Thanks for this thoughtful conversation, as usual. On tourism, I recently rewatched Out of Africa and there was something eerily present-day about it. It's the way that Africans existed everywhere as servants, as rickshaw pullers, as village folk. But those Africans had no interior lives, they were not the focus. That's how Magical Kenya markets Kenya. Kenyans are part of the landscape, but they are not the protagonists of their marketing. In the movie, the Maasai had a particular allure, they appeared and disappeared like apparitions, they were feared and admired. Again, Maasai imagery is all over our marketing and in a strange way, is the closest thing to a national identity that we have because of just that. I read an article afterwards by Abdi Latif and he wrote about how the Kenyan guides Karen Blixen museum still talk about how the Karen's Kikuyu tenants admired her. Two other great pieces of writing include the Original Karen by Carey Baraka and the Whiteness Conference by Christine Mungai. In fact, I think you and Christine would have an amazing discourse on whiteness and white supremacy on Kenya. A small note, it would be nice if, as you segue into new topics, you provide a sentence of introduction e.g "I wanted us to talk about X. For those who are not aware, X is the founder of Y and he recently did Z..." I went and did research on the some of the topics you discussed but I still think it would help the audience get on the same page by very briefly providing background.
Kenyan leaders remind me so much of Mohamed Reza Pahlavi of Iran who blew through his nation's resources to entertain and impress White leaders by throwing a huge bash for them in the Iranian desert in 1971. The Iranian Islamic Revolution happened less than a decade after this spectacle. For me, the worrying thing is that Kenyans [unlike Iranians] tend to release their pent up stress and rage on their own neighbors, rather than the politicians who have impoverished and mistreated them for years. Every time acquaintances express surprise at the sheer number of Kenyans who can be seen milling about Nyayo House at 5 or 6 am on any given day to get passports to leave the country, I suspect that those Kenyans are not just going abroad in search of jobs, but also for a sense of safety that they cannot find at home.
On taking it out on their neighbours is spot on. The bullying that happens the violence towards children and public citizens is a clear demonstration of the psyche turbulence happening in our inner world. This displacing of frustration towards objects and people with lesser rank is because we haven't yet challenged the ways in which we have been indoctrinated. And now the purging of social sciences arts and humanities from academic institutions... The madness in this country.
Thanks for another stimulating conversation. The thread across a lot of the observations is Kenyans love for mediocrity and shortcuts across all spheres ...
Dear Comrade. I am asking your high academic very knowledgeable. I listen to your work or videos .i learned things i did not know. Please watch out to my country South Sudan. This white colonialist is hot cake to exploit.
Thanks for this thoughtful conversation, as usual. On tourism, I recently rewatched Out of Africa and there was something eerily present-day about it. It's the way that Africans existed everywhere as servants, as rickshaw pullers, as village folk. But those Africans had no interior lives, they were not the focus. That's how Magical Kenya markets Kenya. Kenyans are part of the landscape, but they are not the protagonists of their marketing. In the movie, the Maasai had a particular allure, they appeared and disappeared like apparitions, they were feared and admired. Again, Maasai imagery is all over our marketing and in a strange way, is the closest thing to a national identity that we have because of just that. I read an article afterwards by Abdi Latif and he wrote about how the Kenyan guides Karen Blixen museum still talk about how the Karen's Kikuyu tenants admired her. Two other great pieces of writing include the Original Karen by Carey Baraka and the Whiteness Conference by Christine Mungai. In fact, I think you and Christine would have an amazing discourse on whiteness and white supremacy on Kenya.
A small note, it would be nice if, as you segue into new topics, you provide a sentence of introduction e.g "I wanted us to talk about X. For those who are not aware, X is the founder of Y and he recently did Z..." I went and did research on the some of the topics you discussed but I still think it would help the audience get on the same page by very briefly providing background.
These are the conversations we need to be having on a daily basis!!
We need many of these conversations.
What a thoughtful conversation! I need to meet Mordecai Ogada. I want to listen to him more closely.
Kenyan leaders remind me so much of Mohamed Reza Pahlavi of Iran who blew through his nation's resources to entertain and impress White leaders by throwing a huge bash for them in the Iranian desert in 1971. The Iranian Islamic Revolution happened less than a decade after this spectacle. For me, the worrying thing is that Kenyans [unlike Iranians] tend to release their pent up stress and rage on their own neighbors, rather than the politicians who have impoverished and mistreated them for years. Every time acquaintances express surprise at the sheer number of Kenyans who can be seen milling about Nyayo House at 5 or 6 am on any given day to get passports to leave the country, I suspect that those Kenyans are not just going abroad in search of jobs, but also for a sense of safety that they cannot find at home.
Courage is not something that Kenyans tend to have
On taking it out on their neighbours is spot on. The bullying that happens the violence towards children and public citizens is a clear demonstration of the psyche turbulence happening in our inner world. This displacing of frustration towards objects and people with lesser rank is because we haven't yet challenged the ways in which we have been indoctrinated. And now the purging of social sciences arts and humanities from academic institutions... The madness in this country.
My brain thanks you two. Salut!
Hating the mwananchi is a cult in Kenya
Thanks for another stimulating conversation. The thread across a lot of the observations is Kenyans love for mediocrity and shortcuts across all spheres ...
I saw the Herman Manyora video and I was disgusted. Thank you Mordecai for pointing this out Maisha Kazini
Great conversation!
Great conversation!!!!!!!
Please provide context to your listeners before discussing a topic. I don’t know the pretext for the particular article(s) that you are talking about.
Finally!
Dear Comrade. I am asking your high academic very knowledgeable. I listen to your work or videos .i learned things i did not know.
Please watch out to my country South Sudan. This white colonialist is hot cake to exploit.
"We need to put contraceptives on lions because they are eating too many lions" I laughed my lungs out when I heard this. 🤣
Unemployed youth celebrating tax holidays promised by BBI. Oh loooord why us 😭😭😭😭😭
"Mido Crass" 😂😂😂
Our identity is not kenya but "kinya"
Ati give lion contraceptive to save zebra? 😂😂😂
Why should you invent a car, if cars already exist. Point home😅