Canon for the revolution: The Kenyan Afrophone Press (1969-1990)

• Hope Kabura, International Relations, University of Delaware

• Wunyabari Maloba, Africana Studies, University of Delaware

Focusing on Kenyan alternative press publications written in indigenous languages (including Swahili), this work sheds light on the thematic content of the Kenyan Afrophone Press and its contributions to democracy promotion and anti-neocolonialism during the one-party period (1969-1990). Through text analysis, this study demonstrates that the publications were not treasonous as purported by the KANU government. Rather, these publications largely promoted national cohesion and the transcendence of ethnic divisions toward the goal of actualizing political freedom and alleviating the economic inequalities imposed by neocolonialism. Past scholarship suggests that Moi’s ‘ideology of order’ undermined the alternative press’ democracy promotion efforts. I propose that this ‘ideology’ presently manifests as institutional ‘forgetting’ of the popular struggle in the post-independence era, limiting the scope of political expression.