Narrating Kenyan Silenced Histories through Fiction in Yvonne Owuor’s Dust

ABSTRACT

The primary focus of this paper is to examine the intersection of history and fiction in Yvonne Owuor’s novel Dust to unearth silenced (hi)stories in colonial and postcolonial Kenya while locating the text within its historical context. By examining intersection of history and fiction, the paper sees fiction as an effective device in reflecting and breaking Kenyan silenced socioeconomic and political stories. It postulates that through fictionalised history, creative writers create new insights to represent the past, as a way of recovering alternate histories that might have been stifled in the official historical account. Therefore, fictionalised history challenges the implicit closure present in the official version of history.

KEYWORDS:

• fiction
• histories
• violence
• nationalism
• disillusionment
• corruption

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 This paper is an abridged Chapter of my MA Literature Thesis Narrating Kenyan History through Fiction in Yvonne Owuor’s Dust presented for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Literature, University of Nairobi, August 2015.