Issue
3 - It’s our Turn to Lead: Generational Succession in Hawa Essuman’s Soul Boy (2009)
Corresponding Author(s) : Jacqueline Ojiambo
Africa Development,
Vol. 42 No. 4 (2017): Africa Development: Special Issue on: ‘Emergence’ on Screen and on Stage
Abstract
This article examines the contribution of Kenyan films to everyday life and public policy debates. Using Hawa Essuman’s Soul Boy as a case study, it examines how the film critically engages with the gerontocratic texture of the Kenyan political landscape. Reading the film through an allegorical lens, it shows how the film strategically contributes to initiatives that advocate for a more inclusive political processes and also how the film advances the cause of imagining processes of change in leadership by creatively drawing on the rich repetoire of African cultural forms. The article argues for a re-composition of roles and responsibilities in leadership that includes the youth.
Keywords
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- Africa journal, n.d. Kenya Soul Boy.mp4.
- Ahmad, A., 1987, Jameson’s Rhetoric of Otherness and the ‘National Allegory’, Social Text 3–25.
- Buchanan, Ian, 2010, A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Fletcher, Angus., 1965, Allegory the Theory of a Symbolic Mode. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Forti, Daniel and Grace Maina., 2016, “The Danger of Marginalisation: An analysis of Kenyan Youth and their integration into political and social life” (55-85) [Accessed: 22 Jul 2016].
- Gabriel, Teshome, 2002, Foreword. A cinema in Transition, a cinema of change. By Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike. Questioning African Cinema: Conversations with African Filmmakers. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (ix-xii).
- Jameson, Fredric., 1986, “Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism.” Social Text, 15., 65-88 Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/466493 [Accessed :12. Oct .2011].
- Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1963, The Family Among the Australian Aborigines: A Sociological Study, New York: Schocken Books.
- Mbiti, John, 1969, African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann.
- McClintock, Anne, 1993, “Family Feuds: Gender, Nationalism and the Family.” Feminist Review no 44 :61-80. [Accessed: 11 Mar 2016] Mohiddin, Ahmed, 1988, “African Leadership: The Succeeding Generations Challenges and Opportunities” [ Accessesed :23 Dec 2016].
- Musila, Grace, 2010,“The ‘Redykyulass Generations’ intellectual interventions in Kenyan Public Life”, Journal of Youth Research 18.3: 279-299. Available from: http.//www.sagepublications.com [ Accessed: 16 Aug. 2016] Mwangola, Mshai, 2007, “Leaders of Tomorrow? The Youth and Democratisation in Kenya”, Kenya: The Struggle for Democracy. London: Zed.
- Xavier, Ismail, 1999, “Historical Allegory.” The Blackwell Companion to Film Theory. Eds. Toby Miller and Robert Stam, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing."
References
Africa journal, n.d. Kenya Soul Boy.mp4.
Ahmad, A., 1987, Jameson’s Rhetoric of Otherness and the ‘National Allegory’, Social Text 3–25.
Buchanan, Ian, 2010, A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fletcher, Angus., 1965, Allegory the Theory of a Symbolic Mode. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Forti, Daniel and Grace Maina., 2016, “The Danger of Marginalisation: An analysis of Kenyan Youth and their integration into political and social life” (55-85) [Accessed: 22 Jul 2016].
Gabriel, Teshome, 2002, Foreword. A cinema in Transition, a cinema of change. By Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike. Questioning African Cinema: Conversations with African Filmmakers. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (ix-xii).
Jameson, Fredric., 1986, “Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism.” Social Text, 15., 65-88 Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/466493 [Accessed :12. Oct .2011].
Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1963, The Family Among the Australian Aborigines: A Sociological Study, New York: Schocken Books.
Mbiti, John, 1969, African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann.
McClintock, Anne, 1993, “Family Feuds: Gender, Nationalism and the Family.” Feminist Review no 44 :61-80. [Accessed: 11 Mar 2016] Mohiddin, Ahmed, 1988, “African Leadership: The Succeeding Generations Challenges and Opportunities” [ Accessesed :23 Dec 2016].
Musila, Grace, 2010,“The ‘Redykyulass Generations’ intellectual interventions in Kenyan Public Life”, Journal of Youth Research 18.3: 279-299. Available from: http.//www.sagepublications.com [ Accessed: 16 Aug. 2016] Mwangola, Mshai, 2007, “Leaders of Tomorrow? The Youth and Democratisation in Kenya”, Kenya: The Struggle for Democracy. London: Zed.
Xavier, Ismail, 1999, “Historical Allegory.” The Blackwell Companion to Film Theory. Eds. Toby Miller and Robert Stam, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing."