Gendering the Indian Ocean

The list of East African writers is intended to be a resource for teachers who would like to include, in their course syllabi, texts by Indian Ocean writers from the East African littoral.  This list does not seek to be exhaustive.  The works here are mainly novels and collections of short stories, with some drama and collections of poetry. Many of the following writers have since moved from their country of origin (e.g., Gurnah now lives in the UK).  Others hail from another location, and have since made their home in E. Africa (e.g., Macgoye is from the UK, and has made Kenya her home).

Beginning in late Summer 2003, I will start to augment this list with links to helpful websites, and will add to the list of secondary sources.  Future additions will also include lesson assignments and reading questions particularly related to questions of gender (e.g., how do authors represent the ways nationalism and the state affect men and women differently?).  I welcome suggestions and comments, though unfortunately I will not be able to act on them nor respond to them until next summer.  However, I will keep them on file.  You may email me at jdubino@mail.plymouth.edu.
 

Primary List
 

Kenya Akare, Thomas.    The Slums   Twilight Woman Gicheru, Mwangi.     Across the Bridge    The Double Cross    The Ivory Merchant    The Mixers    Two in One Kahiga, Samuel.     Dedan Kimathi, the Real Story    Flight to Juba    The Girl from Abroad    Lover in the Sky    Paradise Farm    Potent Ash (co-authored with his brother Leonard Kibera) Kibera, Leonard.     Voices in the Dark     Potent Ash (co-authored with his brother Samuel Kahiga) Macgoye, Marjorie Oludhe.    Coming to Birth    Growing up at Lina School (for children)    Murder in Majengo    Song of Nyarloka and Other Poems Mangua, Charles.     Kanina and I    Son of Woman    Son of Woman in Mombasa    A Tail in the Mouth:  A Novel Mativo, Kyalo. Mollel, Tollolal. Mwangi, Meja.     Adventures with Little White Man    Bread of Sorrow    The Bushtrackers     Carcass for Hounds     The Cockroach Dance     Going Down River Road     The Hunter’s Dream     Kill Me Quick     The Return of Shaka     Striving for Wind     Taste of Death     Weapon of Hunger Ngugi wa Thiongo’o.     Black Hermit    Detained:  A Writer’s Prison Diary    Devil on the Cross    A Grain of Wheat    I Will Marry When I Want     Petals of Blood    The River Between    Secret Lives and Other Stories    This Time, Tomorrow    The Trial of Dedan Kimathi    Weep Not, Child Ogot, Grace.     The Graduate    The Island of Tears    Land without Thunder    The Other Woman and Other Stories    The Promised Land    The Strange Bride Somalia Askar, Ahmed Omar.     Sharks and Soldiers Farah, Nuruddin.     Close Sesame:  A Novel    From a Crooked Rib    Gifts    Maps    A Naked Needle    Sardines    Secrets    Sweet and Sour Milk  Faarax, M. J. Cawl.  Ignorance is the Enemy of Love (translated) Hanghe, Ahmed Artan     The Sons of Somal (or Xaange, Axmed Cartan) Herzi, Saide. Osman, Abdirazak Y.    In the Name of Our Fathers.

Sudan Deng, Francis Mading.    Cry of the Owl    Seed of Redemption:  A Political Novel Mahjoub, Jamal.     The Carrier    In the Hour of Signs    Navigation of a Rainmaker    Wings of Dust Salih, Tayeb.     Season of Migration to the North    The Wedding of Zein Tanzania Gurnah, Abdulrazak.     Admiring Silence    Dottie    Memory of Departure    Paradise    Pilgrims Way Ruhumbika, G.     Village in Uhuru Vassanji, Moyez.     The Book of Secrets    The Gunny Sack    No New Land    Uhuru Street:  Short Stories Uganda Nazareth, Peter.     The General Is Up    In a Brown Mantle Oculi, Okello.     Kanta Rita    Kookolem    Malak:  An African Political Poem    Orphan    Prostitute p’Bitek, Okot.     Horn of My Love    Song of Lawino    Song of Malaya    Song of Ocol    Song of a Prisoner Ruganda,, John.     Black Mamba    The Burden    Echoes of Silence    The Floods    Music without Tears Serumuga, Robert.     The Elephants    Majangwa:  A Promise of Rains    A Play    Return to the Shadows  Wangusa, Timothy.     A Pattern of Dust:  Selected Poems, 1965-1990    Salutations:  Poems 1965-75    Upon this Mountain

Selected List of Secondary Sources

Irele, F. Abiola.  The African Imagination:  Literature in Africa and the Black Diaspora.  Oxford:  Oxford U P, 2001.
Griffiths, Gareth.  African Literatures in English:  East and West.  Essex, UK:  Pearson Education Ltd., 2000.
Ojaide, Tanure and Joseph Obi.  Culture, Society, and Politics in Modern African Literature.  Durham, NC:  Carolina Academic P, 2002.
Simatei, Tirop Peter.  The Novel and the Politics of National Building in East Africa.  Bayreuth, Germany:  Eckhard Breitinger, 2001.
 
 
 

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