Construction of AbaGusii cultural image and identity in Christopher Monyoncho's popular poetry: The Prevalent Theme of Marriage Blues
Main Article Content
Abstract
Construction of cultural image and identity in society has been a major focus in academia in recent times. However, most of the studies done in the area target stylistics, imagery, and group artists as opposed to individual artists. The objective of this study was to critically uncover how cultural image and identity in prevalent themes are constructed through the oral and popular poetry of Monyoncho. This iconic AbaGusii Benga music artist plied his trade among the AbaGusii, a Western Kenya Bantu community for over four decades. The AbaGusii like all African communities had suffered colonial disruptions and Westernization that upset their social cultural systems. The study employed two theories, namely, the ethnopoetics theory to account for step-by-step translations from EkeGusii to English and dialogism to interrogate the several voices from the dynamic to conservative within the spectrum of patriarchal, pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods and the thematic concerns of that given era. A descriptive research design was employed, and in terms of their theoretical implications. The study would be of interest to a wide range of researchers, linguists, anthropologists, and students concerned with theory, practice, and development of language, social, political, historical, literature and cultural studies.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC-SA) license.
You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
How to Cite
References
Adetunji, A. A (2011). “Language and identity representation in popular music.” Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. International journal of innovative interdisciplinary resource, issue 1.
Alembi, E. (2002). The construction of the Abanyole perceptions on death through oral funeral poetry. Datacom, Helsinki.
Beller, J. L. (2003). “Numismatics of the sensual, calculus of the image: The pyrotechnics of control.” Online magazine of the visual narrative-ISSN 1780-678X.
Bironga, T. O. (2014). The literary aspects in Christopher Monyoncho’s songs and their social cultural influences on the Kisii community. University of Nairobi. Nairobi.
Blevins, J. (2008). “Introduction.” In Jacob Blevins (ed.), Dialogism and lyric self-fashioning: Bakhtin and the voices of a genre. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 11-22.
Bosire, K. M. & Machogu, K. G. (2013). Ekegusii encyclopedia. Ekegusii encyclopaedia Project.
Brubaker, R. & Cooper, F. (2000). “Beyond ‘identity”. Theory and society, 29(1), 1-47.
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed approaches. Sage publications, incorporated.
Egara, S. K. (2005). The Construction of gender through the narrative process of the African folktale. Doctorate thesis, University of South Africa.
Egya, S. E. (2011). “Poetry as dialogue: A reading of recent Anglophone Nigerian poetry.” E-cadernosces, journals.openedition.org
Fayola, T. & Agwuele, A. (2009). 2009: Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture. (NY. University of Rochester Press).
Finnegan, R. (2012). Oral literature in Africa. Open books publishers. CIC. Ltd. Cambridge, UK.
Finnegan, R. (2018). “Drama: oral literature in Africa.” Open Book publishers, p 485-501.
Frith, S. (1989). World music, politics and global change. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Frith, S.C. (1996). “Music and identity-110 questions of cultural identity.” Online article.
Gearhart, R. K. (1998). Ngoma memories: A history of competitive music and dance performance on the Kenya coast. The University of Florida.
Glesne, C. (2006). Becoming qualitative researchers: an introduction (3rded.). New York, NY Pearson, education, Inc.
Goddard, B. (2006). “Oral literature in English.” Online article. Hal Id.Tel
Holquist, M. (2011). Dialogism: Bakhtin and his world. New York: Routledge.
Hymes, D. (2004). In vain I tried to tell you: Essays in Native American ethnopoetics.2nd edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Inkeles, A. & Levinson (1969). “National character: the study of modal personality and sociocultural systems.” Addison-Wesley Reading. pp 405-506.
Jason, H. (1968).A Multidimensional approach to oral literature: A Proposal. Current Anthropology. Chicago, Illinois.
Kabore, A. (2014). “Orature as a characteristic of the literatures of Werewere-liking and Pacere.” University of Ouagadougou, IJSELL, Vol.2, Issue 4, pp13-30.
Kerlinger F.N. (1986). Behavioural research. A conceptual approach. New York: HOLT, Rinehart and Windston.
Khalip, J. & Mitchell R. (2011). Releasing the Image: From literature to New Media edited. Stanford University Press.
Lacan, J. (1991). The seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book 11, the ego in Freud’s theory and in the technique of psychoanalysis 1954-1955. W.W. Norton & Company, New York.
Levine, R. A. & Levine B. B. (1966). Nyansongo, a Gusii community in Kenya. New York, Willey.
Levine, R. A. (1932). “Witchcraft and sorcery in a Gusii community. Witchcraft and sorcery in East Africa.” London: Routledge and Paul. 221-255.
Livan, B. (2004). “Orature vs. literature in post-colonial African literature.” Online article.Retrieved online on July 2017.
Maina, B. S. (2013, October 4). “The demise of Monyoncho Araka.” Retrieved from www. nation.co.ke
Makokha, J.K.S.; Egara, K. and Dipio, D. Eds. (2011). “East African literature: essays on written and oral traditions.” Berlin: Logos Verlag, 513 pp.
Mayer, P. (1950). Gusii bride wealth law and custom. Rhodes-Livingstone, Oxford University, Cape Town.
Mendoza, K. (1993). Talking books: Ethnopoetics, translation, text. Camden House.
Modebadze, I. (2013). The national language image of the world and processes of cultural globalization. Social studies, Mykolas Romeris University
Mogire, G. (2013, October 26). “The burial of Monyoncho Araka.” Retrieved from www. Nation.co.ke
Moraová, H. (2013). “Imagology-A possible methodological approach to the study of narrative texts in mathematics textbooks.” Textbooks and Educational Media in a Digital Age, pp.36-41.
Music, P. (2015). “14 ketebul Music.” Preserving Popular Music Heritage: Do-it-Yourself, Do-it-Together, 175.
Nerlove, S. B. (1969). Trait dispositions and situational determinants of behavior among Gusii children of southwestern Kenya. Halsh.archives-ouvertes.fr
Ngechu, M. (2004). Understanding the research process and methods. An introduction to research methods. Acts Press, Nairobi.
Ngugi W. T. (2007). “Notes towards a performance theory of orature.” DOI, performance research vol. 12 issue 3 pp.4-7.
Njogu, K. (2004). Reading Poetry as Dialogue: An East African Literary Tradition. Nairobi: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation.
Nyakina, W. (2008, December 7). “Python skin’ enchanting fans 40 years on.” Retrieved online. www.standardmedia.com.
Nyamwaka, E. O. (2012). Creative arts and cultural dynamism: a study of music and dance among the Abagusii of Kenya, 1904-2002. Kenyatta University, Nairobi.
Nyandoro, G. O. (2020). “Imagining cultural antecedents in constructing autobiographical self: Duncan Ndegwa’s Walking in Kenyatta Struggles: My Story (2006)." Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 1(3), 7-19. https://royalliteglobal.com/advanced humanities/article/view/155
Ochieng’, W. R. (1974). A Pre-colonial history of the Gusii of western Kenya, C. A.D 1500-1914. Nairobi: East Africa Literature Bureau.
Ojaide, T. (1996). Poetic imagination in black Africa: Essays on African poetry. North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press.
Orina, A.F. (2014). Analysis of symbolism and transcience in the oral literature of Abagusii of Western Kenya. University of Nairobi, Nairobi.
Quick, C. (1999). Ethnopoetics. Folklore forum.
Rothenberg, J. & Tedlock, D. (1970). Oral poetries from Native American cultures. Indiana University.
Skulj, J. (2000). “Comparative literature and cultural identity.” CLCWeb comparative literature and culture 24 http://doc.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/Vol2/iss4/5.
Stam, R. (1991). Baktin polyphony and ethical acial representation. University of Illinois Press.
Tedlock, D. (1972). Finding the center: Narrative poetry of Zuni Indians. New York, Dial Press.
Wesling, D. (2008). Bakhtin and the social moorings of poetry. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press.
Ziriwa, E. (2014). Influence of orature on African literature. The Herald.