Narrative voice and focalization in the narration of generational conflicts in selected Kiswahili novels

This study explores the deployment of narrative voice and focalization in the narration of the theme of generational conflict. The focus is on four Kiswahili novels: Vuta n’kuvute, (Shafi, 1999) Kufa Kuzikana, (Walibora, 2003) Kipimo cha Mizani (Burhani, 2004) and Tumaini (2006). The study is motivated by the fact that little attention has been paid on the theme of generational conflict in the Kiswahili novel. As a narrative text, the Kiswahili novel is an important medium through which generational conflict as a cultural concept can be communicated. Although generation like any other categorization construct is one of the most powerful analytical tools for studying social relations depicted in literary texts, no literary study in the East African region has so far examined it as an analytical tool in its own right. Moreover, Kiswahili literary studies rarely combine content and form in examining literary works. In an attempt to address this need, the study objectives were first and foremost to explore the nature of cultural communication in the form of generational conflicts in the selected novels. Secondly, the study was to comparatively examine the deployment of literary techniques in the selected Kiswahili novels. In order to achieve these objectives, the researcher sought to answer the following questions: i. What is the nature of generational conflicts depicted in the selected novels? ii. How have the authors deployed narrative voice and focalization techniques in the depiction and reading of the generational conflicts in the novels? iii. How does the implied author in each novel perform a cultural communicative act with the implied reader? iv. How do the different authors compare and contrast in their narration of the generation conflict theme? Four Kiswahili novels written and published between 1999 and 2009 were considered. This period is deemed to be the peak of globalization from a point of view of sustained and intensified process. High technological advancement with fast means of transport and electronic media has enhanced international and cultural interactions. Globalization has thus precipitated a sense of post-modernism which has in turn brought about discontinuities and created rifts between different generations of people in many societies (Giddens, 2001: 61). In this regard, it is envisaged that Kiswahili novels published within this period can best capture the theme of generational conflict. In Kenya and Tanzania, the curriculum is expected to address emerging issues such as peace, gender, child abuse and generational conflict which is a contemporaneous phenomenon (K.I.E. Curriculum Watch, 2008). The selected works are typical realist Kiswahili novels recommended for class readership in higher institutions of education by the Kenya Ministry of Education (K.I.E., 2007) and the Tanzanian Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (T.E.T., 2010). The novels are authored by some of the renowned educationists and novelists in the East African region (Mazrui, 2007: 36-7; Bertoncini, 2009: 2). Subsequently, their works are likely to influence the youth in schools and colleges. The Kiswahili novel as a genre is chosen in this study mainly because the novel is the literary form most closely identified with real world representation. It is historical in nature in that it tells of how people lived (or live), their manners, and their achievements, their errors and even their conflicts (Washington 1978: 3; Morris: 2003: 10). Narrative theory is the framework within which the narration of generational conflicts in the four novels is examined. Specifically, representational narrative theory is preferred because it takes into account the text and its context in the analysis of narrative texts. Narrative voice and focalization are delineated out as the devises that relate and orient the reading of the narrated story. However, since narrative texts are communicative artefacts, the Speech Act theory is also incorporated in this study to elucidate how the implied author in the novel performs a perlocutionary act with the implied reader. A textual analysis based on the Hermeneutic triad reading model yielded data from the four Kiswahili novels. In addition, biographical and autobiographical data was obtained through interviews and focus discussion groups. The target groups were authors, editors, literary scholars and critics (University lecturers), Kiswahili high school teachers and pupils. The textual analysis revealed various inter-generational conflicts namely: inter-generational conflicts on gender roles/ relations, circumcision/ marriage rites, professional ethics/ mutual respect, ethnic/ racial prejudice and political ideology/ governance. Virtually all the generational conflicts captured in the novels are caused by economic social and political systems in the depicted communities. For instance, generational conflicts on gender roles/ relations, ethnic/ racial prejudice are linked to the structural conditions such as oppressive social structures and exploitative economic systems in the portrayed communities. The study also demonstrates that the authors’ gender and historical backgrounds impact on the narration of generational conflicts. Walibora gives more prominence to ethnic prejudice in Kufa Kuzikana while Shafi foregrounds racial prejudice in Vuta n’kuvute. Ethnic discrimination is indeed a major problem in Kenya while in Tanzania racial segregation between the African, Arab and Asian communities is more prominent. Moreover, male authors portray male characters as the main victims of ethnic and racial prejudice. This is exemplified by characters such as Denge and Bukheti in Vuta n’kuvute and Tom, Tim, Jerumani and Akida in Kufa Kuzikana. Comparatively, female authors are more explicit in depicting inter-generational conflicts on family and gender relationships. For example, beneath the conflict on professional ethics and mutual respect in Kipimo cha Mizani, there is a struggle for power between men and women. The right to inheritance is challenged when female characters marshal their support for Halima to obtain the custody of her children and her late husband’s property. In Tumaini, Amina decides to sabotage her husband’s egoistic tendencies to side-line her in family decisions. She realizes the need to challenge customs that are oppressive to the female folk, (TUM.52-3). Moreover, while male authors foreground generational conflicts on ethnic/ racial prejudice female authors are silent on the issue. Although inter-generational conflicts abound in the four novels, there are a few cases of intra-generational conflicts which cut across the older and younger generations. Indeed, the study reveals that a generation is not necessarily homogeneously constituted. Nonetheless, the few cases of intra-generational conflicts in the novels come out to enhance the specific inter-generational conflicts. For instance, although the inter-generational conflict on circumcision rite is championed by young characters, Tina (in Kufa Kuzikana) and Halima (in Tumaini) differ with their generational cohorts by campaigning against the circumcision of girls. In Vuta n’kuvute, young Mwajuma clashes with Yasmin over the choice of a marriage partner just like Yasmin’s parents (VN.170-71). Western form of education has empowered young characters (Denge, Jerumani, Akida, Cynthia, Tom and Tumaini) to fight for their rights. Vuta n’kuvute, Kipimo cha Mizani and Tumaini predominantly exhibit authorial/ heterodiegetic narration modes in the depiction of the generational conflicts. Moreover, in Vuta n’kuvute and Kufa Kuzikana generational conflicts are presented from the protagonists’ ideological standpoint. This in turn reflects the implied author’s attitude towards the conflictual issue. Kufa Kuzikana adopts a homodiegetic/ first person-narration narration mode with character focalization while Vuta n’kuvute utilizes authorial narration with external focalization in relaying the generational conflicts. The first person-narration mode creates the impression of an existing bond between the narrator and the author. It is therefore more effective in performing a perlocutionary act since it readily enlists the emotions of the audience as demonstrated in the generational conflicts on the circumcision rite, ethnic prejudice and governance in Kufa Kuzikana. Both Walibora and Momanyi show that young characters are opposed to the circumcision rite but Walibora gives more prominence to the male characters as seen in the conflict on the circumcision rite. Subsequently, character-focalization in this study reveals how the author’s gender impacts on the narrated story. The study also illustrates that extra-fictional text(s) can reveal the implied author’s position on the narrated story. In all the four novels, the titles and the images on the front covers reveal the implied authors stance on the depicted generational conflicts. For, instance, the title and image on the cover page of Kufa Kuzikana capture the inter-generational conflict on ethnic prejudice. They also divulge the implied author’s stance on this conflict. The same conclusion can be drawn for the other three novels. Contextual data obtained through autobiographies and biographies proves that sometimes the implied author in a literary text is identical to the real author. This is especially the case when the ideological focalization is lodged in the main character(s) whose gender coincides with that of the real author. With the exception of Vuta n’kuvute where we have Denge (male) and Yasmin (female) as the main characters, the other three novels confirm this hypothesis. The responses of the pupils and teachers who read Vuta n’kuvute indicate that literally creators write within a given cultural context and for a particular audience. Vuta n’kuvute challenges some negative cultural practices in the author’s community in Tanzania. By virtue of its publication and selection in the school curriculum, the novel contains an authorised public voice that has successfully performed a cultural communicative act with its public recipient (reader). Based on the findings of the study, several conclusions can be drawn. First, the study affirms that the authors’ ideological stances on the conflictual issues are relayed through the deployment of narrative voice and focalization narrative techniques. Narrative voice and focalization come out as complimentary devices that aid the writing and reading of the theme of generational conflict in the studied novels. Secondly, representational narrative theory is effective in analysing the Kiswahili novel. It takes into account the text and the context in which the novel is written and read. Thirdly, the implied author is a key entity in the transmission of ideals, values and beliefs and ideology inherent in the Kiswahili realist novel to the public reader. Finally, gender and biographical information of an author impacts on what s/he writes and how s/he writes it. Female authors of the selected novels are more inclined to telling as opposed to showing in their narration of generational conflicts. Hence, gender is a relevant concern to the writing, reading and interpretation of the generational conflicts represented in the four Kiswahili novels. This research contributes to the growing literature on Kiswahili literary criticism which encompasses two inseparable aspects: content and form. The study demonstrates how different yet interdependent narrative voice and focalization are as narrative techniques. Furthermore, the focus on generational conflict as a theme in this study reveals the interrelationship between such disciplines as Literature, Anthropology, Sociology and Sociolinguistics.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Bayreuth

Year

2013

Author dc:creator

• Wafula, Magdaline Nakhumicha

Contributors dc:contributor

• KHAMIS, SAID

Repository record source_url

https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/1773/

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:epub.uni-bayreuth.de:1773