Contemporary Kenyan culture and identity in children's literature
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Abstract
Abstract
Studies have established the important role played by children’s literature in Kenya as a carrier of culture and identity, with the focus on post-colonial Kenya and indigenous Kenyan culture. Being a product of the society, this literature has developed further in response to the contemporary Kenyan society as portrayed in this study. This paper analyses the representation of contemporary Kenyan culture and identity in three selected children’s fictional texts: A New Dawn by Njoki Gitumbi; Back to the Roots by Egara Kabaji and That’s a Deal by Lilian Ayatta. Cultural and identity issues in the texts are analyzed using categorical distinctions from the Sociological Literary Theory and the Theory of Nations and Nationalism respectively. The study demonstrates that the selected texts are avenues for interrogating what it means to be Kenyan in the contemporary context. The texts are a representation of how Kenyan children literature has developed alongside the Kenyan society. The concerns of the texts reveal how past and present experiences in Kenya affect the norms of behavior, values and attitudes of the present Kenyan society. The significance of the selected children’s books as sites for transmission of culture and construction of identity in the contemporary Kenyan society is established.
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References
References
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