Gukira

• Why Teaching?

  Posted: September 27, 2010, 2:34 am by keguro

  Because every so often, and often very often, a student teaches you to look at something you had missed. Strange Hurt In times of stormy weather She felt queer pain That said, “You’ll find rain better Than shelter from the rain.” Days filled with fiery sunshine Strange hurt she knew That made Her seek the [...]

• Heronormativity

  Posted: September 25, 2010, 4:49 pm by keguro

  A fortuitous textual slip. I will have to find a way to use this!

• A Response to the GOP Draft

  Posted: September 23, 2010, 11:33 am by keguro

  Let America Be America Again Langston Hughes Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed– Let it be that [...]

• Semester Rhythms

  Posted: September 21, 2010, 3:43 am by keguro

  When the amazing bus system in Urbana-Champaign introduced GPS tracking at bus stops, I learned the distinction between saying a bus was 3 minutes away and saying that a bus would arrive in 3 minutes. As we enter into the fourth week of the semester, I am reminded of how time contracts and expands, bends [...]

• We have just finished reading Angelina Weld ...

  Posted: September 18, 2010, 2:02 pm by keguro

  We have just finished reading Angelina Weld Grimké’s incredibly difficult play Rachel, a play whose confessions highlight its dramatic ellipses and silences. Rachel unfolds as a series of Dickinsonian dashes—strewn throughout the text and increasing in frequency as the play proceeds. Narrative progress halts and the play inhabits what a student (who probably has not [...]

• Visionary Writing

  Posted: September 14, 2010, 8:32 am by keguro

  I have been trying to figure out how to feel about Makau Mutua’s latest writing. At first, I thought it was rage, then sadness, then disappointment. I am not yet sure. Probably a mix of all three. Simply, I expected more. His article a few weeks ago hailing the Kamba as a bloc was irresponsible. [...]

• September 12, 2001

  Posted: September 12, 2010, 5:30 pm by keguro

  On September 12, 2001, a stunned world responded to the U.S. with love and care, with expressions of comfort and solidarity, with grief and mourning. On September 12, 2001, the U.S. experienced the arms of a loving, ethical world, arms that it had itself extended to so many nations over so many years. On September [...]

• Simon’s Mother

  Posted: September 9, 2010, 1:37 pm by keguro

  She prays that he will learn to carry someone else’s cross. That grace shall lead his footsteps and mercy guide his walk. She prays that he will brave the swells of hurricane truth. That he will bend with goodness and sway with right. She prays that he will shelter in the shadow of the cross. [...]

• Peppers

  Posted: September 9, 2010, 1:34 pm by keguro

  Peppers

• Ngai

  Posted: September 9, 2010, 1:33 pm by keguro

  Ngai

• Athi River EPZ

  Posted: September 9, 2010, 1:31 pm by keguro

  Athi River EPZ

• Genes

  Posted: September 9, 2010, 1:29 pm by keguro

  Genes

• Promises

  Posted: September 8, 2010, 4:25 pm by keguro

  On September 4, 2010, Nigerian match-maker Pastor Chris Ojigbani promised crowds of single women that they would find suitors within 24 hours. The “spirit” had told Pastor Ojigbani that each woman would have at least four suitors. On August 27, 2010, President Kibaki promulgated the new Draft Constitution, a document that promised to uphold the [...]

• Food, Balloons, and Chairs

  Posted: September 7, 2010, 5:36 am by keguro

  Those who read Glenn Greenwald will have experienced a sense of déjà vu on reading Macharia Gaitho on the promulgation day. Gaitho writes, The starters included cucumber yoghurt and dill salad, followed by roasted pumpkin and ginger soup. The expansive buffet featured items such as kikwetu sauce, marinated rock of Molo lamb, tossed mchicha, roast [...]

• Labor Day

  Posted: September 6, 2010, 6:00 pm by keguro

  There’s a bad joke to be made about how folks in the U.S. work so much harder than everyone else that even their labor day is delayed because they were working overtime. (Preparing to go into the office now.)

• Linguistic Innovation

  Posted: September 5, 2010, 8:51 am by keguro

  A long-standing interest in linguistically innovative poetry has me thinking about interesting new ways (new to me) to cross borders and histories. To understand, especially, the labor of Afro-modernity through the embodied poetics of “dialect.” For now, a mere hint of a suggestion. A juxtaposition. Paul Laurence Dunbar Louise Bennett Amos Tutuola How might these [...]

• Spectacular Homophobia*

  Posted: September 4, 2010, 12:35 pm by keguro

  Homophobic acts in Africa have become spectacles. So much so that we might need to start a new category of tourism: Homophobe Tourism. “Come to Uganda, watch Martin Ssempa talk about “poo-poo!” Come to Nigeria, watch the legislature restrict touching! Come to Malawi, watch the judge sentence the gay and the transgender! Come to Egypt, [...]

• Doing Wrong Right

  Posted: September 4, 2010, 4:59 am by keguro

  Kenya has a long, glorious history of doing the wrong thing right. Through the 1980s, as artists, intellectuals, and activists were tortured, detained, imprisoned, and exiled, many praised Kenya’s political stability. This despite evidence, vast evidence, of human rights abuses. Western-based politicians, policy makers, and intellectuals claimed Kenya was a model of a successful African [...]

• Wrestling Over Bashir

  Posted: September 2, 2010, 12:33 pm by keguro

  As the Kenya media and (so-called) leaders continue to wrestle over “protocol,” they keep losing the plot. For some, not inviting Bashir would have been un-African. Africans are hospitable. We invite all our neighbors to our parties. Even those who have killed and raped our wives. Good old African hospitality! For others, not inviting Bashir [...]

• On Skipping Day One, Part Two

  Posted: September 1, 2010, 4:34 pm by keguro

  Yes, you have fallen behind. I told you not to skip.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes