The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in <i>The Trial of Dedan Kimathi</i> (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo

Saliou Dione

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11

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The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo

Saliou Dione

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 6, Issue 3)

Received: 7 June 2018 Accepted: 6 July 2018 Published: 16 August 2018

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Abstract

Ngugi and Mugo’s co-authored play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976), encompasses a vast vision of history and memory in the indigenous war of resistance against British colonialism. The play aims at focusing on the Kenyan masses-led struggle before and after constitutional independence. It intends to give ground to an insightful analysis of the politics of naming, misnaming, and renaming which, indeed, has been used as a way of fashioning and refashioning this part of Kenya’s history. To make it through, we will adopt an onomastic approach to further see how the two playwrights engage in (hi)story, historicity and memory (re)construction of the Mau Mau revolution and its leader Dedan Kimathi, and herocism and memoria building, and weave (hi)story and ideology with a view to breaking the psychological and economic bondage of the neo/colonial periods. In so being, it will be possible to point out how the protagonist, Dedan Kimathi, sets at defiance the colonialist’s politics of domination and exploitation in the colonial and post-colonial eras.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 6, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11
Page(s)	44-53
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

(Hi)story, Memory, (Neo)colonization, Trial, Politics, (Re)construction, Resistance.

References

[1]	Wunyabari O. Maloba (1993), Mau Mau and Kenya: An Analysis of a Peasant Revolt (Oxford: James Currey, p. 7.
[2]	David Anderson (2005), Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire, New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, p. 10.
[3]	David Anderson (2005), Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire, op. cit., p. 10.
[4]	Caroline Elkins (2005) Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya, Henry Holt and Company, p. 294.
[5]	Kenneth Watene (1974), Dedan Kimathi, Nairobi, Transafrica Publishers.
[6]	Jean-Claude Schmidt (2002), Le Corps des images. Essais sur la culture visuelle du Moyen Âge, Paris, Gallimard, p. 18.
[7]	Ngugi wa Thiong’o & MIcere Githae Mugo (1976), The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, African Publishing Group, p. i.
[8]	Tabitha M. Kanogo (1992), Dedan Kimathi: A Biography, Volume 3 of Makers of Kenya's history, East African Educational Publishers, p. 23.
[9]	Fred Majdalany (1963), State of Emergency: The Full Story of Mau Mau, California Houghton Mifflin..
[10]	Josiah Muwangi Kariuki (1960), “Mau Mau” Detainee: The Account by a Kenya African of His Experiences in Detention Camps, 1953-1960,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Volume 9, Africana Publishing Company, p. 167.
[11]	Franck Furedi (1989), The Mau Mau War in Perspective, Ohio University Press.
[12]	Marshall S. Clough (1998), Mau Mau Memoirs: History, Memory and Politics, op. cit., p. 24
[13]	John Lonsdale (1997), ‘Foreword’ in “Kershaw, G., Mau Mau
[14]	Jacques Derrida (1997), Of Grammatology (Baltimore & London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997, corrected edition, trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak).
[15]	Jean-Claude Schmidt (2002), Le Corps des images. Essais sur la culture visuelle du Moyen Âge, op. cit., p. 19.
[16]	Scott T. Allison, George R. Goethals & Roderick M. Kramer (2016), Handbook of Heroism and Heroic Leadership, New York & London, Routledge, p. 37.
[17]	Elma Brenner & Meredith Cohen & Mary Franklin-Brown (2013), Memory and Commemoration in Medieval Culture, http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1601, accessed May 21, 2018
[18]	Elaine Scarry (1985), the Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World, Oxford University Press, p. 7.
[19]	Claire Eldridge (2018), From Empire to Exile: History and Memory Within the Pied-Noir and Harki, London, Oxford University Press, p. 128.
[20]	Thomas Conley (1991), Rhetoric in the European Tradition, University of Chicago.
[21]	Kon Klancher (1988), “Bakhtin’s Rhetoric,” Landmark Essays on Bakhtin, Rhetoric, and Writing. Ed. Frank Farmer. Mahwah: Hermagoras Press, 23-32.

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Saliou Dione. (2018). The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 6(3), 44-53. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11

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Saliou Dione. The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2018, 6(3), 44-53. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11

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Saliou Dione. The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo. Int J Lit Arts. 2018;6(3):44-53. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11,
  author = {Saliou Dione},
  title = {The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {6},
  number = {3},
  pages = {44-53},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20180603.11},
  abstract = {Ngugi and Mugo’s co-authored play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976), encompasses a vast vision of history and memory in the indigenous war of resistance against British colonialism. The play aims at focusing on the Kenyan masses-led struggle before and after constitutional independence. It intends to give ground to an insightful analysis of the politics of naming, misnaming, and renaming which, indeed, has been used as a way of fashioning and refashioning this part of Kenya’s history. To make it through, we will adopt an onomastic approach to further see how the two playwrights engage in (hi)story, historicity and memory (re)construction of the Mau Mau revolution and its leader Dedan Kimathi, and herocism and memoria building, and weave (hi)story and ideology with a view to breaking the psychological and economic bondage of the neo/colonial periods. In so being, it will be possible to point out how the protagonist, Dedan Kimathi, sets at defiance the colonialist’s politics of domination and exploitation in the colonial and post-colonial eras.},
 year = {2018}
}

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T1  - The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo
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AB  - Ngugi and Mugo’s co-authored play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976), encompasses a vast vision of history and memory in the indigenous war of resistance against British colonialism. The play aims at focusing on the Kenyan masses-led struggle before and after constitutional independence. It intends to give ground to an insightful analysis of the politics of naming, misnaming, and renaming which, indeed, has been used as a way of fashioning and refashioning this part of Kenya’s history. To make it through, we will adopt an onomastic approach to further see how the two playwrights engage in (hi)story, historicity and memory (re)construction of the Mau Mau revolution and its leader Dedan Kimathi, and herocism and memoria building, and weave (hi)story and ideology with a view to breaking the psychological and economic bondage of the neo/colonial periods. In so being, it will be possible to point out how the protagonist, Dedan Kimathi, sets at defiance the colonialist’s politics of domination and exploitation in the colonial and post-colonial eras.
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Author Information

Saliou Dione

Department of Anglophone Studies, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Dakar, Senegal

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APA Style

Saliou Dione. (2018). The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 6(3), 44-53. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11

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ACS Style

Saliou Dione. The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2018, 6(3), 44-53. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11

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AMA Style

Saliou Dione. The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo. Int J Lit Arts. 2018;6(3):44-53. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11,
  author = {Saliou Dione},
  title = {The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {6},
  number = {3},
  pages = {44-53},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20180603.11},
  abstract = {Ngugi and Mugo’s co-authored play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976), encompasses a vast vision of history and memory in the indigenous war of resistance against British colonialism. The play aims at focusing on the Kenyan masses-led struggle before and after constitutional independence. It intends to give ground to an insightful analysis of the politics of naming, misnaming, and renaming which, indeed, has been used as a way of fashioning and refashioning this part of Kenya’s history. To make it through, we will adopt an onomastic approach to further see how the two playwrights engage in (hi)story, historicity and memory (re)construction of the Mau Mau revolution and its leader Dedan Kimathi, and herocism and memoria building, and weave (hi)story and ideology with a view to breaking the psychological and economic bondage of the neo/colonial periods. In so being, it will be possible to point out how the protagonist, Dedan Kimathi, sets at defiance the colonialist’s politics of domination and exploitation in the colonial and post-colonial eras.},
 year = {2018}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Politics of Naming, Misnaming and Renaming in The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo
AU  - Saliou Dione
Y1  - 2018/08/16
PY  - 2018
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 44
EP  - 53
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20180603.11
AB  - Ngugi and Mugo’s co-authored play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976), encompasses a vast vision of history and memory in the indigenous war of resistance against British colonialism. The play aims at focusing on the Kenyan masses-led struggle before and after constitutional independence. It intends to give ground to an insightful analysis of the politics of naming, misnaming, and renaming which, indeed, has been used as a way of fashioning and refashioning this part of Kenya’s history. To make it through, we will adopt an onomastic approach to further see how the two playwrights engage in (hi)story, historicity and memory (re)construction of the Mau Mau revolution and its leader Dedan Kimathi, and herocism and memoria building, and weave (hi)story and ideology with a view to breaking the psychological and economic bondage of the neo/colonial periods. In so being, it will be possible to point out how the protagonist, Dedan Kimathi, sets at defiance the colonialist’s politics of domination and exploitation in the colonial and post-colonial eras.
VL  - 6
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download