Interrogating masculinities in selected Kenyan popular fiction

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the presentation of masculinity in selected popular works. The novels under discussion include: Henry ole Kulet’s To Become a Man (1972), Yusuf Dawood’s One Life Too Many (1991), Peter Kimani’s Before the Rooster Crows (2002) and David Maillu’s Man from Machakos (2010). The writers are representative of a diversity of Kenyan ethnicities: Dawood (Asian-African), while the rest comprise Kenyan men of black descent though different ethnicities. The study attempts to interrogate the various strands of masculinity in Kenyan society as presented in the selected works. The study also seeks to investigate how different men negotiate/manifest their masculinity in different settings. It also interrogates factors and trends that shape and influence masculine behaviour in the selected texts. The study also explores the ramifications of various manifestations of masculinity on the family. The study adopts masculinities theory as the theoretical framework. The theory is applied in the interpretation of issues that relate to this study.