'Dala' or diaspora? Obama and the Luo community of Kenya

Carotenuto, Matthew; Luongo, Katherine

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Title:	'Dala' or diaspora? Obama and the Luo community of Kenya
Authors:	Carotenuto, Matthew Luongo, Katherine
Year:	2009
Periodical:	African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:	108
Issue:	431
Pages:	197-219
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Kenya
Subjects:	Luo ethnic identity diasporas
About person:	Barack Husein Obama (1961-)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/27667119
Abstract:	As members of the ethnic group to which the American President's paternal family belongs, Luo people in Kenya and in the diaspora have been eagerly claiming Barack Obama as 'their own' since 2004. This article argues that the fascination with Obama and the ways in which it has been expressed are strongly situated in the historical development of Luo ethnic identification and political power throughout the twentieth century. Luo identity has been primarily constituted within a diasporic context, beginning with the large-scale labour migrations of the early twentieth century and continuing with the activities of the 'dot.com' generation into the present. Simultaneously, patrimonial politics constituted along ethnic lines have rendered Luo political outsiders and heightened the urgency of securing a powerful patron. Given these two trends, Luo people at home and abroad have reached into the diaspora with hopes of finding their biggest 'Big Man' in the figure of Barack Obama. Given the history of strong intersections between the personal and the political amongst the Luo in Nyanza and beyond, it is unsurprising that the continuously evolving notions of what it means to be Luo have most recently coalesced around the figure of Barack Obama. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]