Venec (Jun 2013)
Deploying Myths through Facts and Fictions in the Struggle for Tanzanians' National Soul in Ebrahim N. Hussein's Kinjeketile
Abstract
Creating myths and mythologies out of facts and fictions has been known to man for a long time. The practice of using them for freedom struggle is something very recent, amongst the many situations they are intended for. This position, taken to a higher level, is predominant in Ebrahim N. Hussein’s Kinjeketile: creating new myths from the old to fight a pressing national societal dilemma. The Tanzanians, in unbundling the shackles of the Germans in the late 19th century to the early 20th century, had to recreate and utilize the myths of unity and inner strength through a prophet-seer, Kinjeketile. He became a rallying point through his divinely given gifts of water and fly-whisk. For him and the freedom of the nation, the people went to war. This paper, therefore, sees the possibility of a conquered, separated and disunited people becoming a whole and unified nation in the face of an enemy: freedom is achievable with the remaking of the old myths to suit, serve and fight new social problems as they arise.
