Kwani?Binyavanga Wainaina Following and keeping close to the great tradition set by its three predecessors, Kwani? 4 presents a wail of new voices in literary concert with the not so new. The now established talents- Binyavanga Wainaina, Muthoni Garland, Doreen Baingana- share these pages with the fast risers: Billy Kahora, Mukoma wa Ngugi and Shalini Gidoomal. And Kwani? 4 has delved deeper into the all those spaces where the Kenyan story lives: the street corners, the neighbourhood pubs, the in-between semi rural places where the clash of cultures- the traditional versus the modern- continues to redefine the social roles of the individual, dismantle patriarchal constructs and still retain the pithy wit and the devices of ancient orature that time and the ritual of the communal fireside have honed. Still, as though in ridicule of such notions of Africa as being the continent on the lee side of the Digital Divide, Kwani? 4 reaches into the burgeoning realms of the Kenyan blogosphere to bring such politically aware, borderline intellectual and only-two-degrees-shy-of-rebellious voices bringing a fresh look at the old themes of politics, slices of life and religion and placing them alongside such taboo subjects as sex beyond the hetero-normative ideal. Kwani? 4 is established in Africa as the space for cutting-edge new fiction, mind provoking non fiction and photo-essays and witty graphic narratives. |
Contents
EDITORIALS i | 2 |
Nairobi Back In The Days | 37 |
Philosophers Of The Stone | 43 |
GOOGLEPEDIA When You Google I hate Kikuyu | 55 |
A KENYAN WORKPLACE by Haakasa Renja | 64 |
RETURN OF THE TRIBE by Paul Goldsmith | 73 |
HAIRDRESSER by Phylis Muthoni | 86 |
REFLECTION by Steve Partington | 106 |
by Wairimu Ngaruya Njambi and William Obrien 107 | 127 |
HATUA by Kangethe Ngige Mc Kah | 136 |
KADENGE NA MPIRA by Internet Anonymous | 144 |
THE PURPOSE OF THE BLINDFOLD by Peter Trachtenberg | 164 |
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Common terms and phrases
African Alice Amina Andrea Yates asked athletes beer BLOG Brian called Charlie Chrispine Dandora door drink Eldoret eyes face father feel female husband fingers Fourth Generation Warfare friends fucking gacaca genocide Gikuyu girl Gordon hand hapa head Hutu Interahamwe Jemimah Karanja Kenya Kiambu Kianshi Kigali killed Kiswahili knew Kwani lakini land laughed leave living look Mama married Marsabit matatu Mdamu Milka Mo's Mombasa morning mother muzungu Nairobi Nakumatt Ndovu Nduta never night oort cloud Pokot political race remember road runners running Rwanda seemed sitting smile someone speak stared stay Stephen stop story talk tell things thought told tribal tribes trying turned Tutsi victims voice Wacha Dev Wacu waiting walked watch wife woman woman-woman marriages women words Yates