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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Mau Mau after Thirty Years
Author:Anonymous
Year:1983
Periodical:Race and Class
Volume:24
Issue:3
Period:Winter
Pages:259-266
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:Mau Mau
theatre
Politics and Government
nationalism
Ethnic and Race Relations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:The most effective vehicle for the nurture of living culture in a society in which large numbers are still illiterate is drama and much of what is today stigmatised in Kenya as 'radical' or even 'subversive' revolves around the emergence of African theatre. Drama has been a vehicle for questioning the background and intentions of the Kenyan ruling class, as is evident in plays such as 'Mzalendo Kimathi' (The trial of Dedan Kimathi) and 'Ngaahika Ndeenda' (I will marry when I want). These plays have reawakened 'radical' nationalist aspirations in Kenya and have highlighted the divergence between the Kenya of today and the Kenya which the Mau Mau fought for. The authorities have reacted by instituting licensing procedures for the performance of all plays outside the university or the church, and by using these procedures to suppress plays with a social or political message. Another measure of the extreme weakness of the current regime has been the nature of its reaction to the recent hesitant attempts of 'radicals' to re-group politically on a national basis. The government blocked the formation of a new party by refusing it registration and imprisoned one of its prospective leaders for possessing a 'seditious publication' called 'Pambana' (Struggle) (reprinted on p. 322-325). Ref.
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