aFRica

[iii] In another riff on kimay and Kenyan
identity, Wainaina writes:
―Urban Kenya is a split personality:
authority, trajectory, international citizen in
English; national brother in Kiswahili; and
content villager or nostalgic urbanite in our
mother tongues. It seems so clear to me here
and now, after South Africa, which is so
different. There, there is a political battle to
resolve embattled selves. Every language
fights for space in all politics. In this part of
town, all three Kenyas live: city people who
work in English making their way home; the
village and its produce and languages on the
streets; and the crowds and crowds of
people being gentle to each other in
Kiswahili. Kiswahili is where we meet each
other with brotherhood.
It is an aspect of Kenya I am always
acutely aware of—and crave, because I don‘t
have it all. My third language, Gikuyu, is
nearly non-existent; I can‘t speak it. It is a
phantom limb, kimay…‖ (125)
*For Pius Adesanmi: Do We Still Have Postcolonialism?
was first published on
www.xokigbo.wordpress.com.
Saraba | Issue 13 | Africa 78