Kalenjin popular music and the contestation of national space in Kenya

Bibliographic Data

ID2182211
AuthorsPeter Simatei (Moi University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume4
Issue3
Pages425-434
Publication date2010-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Eastern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1753-1055 • E-ISSN: 1753-1063
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17531055.2010.517409
OpenAlexW2142287556
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited11

This paper addresses how Kalenjin popular music, played mainly on the Kalenjin language KASS FM Radio based in Nairobi and also broadcasting on the Internet, participates in the consolidation of Kalenjin identities by recasting the collective national space – as governed by the nation-state – as a sphere of influence potentially injurious to imagined Kalenjin cultural and economic interests. It becomes a music of identity that deploys history, mythology and narration as a means of reshaping Kalenjin self-definition and culture. But while paying attention to these forms of ethnic self-definition, and how they are used to counter the homogenizing and hegemonizing logic of the national space, this paper also addresses the contradictions that circumscribe the music's gesture towards the pure ethnic while operating from a space that is already hybrid and multicultural, shaped by a confluence of non-Kalenjin ways of life, values and ideas. The conclusion shows how the emergence of new sites of power brokering has challenged the nation-state's governance of the public domain

Art · Ethnic group · Literature · Media studies · Multiculturalism · Mythology · Narrative · National identity · Political economy · Political science · Public sphere · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law