Obama and Kenya: Contested Histories and the Politics of Belonging (Ohio RIS Global Series)

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Description

Barack Obama’s political ascendancy has focused considerable global attention at the history of Kenya normally and the history of the Luo community particularly. From politicos populating the blogosphere and bookshelves in the united statesand Kenya, to tourists traipsing through Obama’s ancestral home, various groups have mobilized new readings of Kenya’s past in service of their very own ends.

Through narratives placing Obama into a simplified, sweeping narrative of anticolonial barbarism and postcolonial “tribal” violence, the story of the USA president’s nuanced relationship to Kenya has been lost amid stereotypical portrayals of Africa. On the same time, Kenyan state officials have aimed to weave Obama into the contested narrative of Kenyan nationhood.

Matthew Carotenuto and Katherine Luongo argue that efforts to cast Obama as a “son of the soil” of the Lake Victoria basin invite insights into the politicized uses of Kenya’s past. Ideal for classroom use and directed at a general readership interested in global affairs, Obama and Kenya offers a very powerful counterpoint to the many popular but inaccurate texts about Kenya’s history and Obama’s place in it in addition to focused, thematic analyses of recent debates about ethnic politics, “tribal” identities, postcolonial governance, and U.S. African relations.

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