ABSTRACT This research explores the issues of home and identity in two postcolonial novels, Ghana Must Go and Homegoing. In the era of globalization, people are pushing for borderlessness, transculturalism and hybrid identities as against a pure national or cultural identity. Among such people are African third generation writers who are also second generation migrants. They themselves have had issues in trying to define their identities and, due to the many spaces and cultures they encounter...
This study focused on the critical investigation of social values in three Young Adults novels by Nahida Esmail: Living in the Shade (2011), The Detective of Shangani: The Mystery of the Lost Rubies (2014) and Lessilie the City Maasai (2011). The novels address issues about Young Adults (YA) as they are employed by the author of the selected novels. Young Adult Literature (YAL) is a genre that both adults and young adults love to read because of its small size and simplicity. The study w...
ABSTRACT This study analyses key literary and social values in Rwandese literary Metagenres known as Insigamigani. Insigamigani means proverb subjects or subjects that have generated proverbs. The study analysed the social values of heroism and patriotism as key virtues that emerged from the selected texts and illustrates how they turned into literary meta-genres collected in ‘Ibirari by’insigamigani’ texts. Insigamigani are considered meta-genres because they entail two oral literary g...
ABSTRACT 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...
ABSTRACT This study examined the construction of images of power in initiation male oral poetry of the Sabaot with a view to revealing how this community contests power relations with its neighbours. The study also investigated how this contest of power relations creates or maintains a cultural identity, which like in any other community is derived from a sense of imagined superiority. Oral Poetry is an incontestable reservoir of values, sensibilities, aesthetics and also a genre through whic...
ABSTRACT The study is an investigation of the theme of misogyny as propagated by the urban underclass represented in the urban fiction of Meja Mwangi. The study argues that over the years, literary critics have unjustly classified the urban fiction of Mwangi as “non- serious” literature, and have therefore accorded him little if any critical acclaim albeit his fiction deals with very intricate and vital modern-day social problems in Kenya. The study argues that misogyny has directly and i...
ABSTRACT The study is an investigation of the theme of misogyny as propagated by the urban underclass represented in the urban fiction of Meja Mwangi. The study argues that over the years, literary critics have unjustly classified the urban fiction of Mwangi as “non- serious” literature, and have therefore accorded him little if any critical acclaim albeit his fiction deals with very intricate and vital modern-day social problems in Kenya. The study argues that misogyny has directly and i...
ABSTRACT The overall objective of the research was to establish the statue of children's theatre as an art form in Nairobi. The study reveals the forms in which children's theatre in Nairobi is manifested and critically examines the plot, characters, theme and style of plays performed for child audiences to determine whether they are suitable for them. Previous research has put more emphasis on the analysis of adult theatre hence the endeavour to open up the field of children's theatre in th...
ABSTRACT This study regards Ali Akeko as a producer of cultural „goods‟ whose taste and appropriation are realized in consumption. For a detailed analysis, the study used eighteen songs. The study investigated Wanga socio-cultural family values as represented in Akeko‟s songs, structuring of the message and the art in the songs. It investigated the positioning of characters in Akeko‟s songs and the values the characters espouse. Data was collected through interviewing elderly Wanga p...
ABSTRACT This study examined the use of Brecht’s concept of the alienation effect by selected theatre for development troupes in Kenya. It emerged that theatre for development is mainly used by nongovernmental organizations for grassroots development. Nonetheless, several deficiencies at the level of practice and technique hinder theatre for development from realizing its ultimate potential. These deficiencies were mainly attributable to the inability of theatre for development practices to...
Abstract Novel and short story genres of written literature are created to be read, but not to be dramatized as is the case with the play. For a period of about fifteen years adapters have made effort to dramatize swahili prose texts. The dramatization of prose texts is made possible through transforming features of prose into features of drama. The purpose of this study was to evaluate adaptation of novels and short stories for secondary school students in Kenya. The study objectives were to...
ABSTRACT This study is about the role of fables in children’s literature. Its main objectives are to evaluate the role, themes and literal devices used in fables to make them significant to children. It was a descriptive research done in the library. Purposeful sampling was used to select three fables. These were: Ngiri Mganga (2010) by Kariuki, Sungura na Mbwa (2011) by Nyakeri and Sisimizi Amuua Tembo (2004) by Mayega. Data was collected and analyzed according to research questions and ob...
ABSTRACT This study focused on contemporary Kipsigis riddles, their performances and ways in which they have adjusted to the socio-cultural circumstances brought to bear on the Kipsigis cultural lives. The objective of this study was to interrogate the ways in which the postcolonial experiences has influenced Kipsigis riddle formation and riddling, and the implication on the processes which produce the meaning. Although the structure and form of riddles has been extensively studied, the ques...
ABSTRACT This study is a stylistic investigation of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Gikuyu fiction. Its purpose is to interrogate the use of orature and the aesthetic value it has given to his Gikuyu creative writings. The use of vernacular languages in literary creation and the inherent challenges opened an avenue that had not been explored in African literature. Earlier works that had laid the basis of African literature, and especially in Ngugi’s case, were short stories as opposed to the novel...
ABSTRACT Comprehension is one of the several compulsory sections in Kiswahili subject syllabus. For a student to perform well in Kiswahili exams, he or she has to do well in this section. Unfortunately, this is one of the most poorly performed section in Kiswahili. This study therefore sought to investigate the factors that affect the teaching and learning of Kiswahili reading comprehension in Secondary schools in Kisumu West sub county in Kenya. The objectives of this study were: To investig...