SATURDAY NATION January 18, 2014 Weekendl25

LITERARY DISCOURSE I Right of reply The harvest is great, we need literary critics

BY CHRIS WANJALA Taban wears a long white beard David Maillu, published in my them. There is enough for all of us VoN [email protected] with a long grisly moustache. I , two books, The Season of Harvest to create, Prof. And I really think literature have since these exchanges with (1978) and For Home and Freedom we do not give a good example to aban Lo Liyong is now an him nurtured a beard to counter- (1980). I was a columnist with younger generations by fighting don puts old professor who travels mand his. The challenge that our the Sunday Nation and a TV and each other," forward his Tfrom juba to Nairobi to I first knew him when I was a generation is putting to radio personality. The harvest is great; what we international book fairs and to young academic at the University you is that knowledge Some people have said unwise, need are literary critics to pore side of the launch his new books every year. of Nairobi and enjoyed a lovelhate uncharitable and self-adoring over the products and report to He enjoys literary debates with relationship with his writings. But has a bigger picture than things about us, but we have us what they see in them. Prof story Ngugi wa Thiong'o, AliA. Mazrui, now, with both of us getting ad- some of us may imagine:' developed thick skins. We say Ochieng slipped out through the after a the late Professor William Robert vanced in years, we seem to be in culture, every generation has fingers of the East African intel- Ochieng' and 1. In most cases, losing our balance. Chris Wanjala its own songs. In the University lectual scene almost in the same' string of William Ochieng, who died three In my culture, when you chal- College, Nairobi, days, when the way Elisha Atieno Odhiambo, weeks ago, and I bear the brunt lenge a son to a duel and you learn Clark did for Nigeria. Sierra Leonnian, Dr Arthur Por- Aloo Ojuka, Henry Odera Oruka, scathing of the debates, and we seldom that he is handling his weapons Ngugi's genius could not ter, was the principal, you could and G.S. Were went. attacks answer back. as dexterously as you do, you halt blossom In the harsh climate count the number of creative For me, the death of Ochieng But now, in honour of my friend the fight and shake hands in ap- of dictatorship and oppression writers from with the was a personal loss because he from Ochieng, my reply to Mwalimu preciation of your son's growth. in 's one-party rule. Of all fingers on your two hands. was the other general in the war Taban 10 Liyong will take the Taban has ruminated over what I the four, he was the man of the Ngugi wa Thiong'o had oniy his against what Nuwa Santongo once renowned form of narrating the sequence said, and of course shot back, and essay, drama and the novel His trilogy of prose fiction to his credit called "stereo-typed pseudo-intel- Sudanese of events involving all of us. created conditions for a truce. I impact, however, thawed in the - The River Between, Weep lectuals?' Our struggle to reinforce am a grown up man now, but I can poison-like Kanu regimes when he Not Child, and A Grain of intellectual life in Kenya is not di- professor allow him to call me names as we and his foot soldiers told the then Wheat. For his drama, he rected at an individual. As Taban part, knowing that he is the elder powerful Attorney General that had only The Black Her- Lo Liyong said in 1969, in the TabanLo to whom I owe respect. the Englishmen at the hehn of mit, a play which was a East Africa Journal: "Knowledge Liyong Taban is a great thinker, an the Kenya Institute of hot number in about Africa can only be gained, essayist and wordsmith whose must leave with their curriculwn on the independence as indeed knowledge on anything communication skills have that put English literature to the day celebrations. whatever, through hard study." greatly matured. He lives fore and African literature to Today, librarians The challenge that our gen- his life as a man of letters the rear. cannot cope with eration is putting to you is optimumly. If I had another Ngugi's future is in the white the number of that knowledge has a big- life, I would reconcile with man's country, wreathed in the books which are ger picture than some him because of his genius mist of exile. We are the former being released by \ of us may imagine. and industry as a writer. young scholars at the University publishers. n Any bearded Afri- But now he has to keep of Nairobi - William Ochieng, the John Sibi-Okumu can who reads this his way as I follow the- true disciple and Bethwell Allan and David K. Mulwa are and says it is mali- one I have charted for Ogot's loyal student who wrote for present-day playwrights ciously directed to myself. the Sunday Post and the Sunday who were also Dr Porter's him would be claiming Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Nation as he studied the history and Dr Iosephat Karanja's ~ simllar sins that he Okot p'Bitek, and Owuor of Abagusii, Elisha Atieno-Odhia- graduates, respectively. Anyumba are Tahan's mbo who came from Alliance High Sibi-Okumu has au- CONTINUED ON comrades-in-arms in School and Makerere University thored more than PAGE 26 their struggle to liberate wielding his fountain pen as six plays to date; literature from the hold he commented on politics and David K Mulwa of the West. They did for wrote his poetry. Henry Mwanzi has more than Kenya what Chinua Achebe, was our theorist who dabbled in 10. In the words Wole Soyinka, Christopher Hegelian dialectics. We assigned of Sibi-Okumu, Okigbo and John Pepper him the study of the Kipsigis and "Francis D. prepared him very well for the Imbuga wrote Maasai studies, which he is to his grave ... doing today. and I would I did the East bet the African stud- Great Pre- ies touching fect has on Ngugi,' neither Taban, rea d Okot; nor Leon- seen a r d any Kib- of era, and

Applied theatre comes under pressure from modem technology

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 acquiring pseudonyms and accents that The more the number of people who This is what theatre practitioners The question is: can virtual commu- fering viewers dramas exploring issues are obviously different from their real attend the performances the happier have been struggling with for a long nities that participate in development that were traditionally considered the identities. Listening to some of these the sponsors are. According to Kamau, thne. Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Kamiriithu debates bring about real change? The domain of theatre. Also appearing on shows, one is inclined to imagine fundeb have realised that the new theatre that terrified the Kenya gov- answer, according to cultural analysts, the screen was social media with its that one is watching a performance media have a far wider reach and are ernment is what Augusto Boal calls is that the media creates communities unlimited possibilities. constructed to intervene in a specific now diverting funds there. "rehearsal for revolution?' with "no sense of place". Of interest is that the interactive societal concern. It can, thus, be argued, according to The messages disseminated by these Theatre for community develop- FM radio programs are hailed as The real tyranny of the new media David Poole and Sophie Le Phat, that new media assume that the Imagined ment deals with problems facing 'shows', This is in a sense imagin- is what a Kenyan theatre practitioner, "the advanced media technology has communities of listeners, viewers, communities in real places. In this ing a performance. Moreover, most film script writer, actor and director, significant and profound impact on the servers, bloggers and twitters are age of advanced media technology, presenters of radio taIkshows have a Kamau wa Ndung'u, calls the game of arts:' Social media, for example, tends homogenous. In this sense, global theatre for development, especially strong theatre background and have numbers. Kamau, who has worked in to create a site for imagined communi- issues are apparently privileged over in Africa, needs to reinvent itself if it brought techniques from theatre into theatre for community development ties to foment and excbange content, to the local ones. has to remain relevant. FM radio. with Sponsored Arts for Education organise, exchange and collaborate. The point of contention here is who Most talkshows are performed by (SAFE-KENYA), notes that funders What are the consequences of this sets-this agenda, how and why. Prof C.J. Odhiambo teaches at the two or three actors or presenters: of intervention theatre are usually ob- incorporation? One that comes to mind Since the messages are framed Department of Literature, Theatre one a serious "professional" radio sessed with the numbers of persons that easily is the role social media played in without considering the peculiarity of and Film Studies at Moi University presenter and the other an actor. The such interventions reach and not neces- the mobilisation of the masses in the listeners, this promotes the top-down and is a Wits University SPARC Dis- presenter-actors are ever playing roles, sarily their transformative impact. recent Arab spring. approach in communication. tinguished Scholar aWard winner ------_._------

SATURDAY NATIOJ 261 Weekend January 18, 2.01

BOOK REVIEW I The history book is meant for children , The book is basedona The story of a narrative by oneofthe country's professor and leading edu- cationists, Professor Kenya's history ]otham Ombisi Olembo"

to present day. Professor Jotham Ombisi Olembo Professor Daniel Sifuna Daniel 5ifuna Granpa Prof traces links Among the fascinating features his life's story and the of the book, published last year by Frangipani Books Ltd, is blending attended Sunday School. fought against the British, who seized 2002; the Kibaki, and Kibaki an changing times of the Grandpa Prof's experiences and the He joined standard one at Kima fertile land from Africans. During Raila era giving way to the currei country over the last 50 history of the country. Primary School. He really missed the First World War (1914-1918), Uhuru and Ruto er~. Grandpa Prof spent his early child- grandma's stories, which his father Africans were forcefully drafted as As a political narrative, the book years of independence hood in the western Kenyan village filled in by teaching him the his- Carrier Corps. quite comprehensive and interestir of Wanakhale in Bunyore. tory of Kenya, including the people In order to compel Africans to to read. However, there are a numb. His grandfather, Olembo, was a who visited the Kenya coast. These provide cheap labour on European of flaws which the author Adjei ougl BY DANIEL 51FUNA headman who worked under chief included Egyptians, Phoenicians, farms, payment of taxes were intro- to have addressed. [email protected] Otieno. Persians, Chinese and Arabs. duced. African dissatisfaction led to Although the story is meant f( At the age of six, Grandpa Prof The Portuguese rule at the coast the formation of polltical associations children, a degree objectivity byna-AnSaa Adjei's book became a herdsboy. What was most was ended by the Omani Arabs in from the early 1920S. required. For example, there we] Grandpa Prof's Story: Kenya exciting were evening stories told by,. 1697, who also introduced slave In 1944, the Kenya African Union some positive elements. of coloni ~ is SO is the third in a series grandma Amimo. trade. (KAU) was formed, strengthened by development which needed to t that also featured Ghana six years ago Grandpa Prof joined the American Slave trade was abolished in 1807, the return of war veterans from the acknowledged. and Nigeria three years back. missionaries of Church of God, with although it continued until the Ham- Second World War (1939-1944). On post-independence develoj It is a history book-meant for chil- its headquarters at Kima, where he merton Treaty Of1873, when British However, the failure by KAU to. ments, the narrative is totally siler dren. It is based on a narrative by one warships began patrolling the coast bring about change led to the Mau on bad leadership, tribalism, repre. of the country's leading educationists, to intercept slave ships. Mau armed struggle, which was sion and corruption. Professor [otharn Ombisi OIembo Britain formed the Imperial British crushed in 1956, and independence Lastly, the story needed to be 0 of Kenyatta University. He is fondly 1697 East Africa Company, which led to the came in 1963. ganised in chapters instead of or known as 'Grandpa Prof.' scramble and partitioning of Africa in Post independence political devel- long narrative. Prof Ombisi narrates Kenya'S his- 1884. The East Africa Protectorate, opments are well discussed from the tory since the colonial period and The year that the Oman! Arabs ended ' as Kenya was known then, became a Iomo KenyaUa and Oginga Odinga Daniel Sifuna Is a Professor at Keny· through independence, which was the Portuguese rule along the Kenyan British territory. era in 1963 and their fall-out in 1966, atta University's _Department of Edu achieved in 1963 when he was 23, up coast The Agiriama, Nandi and Bukusu followed by the Moi era of 1978 to cational Foundations Kenya hosts many foreign writers Daystar to host new

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2S called "Special Lecturers" whether they The more the changes took place at the academy for writers had doctoral degrees or not; Ben Kan- , the more sordid and might have committed and therefore tai, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Fred Okatcha, draconic affairs of state became in Uganda, stands guilty as charged. Godfrey Muriuki and probably Taban Lo Taban 10 Liyong. through Franz Nagel, BV PET[;R ODUOR This country has created a home for Liyong himself. They did not qualify to the director of the Goethe Institut. had many creative writers, artists, rnusiciams, be lecturers because of their skins, White developed a cordial relationship with the Days tar University and dramatists, and literary critics as arrogant academics from Europe, , New German government. After a violent quar- ~1group of Kenyan writers and self-opinionated as Es'kia Mphahlele of Zealand, Canada and were rel with the late Okot p'Bitek, his former have come up with a 14- apartheid South Africa; to the extent that given preferential treatment. \ teacher and fellow countryman, he left week course on creative when I read Ghana'S Joe de Graft's play, When Ngugi wa Thiongo took-over as for . I met Taban at writing and publishing Muftt", or watch a production directed by chairman of the Department of Literature the FESTAC 77. Nigeria, where he had aimed at budding writers. the Sierra Leonian Janet YOW1g, or visit from Professor Andrew John Gun, as the brought Papua New Guineans to partici- The concept of the 14-week Ellmo Njau's Paa Ya Paa Art Gallery which latter left the University of Nairobi for the pate in the cultural festival. He did not like course came after the suc- arose from Es'kia Mphahiele's Chemchemi University of Leeds, he was appointed by the burgeoning nationalism in the Papua cess of the Authors' Buffet Cultural Centre, I do not feel that these the central management of the university. New Guineans. He wandered his way back that was organised last year people are foreigners in our midst. He was not rnstalled by Taban Lo Liyong to Africa through Khartoum. in the city and saw several I am so used to Okot p'Bitek and Theo as an individual. It is common knowledge Okot p'Bitek and David Rubadiri went writers within the city come Muthoni Likimani Luzuka working with me at the East African that departments of English in , to the University of Nsukka, Nigeria, as together for discussions and Literature Bureau, Austin Bukenya, Cliff Dar es Salaam and Nairobi had British visiting professors. They came back to book signing sessions. stories across generation' Lubwa p'Chong, John Ruganda, Elvania heads and it took them many years to Nairobi famished and disillusioned. Al- 'The Creatives Academy: and what makes a goor and Pio Zirimu, Charles Oluoch, Bahadur believe that an African could head a de- though the politics of Uganda and Malawi as the project is dubbed, will manuscript. Tejani, Henry Kimbugwe, Esther Mukuye, partment of English in a university. had slightly improved for them, they were bring together some of the Aside from these, there an Patroco Abangira (all Ugandans) and University of Nairobi's English depart- not psychologically ready to go back. At recognisable names .in the questions that have plagued Gabriel Ruhumbika, Euphrase Kezilahabi, ment, with the campaign mouhted by this time Okot p'Bitek was ill and more or current literary scene in the writers since the days when Ebrahim Hussein, and Florence and Francis members of the Fourth Estate like Philip less followed his personal physician who country for classes that will they wrote on papyrus reeds Msangi (all Tanzanians) as my brothers Ochieng, Awori wa Kataka and Christopher had moved to Uganda. Unfortunately his be held at Daystar's campus on creating a distinct voice and sisters in the literary fraternity that I Mulei, drummed the need for change until physician died ,and Okot p'Bitek also suc- at Valiey Road. There will and identity as a writer, how do not see foreignness in them. it was accepted not only by the university cumbed to his iliness. be weekly (on Saturday) to earn money from writing The three Ugandans who enriched the management, but by senior professors like John Ruganda moved his family to Can- classes from the January 18 and how to look at writing Institute of African Studies of the Univer- Bethwell Ogot, who was the Dean of the ada after obtaining a Canadian citizenship. to the April 29 from 8am to as a career. sity of Nairobi include Taban Lo Liyong, Faculty of Arts, and Simeon Ominde, He did his doctoral studies in Canada but nam, during which different The list of the facilitators Okot p'Bitek, and Francis Nnaggennda. who was the head of the department of returned to Kenya and joined the teaching literary personalities in the and instructors is as diverse No one discriminated against them. They Geography. staff at Moi University. He did a stint there country will facilitate the as the issues that will be complained more about the wildness of before moving to Swaziland and to the learning sessions, looked into, They include 's Uganda than the wildness of University of the North. No one can say The discussion and learn- John Sibi Okumu, Binyavanga Kenya. John Ruganda was forcefully sent packing ing sessions will revolve Wamaina, Stanley Gazemba, Taban, for one, was received with open , by the University of Nairobi. By the time around the basic and most Julius Sigei, Ken Walibora, arms and got a job at the Cultural Division Ruganda went to Moi University, I had often misunderstood ideas Robert Alai, Ministry of of the Institute of Development Studies, All African lecturers were called long moved to Egerton University, where about writing, including Culture, Muthoni Likirnani which he could not get in Uganda. He I founded the Department of Literature. why people write, the tools and Alex Nderttu. subsequenly moved to the Department 'Soecial Lecturers' whether Ruganda died in Kampala in November people need in order to write Some of these people will of Literature. when the University Col- they had doctoral degrees or 2007. Anyone who knew Ruganda and and whether anyone can actu- handle legal matters involved lege, Nairobi, became a full Hedged Wanjala will tell you that the two were ally write. The facilitators will in the world of publishing and university. not. They did not qualify to be great fnends and were sometimes perse- also look at how to develop writing and online PUbli]hmg Before that, all African lecturers were lecturers because of their skin" cuted together. good story Ideas, how to tell and all that comes WIthIt

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