean childhood novels as allegories in which the child characters epitomize a breed of people at a particular moment in their history. The eminent non-white children embody the confidence and aspirations of their people. Together with the tolerant white children, such children seek to make sense out of the jumble of racism, colonialism, class and gender-oriented compartmentalization and thereby endeavour to construct structures of 'sanity' (and therefore 'stability') that tally with their ideals. As metaphors therefore, the child characters in Caribbean novels are employed to underscore an array of childhood idiosyncrasies that may restore the muddle of human relationships. The thesis concludes the argument by reiterating that the child is an effective tool for inquiring into not only the plight of the child but also the racial, class and gender disparities and struggles in the Caribbean during the enfranchisement (post-slavery) and colonial periods. Through prudent exploration of a child's psychological makeup, the authors delineate the child as a powerful agent through which other themes such as: poverty, police brutality, alienation, religion and politics are surveyed. Generally, we have established that the child has been employed by the West-Indian writers to express their humanism and consequently, the kind of society they espouse. The child has therefore been revealed as a beam of ethicalness through which the world can be humanized
The worlds of Gikuyu mythology: a structural analysis
(2012-01-20) Wainaina, Michael
This study addresses the methodological and definitional shortcomings in mythological analysis. Divesting the typological definition of "myth", that sees myth as one type of story as opposed to another; we define myth as any tale in the Gikuyu community. In addition to this, we adopt a methodology that seeks not only the structural unity of Gikuyu mythology that seeks not only the structural unity of Gikuyu mythology but also recognizes the potential for signification of delineated mythological structures. We proceed from the postulate that myth is like language whose various constituent elements in mythology are called mythemes. Taking the worlds of Gikuyu Mythology as the mythology's mythemes, we in the study test the hypothesis that the structural model of the transformational relationships of the worlds of Gikuyu mythology is related to Gikuyu society and culture and it thus provides a basis for analysis of the mythology. Using a corpus of twenty purposefully sampled myths, we proceed to identify the worlds of Gikuyu mythology. We have then constructed a structural model showing how these worlds relate. Through the transformational relationships of these worlds we have discovered that Gikuyu mythology expresses two imaginative domains in Gikuyu modes of thought. These are Existential imagination, represented by a vertical axis on the structural model and the other is the Moral imagination represented by a horizontal axis. We have proceeded to relate these two axes to the Gikuyu society and culture, with insights from the latter adduced from extensive and detailed ethnographic data. The hypothesis formulated for this study has thus been sustained. With it, our definition and method have proved productive.
Images of women in African oral literature: a case of Gikuyu and Swahili proverbs
(2012-04-10) Ndungo, C. M.
This study was to examine critically the portrayal of women in selected Gikuyu and Swahili Proverbs. The aim was to describe the images of women that emanate from the selected proverbs. The research concern arose out of the realization that gender relations and attitudes are important in understanding society. The findings of the study have shed light on the societal attitudes towards women. A content analysis of one hundred and fifty three Gikuyu proverbs and one hundred and twenty seven Swahili proverbs collected from published and oral sources in the Kenyan Coast and Central provinces reveal that women have diverse and ambivalent images. The images were derived from both literal and underlying levels of meaning of the proverbs. The study shows that women as mothers in both Gikuyu and Swahili societies are portrayed positively in their roles as readers, teachers and role models of their children. The image of a mother borders on idolization. However, women in general and wives in particular, are portrayed negatively in both Gikuyu and Swahili societies especially with regard to their personalities. Women are generally depicted as treacherous, unreliable, unintelligent, dependent and lacking in vision and wisdom. According to the feminist literary theory, which was used as a guide in the analysis of the data in this study, the images emanating from the proverbs are a reflection of the societal attitudes towards women in the two communities as literature is a vehicle of cultural philosophy. The study concludes that, for the two communities to portray women positively as mothers and generally negatively, there must be a good reason. It could be an indication that women as a category threaten the male domain. It needs to be established why women are perceived negatively and how the negative image translates in real life situations.
Children's literature in Tanzania: a literary appreciation of its growth and development
(2012-06-08) Nyambura, Grace Alice
This study is a critical appraisal of the growth and development of children’s literature in Tanzania. It arises from a recognition of the death of critical works on this literature and is based on the premise that children’s literature requires an evaluative framework for guiding the literary and creative needs of children in Tanzania. The thesis collates the various categories of this literature and establishes a framework for assessing their literary qualities, wholesomeness, suitability for and impact on the child reader. It traces the growth of this literature from its oral beginnings through the colonial written literature to the contemporary works written in English or Kiswahili. The first sections of the thesis present an analysis of the context, stylistic features and visual presentation of colonial, East African and Tanzanian literature available to the child in Tanzania. The study collaborates this discussion with further analysis and interpretation of children’s responses to the subject matter, moral, style and illustrations of the most widely read children’s books in Tanzania. From these analyses it isolates and evaluates both the existing literature and its emerging trends. It points out that the best literature for children is always skilfully and carefully written and communicates meaningfully to the child about childhood and experiences relevant to his/her world; that this literature is enjoyed by the child reader and has tremendous significance and influence on him or her. The study concludes that Tanzanian children’s literature has gradually emerged as a noticeable branch of literature in its own right, but that writers will in future need to be more conscious of children’s interests so that the growth in the future can point more towards a wholesome meaningful and diverse literature.
The short story as a literary response to South Africa's social and political realities: a study of Es'kia Mphahlel, Mbulelo Mzamane and Farida Karodia
(2012-06-08) Mwangi, Francis M.
The study is a literary analysis of selected short stories by three South African writers. The study addresses the thematic concerns of Es' Kia Mphahlele, Mbulelo Mzamane and Farida Karodia. Significant attention is also given to the writers' artistic expression. In a society that has gone through a past of apartheid, the study is founded on the premise that there is little room for art for its sake in South Africa. Most of the stories depict a South Africa bleeding for freedom. From the protest stories by Mphahlele and Mzamane, to stories of inevitable but non-violet change in the stories by Farida Karodia, the study demonstrates the three writers' confrontation with the problems of their motherland. A central task that is logically related to the study's overall objective is the demonstration of the flexibility of the short story genre, and its adaptability to various aesthetic and didactic roles. The study is predicated on the premise that the short story in Africa carries socially relevant and intellectually stimulating material, but like elsewhere, the genre has not received critical attention commensurate with this literary significance. Finally, the study predicts short story writes will continue using the short story as a means of reflecting social changes as they occur in society. Thus, the study concludes that the genre deserves serious study because it has a far-reaching literary and social significance.
Gender analysis of literature set books: A study of selected Kenya certificate of secondary education(KCSE) literature texts
(2012-11-05) Gachari, Muthoni Regina
Set books are an important socializing tool and play a crucial role in determining students' worldview of gender relations in society. Gender responsiveness is one of the emerging issues that have attracted major debates in various forums including in the education system in general and choice of set books in particular. This study examined the gender responsiveness of selected KCSE literature set books, and students' and English teachers' responses to the gender issues in the set books. The study applied the ABC Gender Analysis Model and the Reader - Response theory. The ABC Gender Analysis Model measures gender responsiveness of set books and other curriculum materials while the Reader - Response theory emphasizes the reader's role in creating meaning of a text and experience of a literary work. The findings indicated that the KCSE set books all had elements of gender bias, stereotyping of character and role, unequal representation of male and female characters and use of gender insensitive language. However, the study also revealed that some writers had made attempts to make the literature set books gender responsive. In addition, students' responses revealed a great sense of gender awareness and sensitivity in regard to the gender issues raised in the set books. Finally, teachers' responses revealed that the teachers were keen and enthusiastic about gender issues in set books despite the fact that they had no formal training on how to implement the gender policy in education. The study recommends closer scrutiny of literature set books, in-house training of teachers on gender responsiveness, sensitizing students on gender responsive set books and providing checklists for identifying gender stereotypes and other relevant gender issues in set books. In addition, it also recommends the development of a more gender responsive curriculum in tandem with Kenya's developmental aspiration where men and women are viewed as partners in the development of all sectors of society.
Inventing Women: The Black Female Voice in the Post-Apartheid Writings of Farida Karodia
(2013-09-05) Lang’at, Judith C.
This study examines the voice of the South African woman writer, Farida Karodia, as she writes in the post apartheid era. Specifically, it analyzes the writer‟s language as it gives voice to the black woman‟s revelation of self as she transforms silence into visibility and action. To do this, this study uses Karodia‟s post apartheid novels and short stories to derive contextual evidence of historical silencing and identify the distinctive language employed to voice the unique oppressions of race, class and gender endured by the black woman. Our theoretical framework combines the strategies of a Womanist perspective and Interactionism. Womanist theory allows us to interrogate the writers‟ premises and assumptions of the black woman on self and community while interaction theory gives us a chance to link women‟s interactions with the process of meaning construction and invention. Karodia not only attempts to define the nature of the contemporary black female voice but also invents a black woman through her distinctive choices of characters, worldview, use of conflict and union. She also uses language as inventive in its depiction of women‟s existence and shows their circumstances as evolving in nature with their ability to transform realities. The transformation for women occurs, we revealed,when women gives expression to conversial ideas, accept and learn to live with paradoxes, claim the situation,hence getting liberated by new perspectives and they are open to new understandings of their experiences. Also, the acknowledgement of their personal strengths and weaknesses allows for insight that leads to new awareness for women‟s progress.
A traditional ritual ceremony as Edurama: a case study of Imbalu ritual among the Bukusu of Western Kenya
(2014-08-18) Were, Wasambo
This study is an investigation of how Bukusu traditional initiation can be considered as edurama. It first looks at the rite of passage as a process of transition. The study investigates whether or not drama existed in Bukusuland before the advent of colonialism. It also explores the conduct of the Bukusu initiation ceremony. Further it seeks to provide an answer to the type of drama and the nature of education that exists in Imbalu. The research which will be carried out in Sibembe village in Bungoma County will use sociological theory because this, as Imbalu, gives an explanation for the existence of a society. This also gives an analysis of the cultural context of Bukusu Imbalu. It is important to note that the research will rely on fieldwork that will entail physical observation of circumcision ceremony. Interviews of initiates, surgeons and experts will be carried out. What however is crucial is that the African tradition ceremony is considered as a school in which the initiates learn various issues concerning African society. In other words it prepares the youth for life in the community as the initiates are forced to practice the norms and values of society and expertise for playing effective role in society. In the end the findings of the investigation will be that Bukusu initiation ceremony is drama in the African senses as it uses African Language, it will be timeless and will have distinction between the spectator and the person. Above all it will be utilitarian and functional and therefore a process of Bukusu education.
Identities and spaces in selected writings of black, Indian and white east African writers, 1950s to 1980s.
(Kenyatta University, 2015) Mwairumba, Yuvenalis Mukoya
This study analyses identity and space in five works of East African Asian, black and white writers based on the reasoning that these are significant issues in East African literature that reflect the nature of contemporary social relations in the region. The study uses a post-structural and postcolonial conceptual framework. Using comparative textual analysis, the study examines Going Down River Road by Meja Mwangi Homing in by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye, The In-between World of Vikram Lall by M. G. Vassanji, In a Brown Mantle by Peter Nazareth, and Kosiya Kifefe by Arthur Gakwandi. The premise of the comparison is that the writers‘ different races have a bearing on their representation of Asian, black and white characters. Consequently, the basis of selecting these texts is threefold: the writer‘s race (and place of birth); the presence of Asian, black and white characters; and setting. The main objective is to show how characters from each of the three races perceive their own identity and that of characters from other races, and how the characters‘ location influences their sense of identity in relation to these places. The study further aims to show how the process of identity formation is represented. The study concludes that all the texts recognise that place and place meanings are significant in the formation of identity and that it is for this reason that groups seek to dominate place. It is the meanings attached to place, race and other categories that denote community that determine the type of spaces that the same produce. Prominent among these meanings is tradition which is important both as a space within which identities form and as the discourse with which communities define themselves.The study finds that a writer‘s race is a discursive position that infiltrates texts in subtle but significant ways, and that for the studied texts this does affect some of the writers‘ ability to deal with characters from other races. In relation to this, the study argues that those writers who write from marginal positions are more sensitive to cross-racial representation than those from dominant races. It is further argued that instabilities in the meanings of the lexical items that that characters rely on for self description and the description of others are responsible for the uncertainties in their identities.
The invention and (re) configuration of space in selected Kenyan television dramas
(Kenyatta University, 2016-07) Akuma, Kebaya Charles
The study interrogates the invention and (re)configuration of space as a social construct in Kenyan television drama. While focusing on selected local television dramas; Mheshimiwa, Mother-in-law and Tabasamu, the study examines manifestations of space, and how characters contest, and (re)configure emergent spaces in the contemporary society. The first television drama aired on Kenya Television Network (KTN) whereas the second and third air on Citizen Television. The study investigates space in the selected television dramas as an intersection and a conversation with various formations, past and present, in a bid to understand socio-cultural, economic and political realities in Kenya. The study employs the theorization of space to explore the framing and dramatization of space in local television drama. Hinged on an iterative research design, primary data was obtained from a close examination of three purposively sampled local television dramas. Purposively selected episodes of the three dramas were studied and information obtained regarding space was recorded and considered data for analysis and interpretation. Secondary sources that comprised texts, dissertations, scholarly publications and articles related to the area of study were consulted. Guided by the research objectives, primary and secondary data obtained were analysed, interpreted and collated using thematic content analysis. Limited access to the television dramas due to suspicion of being a pirate masquerading as an academic and copyright issues were key challenges that this study faced. From the analyses, it emerged that local television drama exploits spaces such as the family, court, political and the everyday space to make sense of various issues affecting society. Issues such as political leadership, material affluence, youth identity formations, social referents and sex(uality) discourses are not only figured but also contested, invented and reconfigured in society as portrayed in local television drama. It also emerged that young female professionals were depicted as challenging patriarchal practices and that to them, sexual pleasure is viewed as a desire that is related to their status as career women, but above all to possibilities generated by being relatively independent from social control. Strengthened by their financial independence, this category of women is at the vanguard in reconfiguring subjectivities and social complexities of sexuality in the contemporary Kenyan society. In this way, local television drama functions as a popular site for exploring and understanding emerging moral issues that characterize young women’s sexualities in Kenya. Consequently, the study concludes that artistic sensibilities in local television drama crystallize in the characterization of women as being in the forefront in challenging masculinity and reconfiguration of emergent practices of feminine power and agency in society.
Elements of Tragedy in Selected Novels of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
(Kenyatta University, 2016-09-13) Maina, Oscar Macharia
This study investigates Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s use of tragedy as a method of literary representation in his rendition of postcoloniality. The study focuses on five novels;The River Between, A Grain of Wheat, Matigari, Petals of Blood, and Devil on the Cross. As its objectives, the study investigates: the various elements of tragedy used in his selected novels; the use of tragedy in the emplotment and representation of thematic concerns in these novels; and the use of the tragic form as an expression of wa Thiong’o’s postcolonial vision in the selected novels. The study interrogates the presentation of characters, their narrative world, and the conflicts that these characters represent. The ideas that these characters espouse stir the conflicts that wa Thiong’o highlights through these novels and contribute to the literary signification of the postcolonial discourse. With close analysis of key novelistic features such as narrative plot and structure, representation, characterisation, motifs, and point of narration, the study interrogates how wa Thiong’o uses tragedy not only as a means of evaluating the different causes of tragic conflicts but also as a means of proposing avenues for entrenching both ideological and a literary discourse in response to these tragic conflicts. In its analysis of the selected texts, the study uses tenets of postcolonial criticism and tragic realism to facilitate its evaluation of not only the narrative structure but also the novels’ discourse. The study uses descriptive analysis of the selected novels to qualitatively interrogate them in line with the study’s objectives.
The worldings of Ruganda’s plays
(Kenyatta University, 2018-06) Mugarizi, Evans Odali
This study was a discursive interrogation of Ruganda’s six published plays: The Burdens (1972), Black Mamba (1973), Covenant with Death (1973), The Floods (1980), Music without Tears (1982) and Echoes of Silence (1986), from a semiotic perspective. It focused on four aspects: 1) the location of the plays’ events and action within spatio-temporal contexts of the dramatic world, 2) investigation of the perceptual effects that are created out of the use the mechanical techniques of roleplay and projection, 3) investigation of the signification of non-verbal codes of communication used in the plays, and, 4) investigation of how the use of various forms of speech build the meta-narratives and conflicts of the plays. The main objective of the study was to establish how the use of these elements makes Ruganda's drama comprehensible and intelligible within the virtual reality of the dramatic world. It enquired into the dramatic contexts of the plays in terms of spatial location of action from the mimetic time sense of “here-and-now” in relation to the characters’ experience and their future projections within the time locus of “then” or “elsewhen” and spatial sense of “elsewhere”. The study was guided by Keir Elam’s (1980) postulation of the semiotics of drama and theatre that elucidates the ordering of the dramatic world in relation to the world of reality. The theory emphasizes how cognizance of the various levels of worlds influences perception and inference of meaning. This theory aided in the abstraction of different worlds created by characters resulting from the deployment of the techniques of role-play, projection and aural and visual symbolism. Thus, when the characters play other characters as opposed to who they are, they display attitudinal constructions of the other characters that they enact or impersonate. This creates a different plane of perception of the enacted character. In addition, the study appropriated John Austin’s (1962) and John Searle’s (1969) Speech Act Theory to interrogate how the playwright variegates his dramatic speech for aesthetic effect. The study establishes that Ruganda uses both mimetic and diegetic forms of speech in his plays for different purposes. The former is used to construct the first level action of the plays, while the latter constructs the enveloping action. Dialogue, monologue and narration are used as distinct speech forms to establish the contemporaneity of the dramatic action and point at the time of occurrence. The study concludes that Ruganda creates various contexts by use of technique, symbolism and variegated speech forms that either distance or collapse the world of reality and the dramatic worlds of his plays
Vocabulary Learning Strategies Employed by Kenyan Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language in Kenyan Universities
(Kenyatta University, 2020) Wachira, Susan Wanjiru
This study is a description and analysis of vocabulary learning strategies employed by Kenyan learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Vocabulary learning strategies are contextualized within the larger area of language learning strategies which are accounted for within the cognitive theory of learning that the study was based on. The objectives of the study were: to describe the type of vocabulary learning strategies employed by Kenyan CFL learners; to describe the frequency of VLS use by Kenyan CFL learners; to establish the relationship between duration of Chinese language study, sex, previous language learning experience, field of study, level of CFL learning and VLS; and to investigate how VLS relate to performance in the speaking skill of Kenyan CFL learners. Purposive sampling was used to select two Confucius Institutes from Kenyatta and Egerton universities while stratified sampling was applied in selecting respondents at different levels of learning, namely beginner and intermediate levels. Data once collected using the vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire by Schmitt (1997) and HSKK oral tests was coded and entered into SPSS templates for cleaning and analysis and presented in tables and figures. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations), test of independence (Chi-square) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis. The study mainly found out that Kenyan CFL learners were medium strategy users. It also revealed that cognitive strategies were the most commonly used followed by memory and metacognitive strategies. In addition, it was established that there is a significant relationship between sex, level of learning, field of study and VLS use. Learners also used other strategies that mainly involved the use of technology which were not in the questionnaire. Learners whose field of study was Chinese performed better in speaking skill than Science and Art majors. The study recommends that learners be made aware of strategies during Chinese language lessons so that they can fully utilize them. Furthermore, there should be more emphasis on strategies that involve the use of technology due to the nature of the language. The research findings provide useful insight for the development of curriculum for teaching Chinese in Kenya

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