To date, no Kiswahili literary study has explored how narrative voice and focalization strategies are utilized in the narration of a specific theme. Most studies tend to concentrate on either themes or literary techniques independently in a given Kiswahili literary work (Tchokothe, 2014: 4). Yet, a comprehensive literary criticism ought to strike a balance between two inseparable elements: form and content (Lanser in Warhol, 1991:613; Khamis, 2005: 414). Exploring how authors deploy narrative voice and focalization narrative strategies to capture the theme of generational conflict in the selected Kiswahili novels, the current study contributes towards addressing this gap.
Moreover, it appears that much of the modern Kiswahili literature especially in prose and drama revolve around common themes of conflicting values such as the conflict between tradition and modernity. According to (Mazrui, 2007: 36-37), these common conflicts have sometimes been presented merely as a contrast between Africa and the West, between the indigenous and the foreign. In this regard, the focus on the concept of generation in this study creates the necessary variety in Kiswahili literary studies. As a social construct, generation can be a fundamental concept in studying literary texts. Its significance as feature of social stratification can not be underestimated. Yet, generation has tended to be neglected as a sociological dimension (Turner,1998:303).
Generational relations between younger and older age groups are the heart of societal continuity and cohesion (McDaniel, 2001:197). This is in line with McDaniel‟s earlier observation that inter-generational transfers are the essence of societal reproduction, continuity, interaction and exchange. Without inter-generational transfers, societies would cease to exist (1997a: 2). In this sense, generation organizes our social worlds in ways as
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profound as gender, class or ethnicity. McDaniel contends that as a social construct, generation may be even more socially timeless than gender, class or ethnicity. Yet it embodies the paradox of being, of necessity, constantly in flux. Social conflicts in the selected novels involve characters that belong to specific generations. It is on this principle that various conflicts on gender roles/relations, circumcision/marriage rites, professional ethics/mutual respect, political ideologies/governance and ethnicity/race are here referred to as generational conflicts.
The focus on generational conflict as a theme in this study is based on the fact that few studies have considered generation as a classification category in society in its own right.
Yet, various conflicts captured in most of the Kiswahili novels reveal that differences in age and modes of socialization play a key role in the way characters act and interact in fictional realms. While characters are fictional entities, they are meant to mimic what goes on in real human societies. While conflicts involving characters from the older and younger generations may not attest to historical truth, they may, to a large extent, reflect what actually happens or could happen in real life situations.
Generational conflicts have especially intensified with heightened globalization in the twenty-first century. With advanced transport and communication systems, interaction of cultures and ideas is taking place at an unprecedented quantity and speed. The older members of society always strive to maintain the status quo while the younger ones agitate for a modern outlook on issues affecting their daily life (Giddens, 2002:63). While generational conflicts may be inevitable in society and in fact can be constructive in checking excesses in behaviour, they can also be counterproductive if they are not checked. This point is reiterated by Mohamed Rabie as follows:
Conflict is one thing that no human being or functioning organization can escape. We all experience conflict and deal with it routinely as we interact to build families, make friends, earn a living, define ourselves, enhance our social status, and carry out our duties towards others. Conflict may destroy existing relationships and may create opportunities for the establishment of new ones, making it both painful and promising. (1994: vii)
Indeed, social conflicts such as generational conflicts are expected in human societies. Yet, they must be checked to ensure harmonious social life. This is the only way to ensure that accrued valuable cultural heritage is transmitted from one generation to the next. This scenario is well articulated by Lancaster and Stillman who studied the collision of generations in the America. They observe that although generations in America have always
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clashed, the gaps in the workplace are wider than ever and of greater strategic importance today. With a longer life expectancy, it is not surprising to have four generations with varying sets of values, beliefs, life experiences and attitudes are converging in one work place. As illustrated by typical generations in America3 generational conflicts can be a major social problem (Lancaster and Stillman, 2002:4-5). Problems emanating from inter-generational differences in the contemporary American society are or could be replicated in other parts of the globe. This is well netted in the selected novels where generational conflicts are manifested in such institutions like the hospital, family and school.
A number of literary critics insist that African literature(s) need and should in fact among other issues, address the social conflicts prevalent in the continent. Gikandi (2007:17) in his article, “African Literature and Modernity” is emphatic on this when he asserts: “Today when the African continent is facing multiple crises, the novelist has to address the social realities”.
On the same argument, Chapman in his article, “African Literature, African Literatures:
Cultural Practice or Art Practice?” states:
“The African literary text should be regarded primarily as a social document since it is the direct result of a political act: that of colonization. It is expected that the African writer addresses the big socio-political issues of the day. The writer who does not do so may end up being considered irrelevant”.
(2007:154)
However, insisting that the African literary text should be engaged with the social issues of the day as its key role mitigates artistry. The African literary text is both an aesthetic and a social document. The Kiswahili novel has been developing in response to the changing world in its themes and literary form (Khamis 2005:91-95). Subsequently, to appreciate the development of the Kiswahili novel comprehensively, one needs to look at it thematically and and aesthetically. This study attempts to meet this need by exploring how narrative voice and focalization narrative strategies are deployed in capturing generational conflict as a major theme in the selected novels.
Four Kiswahili novels spanning the decade between 1999 and 2009 are considered. At the moment, this period is deemed to be the peak of globalization from a point of view of sustained and intensified process. It is an epoch that is characterized with high technological
3 Typologies of generations are given in detail by Lancaster and Stillman Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman, When Generations Collide: Who they are. Why they Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work, 2002, pp. 18-32. Harper Collins Publishers Inc. 10 East 53rd Street, New York.
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advancement with fast means of transport and electronic media. This has in turn enhanced international and cultural interactions which have had enormous impact on the local social-cultural, economic and political structures demanding their revision (Giddens, 2002:63). As traditional societies undergo profound transformations, the established institutions which used to underpin these societies are becoming obsolete. Therefore, a redefinition of intimate and personal aspects of our lives, such as the family, gender roles, sexuality, personal identity, our interaction with others and our relationships to work is crucial. Moreover, globalization has precipitated a sense of post-modernism which has in turn brought about discontinuities and created rifts between different generations of people in many societies (Giddens, 2001:61).
It is therefore envisaged that the Kiswahili novels published within this period can best capture the concept of generational conflict. Members from diverse generations are likely to respond to social, political and economic issues in different ways. Subsequently, generational conflicts are inevitable in any dynamic society. This study sheds light on how the authors of the four Kiswahili novels capture this fact as part of the social realities affecting human interactions in the twenty-first century.
Moreover, it is observed that female artists have tended to be relegated to the background when it comes to Kiswahili written literature. Brown (1981) contends that interest in African literature has, with very rare exceptions excluded women writers. Mazrui is concerned that female writers are less prominent in the creation of Kiswahili literature. He observes:
In all these developments within Swahili literature, women writers are grossly underrepresented. It is as if a de facto gender division has willed itself into the space of modern Swahili literature, with women as the main custodians of oral creativity and men as the main custodians of the written…But it is only Zainab W. Burhani who has risen to become a writer of imaginative prose of regional repute… It is true that Swahili written literature betrays a disturbing gender gap. (2007:36-37)
It is a fact that in the twentieth century, the Kiswahili novel scene was dominated by male authors like Mohamed Said Abdulla, Mohamed S. Mohamed, Euphrase Kezilahabi, Said Ahmed Mohamed, Shafi Adam Shafi, and Katama Mkangi (Bertoncini, 2009:2). However, the twenty-first century has seen the emergence of some prominent female novelists like Zainab Burhani and Clara Momanyi. Hence, the inclusion of Clara‟s and Zainab‟s novels in this study is an appreciation of the efforts of the upcoming Kiswahili women novelists. In this sense, the study also sheds light on the question of gender and literary representation
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(Goodman, 1996:1). More emphatic on this point is Warhol in Hermann; et al. (2010:250) who points out that gender not only influences narrative (narration) but also reading narrative influences the reader‟s gender
.
The analysis of the nature and manner in which generational conflicts are captured in the four novels affirm Goodman‟s observation.The selected novels actually exhibit generational conflicts that are manifested in the actions and interactions of the characters in various settings. These particular works are authored by prominent novelists that have made commendable contributions to the Kiswahili literary scene (Mazrui, 2007:36-7; Bertoncini, 2009:2). Furthermore, the four novels are among the Kiswahili novels recommended for class readership in higher institutions of learning by the Kenya Institute of Education (K.I.E., 2007) and the Tanzania Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (T.E.T. 2010).4 In Kenya and Tanzania, the curriculum is expected to address emerging issues such as peace, gender and child abuse among others (KIE Curriculum Watch, 2008). An article in the Daily Nation newspaper (Friday, January 4, 2013) affirms this argument. It raised a concern that one of the set books in literature for the Kenya Certificate Secondary school Examination (KCSE) should be banned. However, curriculum developers defended it vehemently. They argued that the book suitably imparts to the child values such as environmental conservation, promotion of the status of women in society in line with the syllabus specifications.
It therefore follows that the curriculum advocates for didactic realist literary texts that address emerging issues in the society. Vuta n‟kuvute, Kufa Kuzikana, Kipimo cha Mizani and Tumaini can be described as realist novels befitting the secondary and college audience.
Through them, the implied author vividly performs a cultural communicative act with the implied reader(s). Although experimental fictional narratives5 are not devoid of certain realist features, their literary style renders them transgressive and difficult for the secondary school audience (Tchokothe, 2014:129). From a didactic perspective, the experimental Kiswahili novels might not effectively perform the perlocutionary act and hence the educative role as compared to the realist novels.
4 Books recommended by the Kenya Institute of Educationare listed in the Orange book.
5 Nagona, Mzingile, Babu Alipofufuka and Binadamu are among the Kiswahili experimental novles. For more details read Transgression in Swahili Narrative Fiction and its Reception by Remi ArmandTchokothe (2014).
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The Kiswahili novel as a genre was chosen for various reasons. First and foremost, the novel is an inter-generical literary genre that is predominant in most literate societies. The novel draws upon all other genres like drama and poetry in its form and in its fictionalization process. This is vividly captured by Jahn when he sates:
Novels are an extremely rich and varied medium: everything you can find in other types of narrative you find in the novel; most of what you find in the novel you can find in other types of narrative, whether in nonfiction, natural narrative, drama, film, etc. (2005:N1.1)
Subsequently, the fluidity of the novel in terms of its form makes it a better genre in representing the world compared to poetry and drama which tend to be fixed in their forms (Fowler, 1977:1-2). The selected novels indeed demonstrate the inter-generical aspect of the novel. For instance, Kipimo cha Mizani displays several instances of dramatized conversations between the protagonist and other characters. These conversations together with comments from the heterodiegetic narrator are instrumental in orienting the reading of the captured generational conflicts. A case in point is the scene about the panel that resolves the conflict between Salama (the young nurse) and Dr Juma (KCM.182). In Kufa Kuzikana, the conflict between Tim and his uncle (Samson Tungu) over his relationship with Akida is actually a dramatized conversation (KK.25). By deploying drama in its fictionalization process, the novelist is able to capture the reader‟s interest and imagination which are crucial in deciphering the meaning of the narrated story (Mackay, 2011:39-40).
There are also instances of poetry/songs in novelistic prose. We see how Akida sings a song that causes Pamela to shed tears of joy in Kufa Kuzikana. Furthermore, Akida recaptures a stanza composed by his father warning him (Akida) of the dangers of anger (KK.38, 42). In addition, we come across poetic captions like Tumaini‟s favourite poem entitled „Ukaidi‟ in Tumaini (TUM.46). There is also the song „Hasidi‟ sung by Halima (TUM.57). All these instances not only enhance the narration process but also reinforce the narrated story.
Secondly, the novel is historical in nature. As a genre, the novel tells of how people lived (or live), their manners, their achievements, their errors and even their conflicts. This is articulated by Geoffrey Gent (Washington, 1978:3). This fact is closely related to the third reason. The fact that the novel has always been thought of as the literary form most closely identified with real world representation. Pam Morris (2003:10) observes; “Perhaps…, the literary genre most closely associated with realism is the novel, which developed during the eighteenth century alongside Enlightenment thought…” The novel genre is indeed a narrative
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that tells several stories that represent or mimic certain social realities. One of the stories inherent in each one of the selected Kiswahili novels in this study is generational conflict.
By examining some of the literary techniques deployed in the construction of a narrative, we are in a position to decipher its meaning. By nature, a narrative form (structure) does not so much convey meaning as create it (Chatman, 1978:41; Mackay, 2011:39-40). Therefore, the Kiswahili novel and particularly the four novels are the most suitable works to investigate the representation of generational conflicts.