Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs
Publication Date
Summer 7-31-2017
Abstract
This thesis examines how some selected Gikuyu popular music propagates ethnic tensions in Kenya by promoting Gikuyu nationalism at the expense of Kenyan nationalism. This music derives its themes from the historical period of the Mau Mau armed struggle against British colonists and connects this struggle with everyday experiences of the Gikuyu people. Memory and the performance of everyday life in this music solidifies the Gikuyu community as tied to a common destiny and distances other Kenyan communities from this destiny. The music consolidates Gikuyu ethnic nationalism and authenticates the position of the community as superior and a dominant force in Kenyan politics. This idea of Gikuyu superiority destabilizes the community’s commitment to nation state nationalism, which creates tensions with other communities in their attempt forge their own place in the Kenyan imagination.
Keywords
Gikuyu, Music, Performance, Politics, Tensions, Nationalism, Kenya
Document Type
Thesis
Language
English
Degree Name
Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
Level of Degree
Masters
Department Name
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
First Committee Member (Chair)
Dr. Stephen Bishop
Second Committee Member
Dr. Francis Higginson
Third Committee Member
Dr. Kristina Jacobsen
Recommended Citation
Mwangi, Peter Njagi. "Music, Politics, and Sociality: Ethnic Tensions and the Performance of Gikuyu Nationalism." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/197
Included in
African Languages and Societies Commons, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Ethnomusicology Commons, Folklore Commons, French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons, German Language and Literature Commons, Linguistic Anthropology Commons, Music Performance Commons, Music Practice Commons, Music Theory Commons, Other Music Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Translation Studies Commons