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My Blood Not for Sale by Muthoni Liki...
Brief Summary
Muthoni Likimani’s latest book, My Blood Not for Sale, is a blistering indictment of the scourge of human trafficking in modern times.
It evokes feelings of horror at the various manifestations of modern slavery, which essentially re-enacts the heart-wrenching ordeal that Sarah Baarman underwent in the 19th century.
The story of the Southern African woman Sarah Baartman, exported to Europe for public display, is one of the most horrendous instances of human trafficking.
The sad story typifies the perpetual victimhood of people of African descent from antiquity to modernity. Sarah Baartman, of Khoikhoi or Hottentot origin, was lured with false promises of prosperity and plucked from her ancestral home in South Africa in 1810 and shipped to England, where she was put on display in freak shows. Why? Her physical features piqued the European gaze and earned her the tag Hottentont Venus, because in the European imagination, she was very unlike the women of the civilized Western world. She was displayed on stage in a cage in shows that earned her European captors a colossal amount of money.
She was a slave. All efforts to have her released from the hands of her inhuman and inhumane captors fell flat. She would later be moved to France, where she was made an object of medical and scientific research to satiate a curious European fascination with African female sexuality.
But the Hottentot Venus remained a slave in life and death as well. Upon her death, her genitalia, skeleton and brain were put on display in a museum.
A history of the Luo Abasuba of Weste...
Brief Summary
Henry Akello Ayot in his PhD thesis titled A History of the Luo Abasuba of Western Kenya from AD 1760-1940 however offers an alternative narrative. The scholar argues that the Abasuba are also to be found in Tanzania and had originated from southern Uganda before migrating to South Nyanza via Mfangano Islands.
He casts doubts about Buganda being the origin of the Abasuba, hypothesising that there were some descendants from the Busoga.
The oral narrative of Abasuba’s blood linkages with the Kabaka of Buganda are given credence by Siraje Lubwama in an article published by Uganda’s The Observer.
The writer retells Kabaka Jjunju’s sexual excesses and the rebellion it triggered in the over two centuries ago.
The consequences of this palace lust have had some far reaching effects which are still felt today in Kenya, more than 200 years after the sibling betrayal.
According to the Suba folklore, the people banished from the Buganda Kingdom first set foot on Kenyan soil led by Kiboye.
One of the few remaining elders conversant with the oral history, Moris Kasuku, Kiboye disembarked his canoe along the shores of Lake Vitoria in Mfangano Island. His brother Witewe who opted to remain in Mfangano Island as the latter proceeded towards Gwassi accompanied Kiboye.
" Kiboye had been attracted to the Gwassi hills that were visible from Mfangano Island. The hills, bathed by fluffy misty and enveloped by alluring dense vegetation were irresistible,” explained Kasuku.
ISBN:B0046I63M6
Author:Henry Okello Ayot
Swords of Kirinyaga The Fight for Lan...
The Historical Figures of the New Afr...
Brief Summary
The New African Movement stretched over a century from about 1862 to 1960. It consisted of writers, political and religious leaders, artists, teachers and scientists who called themselves New Africans - specifically New African intellectuals - to distinguish themselves from the Old Africans.
They felt they stood out as a new movement because they were engaged with creating knowledge of modernity rather than taking consolation and satisfaction in the old ways of traditional societies.
It studies the key figures in this intellectual movement in order to create a better understanding.
ISBN:9781592219001
Author:Ntongela Masilela
Kenya: A Prison Notebook by Maina wa ...
Brief Summary
Maina wa Kinyatti is one of Kenya’s progressive historians. In June 1982, he was arrested by the Kenyan authoritarian regime, charged with possession of seditious literature and imprisoned.
He suffered for six-and-a-half years in the hands of his brutal captors. He was repeatedly held in solitary confinement and was constantly insulted and beaten.
He was tortured by vermin, untreated diseases, hunger and loneliness. But he remained defiant, his courage and spirit unbroken.
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinka...
My Sister, the Serial Killer is a blackly comic novel about how blood is thicker - and more difficult to get out of the carpet - than water.
When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away.
She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other.
War Destroys Peace Nurtures Reconcili...
Brief Summary
War Destroys: Peace Nurtures presents selected papers form the 8th Somali Studies International Association congress held in Hargeisa in July 2001. This volume focuses on finding tools, solutions, and policies that speak to the need for building peace, establishing equitable and stable governance, and achieving reconciliation.
The papers are of value not only to Somalis throughout the Horn of Africa but also to other African states that have suffered horrific disasters over the last few decades including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Zaire/DRC, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and others.
Contributors describe the role of women's groups in reconciliation, peace-building, and economic development; potential linkages between traditional and modern governance models; alternative modes of decentralization; the role of language, poetry, and proverbs in cultural reconciliation; techniques of community participation for building peace at the community level; overcoming health concerns, especially HIV/AIDS and FGM; the role of local institutions in sustaining environmental resources; and ways in which Islam is compatible with democracy and can be an effective tool for building peace. The book opens with a section on the poetry of peace and reconciliation, written in Somali.
ISBN:9781569021866
Author:Richard Ford, Hussein M Adam and Edna Adan Ismail
Land Food Freedom Struggles for the G...
Brief Summary
Using oral histories to tell the stories of 15 uprisings instigated by Kenyan women during the 20th century, Land, Food, Freedom reveals Kenyan women's determination to get back their stolen land from the British colonial power.
Local men who collaborated with British colonial officials and settlers found themselves repeatedly challenged by the organisations and actions of these women. In acting against their dispossession, they inspired a different set of men to stand in alliance with them to defend the gendered commons'.'
ISBN:9781592216918
Author:Leigh Brownhill
Music and Dance in Eastern Africa
Brief Summary
The book dedicates itself to research in music and dance, while engaging with the colonial and contemporary political and historical realities within Eastern African region.
Inevitably themes that grapple with urbanization and the emergence of urban spaces for entertainment, as well as the imagination of culture by the colonialist form a key window into the research and understanding of music and dance.
The ever-present performance of ethnic identities that shape most of our socio-political contexts adds to the overall texture of this book. At the same time, the debate and question of gender in music is also comprehensively covered, in an attempt to delineate gender relations in the region.
Articles that employ cross-genre approach to music and dance have enriched the wide perspective of understanding African societies and the realities that emanate from everyday lives in Eastern Africa.
This book takes a multi-disciplinary angle and easily fit within the disciplines of political science, urban studies, literature, sociology and media studies. The book contributes to the recurrent dialogue towards emphasizing the relevance of the study of songs and dances in a larger context within humanities and social sciences.
ISBN:Music and Dance in Eastern Africa001
Author:Kahithe Kiiru and Maina wa Mutonya
Africa in History by Basil Davidson
Brief Summary
Prior to the original publication of Africa in History, the history and development of Africa had been measured by the European concept of "civilization," applying a Eurocentric approach to African art and literature.
Basil Davidson's landmark work presents the inner growth of Africa and its worldwide significance, the internal dynamic of its old civilizations and their links with Asia, Europe and America, as well as the development of specific areas, tribes and cultures.
From accounts of the days of the green Sahara and the great iron age, the earliest Portuguese colonization, the coming of slavery and the subsequent legacy of violence and mistrust, the growth of Islam in the north and the cults of the Congo, the sophistication of art and architecture, and the pattern behind social and tribal mores, the entire picture of the continent emerges. This revised edition reflects the recent astonishing changes in South Africa, including the release of Nelson Mandela.
ISBN:9781842122464
Author:Basil Davidson
Railway across the Equator the story ...
Brief Summary
Fascinating and colorful history of the construction of the East African Railway, a series of lines that once connected Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania under British rule and which still serve various parts of these countries.
The authors provide an objective history of the extraordinary engineering efforts, the economic impact, the African and British personnel involved and the continued utilization and changes through the 1980s.
Every aspect of the railway is here, from the man-eating lions that terrorized the workers to the fine china that once decorated the tables. Illustrated throughout with full color as well as vintage black and white photos. With maps. 192 pages.
ISBN:9780370307749
Author:Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willetts and Alastair Matheson
The illusion of power by GG Kariuki
The Illusion of Power: Reflections on Fifty Years in Kenya Politics.
Kariki's political participation dates from 1952, when he pledged an oath to the allegiance of the Gikuyu tribe, the Mau Mau movement and the cause of African unity. Post-independence, he gradually progressed to being a political insider, serving in the Kenyan African National Union (KANU) and the Kenyan Government. In 1983 he was expelled from KANU - the only political party.
It is from this outsider-perspective, and in this climate of fear and uncertainty, without the desired freedom of association and access to political colleagues of the period of struggle, that he nevertheless here recounts his experiences of half a century in politics.
He holds the belief that political evolution is inexorable; and that knowledge about, and reflection on the past is the only way of preventing the tragedy of yet another generation repeating that which they condemned in their predecessors.
Redemption Song and Other Stories by ...
Brief Summary
Redemption Song and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2018
Now in its nineteenth year the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa’s leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere.
Kenyan writer Makena Onjerika has won the 2018 Caine Prize for her short story entitled "Fanta Blackcurrant”.
This collection brings together the five 2018 shortlisted stories:
• American Dreamby Nonyelum Ekwempu (Nigeria)
• The Armed Letter Writersby Olofunke Ogundimu (Nigeria)
• Fanta Blackcurrant by Makena Onjerika (Kenya)
• Involution by Stacy Hardy (South Africa)
• Wednesday’s Storyby Wole Talabi (Nigeria)
It also includes 12 stories written at the Caine Prize Writers’Workshop, which took place in Rwanda in April 2018:
• No Ordinary Soirée by Paula Akugizibwe
• Tie Kidi by Awuor Onyango
• Calling the Clouds Home by Heran T. Abate
• America by Caroline Numuhire
• All Things Bright and Beautiful by Troy Onyango
• Departure by Nsah Mala
• Where Rivers Go to Die by Dilman Dila
• Ngozi by Bongani Sibanda
• The Weaving of Death by Lucky Grace Isingizwe
• Redemption Song by Arinze Ifeakandu
• Spaceman by Bongani Kona
• Grief is the Gift that Breaks the Spirit Open by Eloghosa Osunde
ISBN:9781623719708
Author:Caine Prize
The Youth of God by Hassan Ghedi Santur
Brief Summary
The Youth of God tells the story of Nuur, a sensitive and religious seventeen-year-old Somali-Canadian boy who becomes radicalized by the teachings of Imam Yusuf at the local mosque in a neighbourhood in Toronto called Dixon that has become synonymous with crime, unemployment, and the broken dreams of many Somali immigrants.
Trying to rescue Nuur from Islamic radicalism is his Somali biology teacher, Mr. Ilmi. Through the story of this one boy, the novel dramatizes the struggle for the soul of Islam.
An excerpt from The Youth of God was recently published in the anthology Imagine Africa, Volume 3, to be published by Archipelago Books.
ISBN:9781988449739
Author:Hassan Ghedi Santur
The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduard...
Brief Summary
Félix Ventura trades in an unusual commodity; he is a dealer in memories, clandestinely selling new pasts to people whose futures are secure and who lack only a good lineage to complete their lives.
In this completely original murder mystery, where people are not who they seem and the briefest of connections leads to the forging of entirely new histories, a bookish albino, a beautiful woman, a mysterious foreigner, and a witty talking lizard come together to discover the truth of their lives.
Set in Angola, Agualusa's tale darts from tormented past to dream-filled present with a lightness that belies the savage history of a country in which many have something to forget -- and to hide.
A brilliant American debut by one of the most lauded writers in the Portuguese-speaking world, this is a beautifully written and always surprising tale of race, truth, and the transformative power of creativity.
ISBN:9781905147151
Author:Jose Eduardo Agualusa
The horn of my love by Okot pBitek
Unsettled Denial and Belonging Among ...
"In 1963, Kenya gained independence from Britain, ending nearly seventy years of white colonial rule. While tens of thousands of whites relocated outside Kenya for what they hoped would be better prospects, many stayed. Over the past decade, however, protests, scandals, and upheavals have unsettled families with colonial origins, reminding them of the tenuousness of their Kenyan identity. In this book, Janet McIntosh looks at the lives and dilemmas of settler descendants living in post-independence Kenya.
From clinging to a lost colonial identity to embracing a new Kenyan nationality, the public face of white Kenyans has undergone changes fraught with ambiguity. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews, McIntosh focuses on their discourses and narratives, asking: What stories do settler descendants tell about their claims to belong in Kenya? How do they situate themselves vis-a-vis the colonial past and anticolonial sentiment, phrasing and rephrasing their memories and judgments as they seek a position they feel is ethically acceptable?
With her respondents straining to defend their entitlements in the face of mounting Kenyan rhetorics of ancestry and autochthony, McIntosh explores their contradictory and diverse responses: moral double consciousness, aspirations to uplift the nation, ideological blind spots, denial, and self-doubt. Ranging from land rights to language, from romantic intimacy to the African occult, Unsettled offers a unique perspective on whiteness in a postcolonial context and a groundbreaking theory of elite subjectivity
A Railway to Nowhere The Building of ...
Mervyn Hill made a significant contribution to East African studies in his history of the Kenya and Uganda Railway from its conception to the creation of East African Railways and Harbours in 1948. Commissioned in 1942 as a 'plain story' of 'the development of the railway' and published in 1949, 'Permanent Way' has long proved a boon to those interested in the history of Kenya and Uganda.
Hill was however at a great disadvantage when writing the official history, most notably because the operation of the 50-year rule prevented him from consulting official documents in the Public Record Office and elsewhere, with the result that he was largely dependent on material published in Parliamentary Command papers.
Two other serious drawbacks were that war conditions restricted his sources to published works and other material available in East Africa at the time and that many of the books and articles which authors now have access to had yet to be written. The Railway to Nowhere does not suffer from these disadvantages and provides a well-researched, authoritative account coupled with a pictorial appreciation of the construction of the railway in the early years of its operation.
There is no doubt that the construction of the railway was a triumph of human endeavour and resolution over the most daunting obstacles and setbacks: the vision and tenacity of the British government in the face of parliamentary, press and Treasury opposition and criticism; the steadfast leadership of Sir George Whitehouse in coping with an often querulous Foreign Office Committee, and overcoming a series of administrative engineering and personal problems; the inventiveness and skill of surveyor engineers when tackling exceptional professional challenges and the hardiness shown by the working gangs, of all races, in carrying on under adverse conditions of climate and terrain.