ABSTRACT

Studies on the aesthetic representations of atrocity the world over have taken different discursive dimensions from history, sociology, political to human rights. These perspectives are usually geared towards understanding the manifestations, extent, political and economic implications of atrocities. In all these cases, representation has been the singular concern. Cultural Archives of Atrocity: Essays on the Protest Tradition in Kenyan Literature, Culture and Society brings together generic ways of interrogating artistic representations of atrocity in Kenya. Couched on interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches, essays in this volume investigate representations of Atrocity in Kenyan Literature, Film, Popular Music and other mediated cultural art forms. Contributors to this volume not only bring on board multiple and competing perspectives on studying atrocity and how they are archived but provide refreshing and valuable insights in examining the artistic and cultural interpellations of atrocity within the socio-political imaginaries of the Kenyan nation. This volume forms part of the growing critical resources for scholars undertaking studies on atrocity within the fields of ethnic studies, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, peace and conflict, criminology, psychology, political economy and history in Kenya.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

Conceptualizing Representations of Atrocity in Art

part 1|172 pages

Representations of Atrocity in the Contemporary Kenyan Novel

chapter 7|17 pages

Sycophants in a Cannibal State

Kenya in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Wizard of the Crow

part 3|84 pages

Representations of Atrocity in Popular Arts

chapter 15|16 pages

Between Fait Accompli and Eruptions of Violence

The Kenyan Social Imaginary in Selected Stories of Kwani?05

chapter 17|18 pages

Screening Violence and Reconciliation

The Production and Circulation of Films about the Kenyan Post-election Violence of 2007/2008

chapter 18|15 pages

Bestial Zoosemic Labelling in Kenyan Political Songs

A Conceptual Metaphor Perspective

part 4|38 pages

Representations of Atrocity in Kenyan Poetry

chapter 21|20 pages

Swahili Poetry and Atrocity in Postcolonial Kenya

Accounts of Three Kiswahili Poets