Literature and Literary Studies Research Papers/Topics

Ngero as a social object

Abstract/Overview This is a study of the art of rig r no v/hich is a genre of Luo oral literature. The terra ncoro is in the singular. Like1 some Luo words whose singulars end in ro, the two let tors are replaced by che in the plural which becomes ngeche. Scholars of Luo oral tradition and culture translate and define ngero mistakenly as the proverb, thus making it lexically and culturally English by assuming that their naming systems are universal for all mankind. This generalisation variou...

Political Imagery and Symbolism in Daniel Owino Misiani‟S Benga Songs

Abstract/Overview Misiani was a great musician and pioneer of benga music. He sang about almost about anything and everything, but people remember him for his political songs. He sang when Kenya was still under firm grip of despotic politics of both Kenyatta the first president of Kenya and later Moi and Kibaki the second and third presidents respectively. Fearlessly, Misiani confronts the politics of the day using his music. Despite the fact that his songs were/are loaded with imagery and s...

The denigration of the male image in Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye’s selected novels

Abstract/Overview This study investigates Marjorie Oludhe’s portrayal of male image in Coming to Birth and The Present Moment. Of primary influence to the study is that little attention has been given to the analysis of women’s writings in relation to the representation of male image even as the male characters are used as a foil to articulate the experiences of women which has risked perpetuating the derogatory views of women as victims and men as agents of social ills. The literary dev...

Beyond the tirade: the portrayal of Kenya’s historical process in Miguna Miguna’s autobiographical works

Abstract/Overview Literature and history represent the morphing of social, political and cultural realities. The two employ similar techniques so that in a subtle sense literature is really an artistic reflection of history. The historical process is captured and transformed by literature. Miguna Miguna’s Peeling Back the Mask and Kidneys for the King have been dismissed by historians, the literati and even the common Kenyan as unworthy of academic pursuit. The commentators argue that bein...

The Unconscious Manifestations of the Image of Youth Characters in Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001) and NiqMhlongo’s After Tears(2007)

Abstract/Overview The image of youth characters portrayed in South African literature has traditionally focused on their manifest responses to the political issues of the different moments of the country’s history, with little attention on the interiority of the concerned individuals’ being. Unlike their counterparts in the apartheid regime, the post-apartheid generation of youth has lived in a supposedly freer environment, yet some have continually exhibited errant behaviour. Guided ...