Obama and Kenya: Contested Histories and the Politics of by Matthew Carotenuto,Katherine Luongo

Barack Obama’s political ascendancy has targeted huge international awareness at the heritage of Kenya in general and the background of the Luo neighborhood relatively. From politicos populating the blogosphere and bookshelves within the U.S and Kenya, to travelers traipsing via Obama’s ancestral domestic, a number of teams have mobilized new readings of Kenya’s previous in carrier in their personal ends.

Through narratives putting Obama right into a simplified, sweeping narrative of anticolonial barbarism and postcolonial “tribal” violence, the tale of the USA president’s nuanced dating to Kenya has been misplaced amid stereotypical portrayals of Africa. even as, Kenyan country officers have aimed to weave Obama into the contested narrative of Kenyan nationhood.

Matthew Carotenuto and Katherine Luongo argue that efforts to solid Obama as a “son of the soil” of the Lake Victoria basin invite insights into the politicized makes use of of Kenya’s previous. perfect for school room use and directed at a common readership drawn to worldwide affairs, Obama and Kenya deals an incredible counterpoint to the numerous renowned yet erroneous texts approximately Kenya’s background and Obama’s position in it in addition to targeted, thematic analyses of latest debates approximately ethnic politics, “tribal” identities, postcolonial governance, and U.S. African relations.