• English
    • français
  • English 
    • English
    • français
  • Login
View Item 
  •   Repository Home
  • Research Papers (RP)
  • RP-School of Humanities & Social Sciences
  • RP-Department of Literature
  • View Item
  •   Repository Home
  • Research Papers (RP)
  • RP-School of Humanities & Social Sciences
  • RP-Department of Literature
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Tusker Project Fame: Ethnic States, Popular Flows

Thumbnail
View/Open
Full article (276.0Kb)
Date
2007-11
Author
Wa-Mungai, M.
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Ethnicity has come to be the dominant currency of Kenya’s politics over recent years. This article explores the social meaning of ethnicity through an examination of ethnic stereotyping, as this is revealed in a variety of popular discourses. Stereotypes are forged and circulated within popular sites of cultural encounter, and they are one of the principal means through which the objectives of ethnic projects are executed. The predominance of stereotypes within everyday social discourse in Kenya makes ethnic ‘othering’ normative. The article interrogates the links between popular cultural flows that enable the formulation and dissemination of both ethnic-based and other stereotypes, for instance on masculinity. It is argued that a consideration of (en-) gendering, often entirely missing from discussions of stereotypes, enables a more nuanced reading of such practices. It is asserted that stereotypes have become a dominant mode of discoursing in Kenya today because they constitute a corpus of folklore, originated within ‘in-groups’ and deployed in various modes against ‘out-groups’. In a society where folklore reaches deep into the past few people ever stop to question the validity of folkloric interpretations that are constantly at work in the present. These issues around stereotyping and ethnicity are examined through consideration of bar-room conversations, the lyrics of popular songs, text messaging, internet chat rooms, and newspaper cartoons
URI
http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/8511
Collections
  • RP-Department of Literature [55]

Designed by Library ICT Team copyright © 2017 
Contact Us | Send Feedback

 

 

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

LoginRegister

Designed by Library ICT Team copyright © 2017 
Contact Us | Send Feedback