Vitimbi as a Commentary of Kenya’s Socio-Political Experiences
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Abstract
The essay analyses Vitimbi (1975-2014), a theatre text aired on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. Using the family as its setting, the text wittingly accounts for the socio-political realities of everyday life in post-colonial Kenya. In the main, the essay interrogates how the producer of Vitimbi uses the family to image socio-political issues in post-independence Kenya. The focus is on how the producer uses the family conflicts and interactions as an allegory of the post-colonial nation-state. The artistic use of the family allows me to examine Mzee Ojwang’s family as a microcosm of the large society. The producer realizes this task by inextricably knitting familial and patriarchal structures on one hand with social, economic and political experiences on the other against a backdrop of Kenya’s history. The essay, therefore, problematizes characterisation within the domestic setting to establish how characters are used to address political nuances.
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