The Stranger from the Lake
A theme in the history of the Lake Victoria shorelands
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6042374 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael G Kenny (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1982 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-26 |
| Publication date | 1982-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Azania Archaeological Research in Africa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0067-270X • E-ISSN: 1945-5534 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00672708209511297 |
| OpenAlex | W2094201768 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 19 |
In this notable paper, the author analyses a related group of traditions for historical, sociological and symbolic information, with interesting and convincing results. Dr. Kenny is an Associate Professor at the Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada. This paper concerns the sociological, cultural, and historical implications of a theme—that of 'the stranger from the lake'—which is widely found in the oral traditions of lineages residing along the eastern shoreline of Lake Victoria. The theme is that of a young unmarried man who becomes separated from his kin and then journeys out into the Lake where he comes in contact with miraculous power; he then returns to shore and founds a lineage in a new mainland home. It is shown that this theme has the pattern of an initiation and that it resembles stories of the origin of lineages, kingdoms, and ritual offices around Lake Victoria and in the greater interlacustrine region at large. It is also found that this mythic theme draws its power from dilemmas implicit in the status of stranger which apply in real world societies. Finally, the historical implications of one such story are explored, and it is established that this story can be understood only in terms of the lake shorelands as a whole. Thus, this analysis constitutes a plea for viewing the shorelands as an interconnected ecological, social, and cultural region in which certain shared themes commonly recur in structuring the perception of historical processes and events
Archaeology · Genealogy · Geography · Kinship · Mainland · Plea · Power (physics · Shore · Sociology · Theme (computing · Anthropology · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Geology · History · Law · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
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Strangers in African societies
Succession to high office
Historical Archaeology
Local Trade and Ethnicity in Western Kenya
Tanzania Notes and Records
Some Aspects of the Kimwani Fishing Culture, with Comparative Notes on Alien Methods
The classification of the Bantu languages
Oral Traditions and Anthropological Analysis
Pre-Colonial Trade in Eastern Lake Victoria
The Southern Kikuyu Before 1903
Marriage and the Family in Rural Bukwaya, Tanzania
Studies in Social Anthropology
Ghostly Vengeance Among the Luo of Kenya
What shall we do with the drunken king
Mirror in the Forest
The Relation of Oral History to Social Structure in South Nyanza, Kenya
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,05 |
| Citation span | 1988 - 2022 (35) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |