Contesting the Subaltern Narrative: The Trickster Trope in the Kenyan Political Autobiography

Abstract

This article is a critique of the idea of subalternity ¹ as it is used in the Kenyan political autobiographies of leaders who have reigned but never ruled. ² The study is largely located within postcolonial theory, with particular emphasis on the strand that interrogates the interest that inhabits the production of knowledges about the self. The biographical method was used to analyse Jaramogi Odinga’s Not Yet Uhuru, Bildad Kaggia’s The Roots of Freedom, Raila Odinga’s The Flame of Freedom and Joseph Murumbi’s The Path Not Taken. Interrogating the dangers of a single story, the paper argues that the Kenyan political autobiography is heavily loaded with rhetorical performances determined by the need to tell an effective story. Using trickery, and hiding behind the hackneyed utopian concept of speaking truth to power, the leaders examined here project selves that are fearless, bold and revolutionaries aiming to forcefully and strategically mythologise themselves. This process is made possible in the contexts of historical (re)writing. Thus, Jaramogi, Kaggia, Raila and Murumbi’s portrayal of themselves as victims and subalterns in their autobiographies are for disguise, deception, and indirection while maintaining an outward impression, in power-laden situations, of willing, even enthusiastic consent.