Ex-Senior Chief Koinange on Colonists

Publication Instance Details #1164

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	No	No	No	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies Displacement/Forced Migration
Languages	English
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	Koinange wa Mbiyu was the head of the prominent Koinange family. He was the son of the prominent Kikuyu chief, and served as a key African colonial chief in Central Kenya during the 1950s. He took no part in the Mau Mau uprising. This poem appears to portray his feelings on colonists - likely the British, although Koinange worked with the colonial powers. The speaker of the poem describes the displacement and disenfranchisement of people who have lost their fatherlands, who dream of returning to them, and who cannot. The speaker of the poem describes this loss of land and heritage in emotional terms.