Imaginaries of oceanic histories in oral and written texts from the Kenyan Coast

Date
2020-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation presents an analysis of selected oral and written texts from the Kenyan coast, with the view of interrogating how differently local oral sources, which have been ignored, suppressed, and omitted for centuries, imagine the Indian Ocean, its histories, and its experience at the Kenyan coast, in comparison to texts written from foreign perspectives. The main objective of this study is to explore the potential of local sources in introducing new facts and alternative perspectives that challenge the narrow view of dominant narratives and instigate us to rethink our understanding of the subject matter. To achieve this, this study pursues two issues. First, it probes the writing of history by interrogating the choices historians and writers of historical fiction make when selecting which sources to use and which ones to eliminate; which perspectives to include and which ones to exclude; which histories to tell and which ones to silence; and consequently, which people to focus on and which ones to marginalise. Following the premise that local oral sources were intentionally left out in the writing of the history of the Kenyan coast, this dissertation attempts to rewrite certain histories of the Kenyan coast using oral history. The outcome is a version of history that fills gaps in written history, provides diverging perspectives, reveals new facts, and narrates history from the perspective of the local people at the Kenyan coast. The second issue this dissertation pursues is a study of the Indian Ocean using indigenous knowledges of the sea that Kenyan coastal people possess. This places the shore folk and seafarers at the centre of oceanic studies. Through exploring embodied, experiential, and intuitive knowledges carried in local sources, this study shifts oceanic studies from surface to depth; produces multiple dimensions of the sea; and imagines a map of the sea that is local, intimate, and personal, one that dominant cartographic techniques would otherwise not capture.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis dra ‘n analiese van uitgesoekte mondelinge en geskrewe tekste uit die kus van Kenya voor, met die doel om te interrogeer hoe plaaslikke mondelinge bronne, wat vir eeue verwerp, onderdruk, of uitgelate was, die Indiese Oseaan, sy geskiedenise, en ervarings by die Kenya Kus, voorstel in vergelyking met tekste geskrewe uit ‘n vreemde. perspektief. Die hoof doel van hierdie studie is om die potensiaal van plaaslikke bronne wat die beknopte seining van heersende verhaale uit daag, te verken en ons aanstood om ons verstaan van die vak te herdink. Om dit te bereik,volg hierdie studie twee sake. Eerstens, bevraagteken dit die skryf van gekiedenis deur die keuses van geskiedkundige en fiksie skrywers te ondersoek in terme hul keuse van bronne wat hulle gebruik of uit laat.; watter perspektiewe om in te sluit of uit te laat, watter geskiedenis om te vertel of stil te hou., en as gevolg, wie (watter mense) op gefokus word en wie vervreem word. Volgens die vermoede dat plaaslike mondelinge bronne doelbewus uit die skryf van die kus van Kenya geskiedenis uitgelaat is, prober hierdie studie om sekere geskiedenis van dìe kus van Kenya herskryf deur gebruik te maak van mondelinge geskiedenis. Die uitkoms is ‘n geskiedkungige weergawe wat gapings vul in geskrewe geskiedis, uiteenlopende perspektiewe voorsien, nuwe feite onthul, en geskiedenis vertel uit die perspektief van plaaslike mense uit die kus van Kenya. Die tweede vraag wat hierdie studie na streef is ‘n studie van die Indise Oseaan deur gebruik te maak van inheemse kennise van die see wat die Kenya kus inwoners besit. Dit plaas die kus volk en seevaarders in die middle van oseaan studies. Deur die ondersoek van beliggaamde, ervaringsleer, en aanvoellende kennise teenwoordig in plaaslike bronne, skuif hierdie studie, oseaan studies van oppervlakkig na diep; vervaardig veelvoudige dimensies van die see; en stel ‘n kaart van die see voor wat plaaslik, intiem, en persoonlik is, een wat andersins nie deur oorheersende kartografiese tegnieke opgeneem kan word nie.
Description
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2020.
Keywords
Coasts -- Kenya -- Folk literature, Coasts -- Kenya -- Oral history, Oceanic histories, UCTD
Citation