SOCIO-CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC RESURGENCE IN SELECTED POST-MILLENNIAL SHORT STORIES IN EAST AFRICA

Abstract

The short story form has been in existence in the African literary scene since the pre-colonial times when it was mainly in the oral form. With the inception of writing and publishing, many short stories have been published often covering issues addressed by novelists. The short story form has gained prominence especially in the 21st Century where writers tend to pick convenient issues in the society. However, little criticism has been done on these stories as many literary critics tend to focus on the novel, drama, poetry and oral literature. This study interrogates the short story form written by emerging writers from East Africa. It examines the socio-cultural and economic resurgence in selected short stories produced after the year 2000 to explore how the 21st Century writers are sensitive to issues affecting their society and how they attempt to propose societal transformation through literature. The study is guided by two objectives: firstly, to examine how the short story writers utilize style to reveal socio-cultural and economic resurgence in the selected post 2000 short stories of East Africa and secondly, to evaluate how the selected short stories engage with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in order to analyze the extent to which these narratives respond to the historical epoch that birthed them. The study relies on Post-colonial and Narratology theories of literature to analyze the short stories. Post-colonial theory as espoused by Homi Bhaba helps to demonstrate what the texts reveal about the need to transform the society’s knowledge and understanding on cross-cultural relations as well as highlighting how the MDGs influenced the socio-cultural and economic status of East African region. The theory further helps in examining how cultural differences, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, cultural beliefs, and customs interact to form one unit and the effects of the resultant cultures. Narratology, on the other hand, helps to investigate how the selected short story writers utilize literary techniques to uncover the socio-cultural and economic transformation of the society in chapter 4 and 5. The study adopts a qualitative research design and close textual reading of the short stories sampled on the basis that they uncover the socio-cultural and economic resurgence and they were produced by emergent authors after 2000. Data collected is interpreted according to the objectives of the study and compiled in chapters 4 and 5 of the study. Findings of the study are that the emergent post millennial short story writers have used style creatively to reveal the socio-cultural and economic resurgence in East Africa, and they have infused the content of MDGs as themes in their creative works. Chapter Four shows that the selected works have portrayed that the artistic nature of a text works together with the content to give meaning thus supporting the argument that form and content are inseparable. Chapter 5 demonstrates that the writers under study capture issues affecting the society around them including the demands of the Millennium Development Goals that make the texts fit within the historical epoch of their production thus confirming that literature, history and the society are interlinked. The study shows that short stories can be used for religious, philosophical, economic and cultural reawakening. This study therefore makes a critical contribution to knowledge on the nexus between literature and society.