Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Coming to Kenya: Imagining and Perceiving a Nation among the Borana of Kenya

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 1; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17531050701452598

1753-1063

Hassan Wario Arero,

African history and culture analysis

Studies of nations and nationalisms are as complex as they are diverse. Post-colonial African nation-states epitomise many of the problems inherent in the definition of 'nation', 'national identity', and 'nationalism'. All these notions have been deeply contested. There are cultural, political and above all historical explanations for failure to bond a national identity. This article considers these explanations through an examination of the ethnic perception of the Kenyan nation held by a minority ethnic group known as the Borana. Using the example of a group of town-dwelling Borana ('Urban Borana'), it is argued that in the highly ethnicised social and political context of the Kenyan nation minority communities such as the Borana will always find themselves on the periphery. And on the periphery, Urban Borana migrants are marginalised even further. The article outlines the events that have shaped the experiences of the Urban Borana in relation to the 'core' Borana ethnic groups found in northern Kenya, with reference (in part) to written historical records, but drawing heavily upon oral sources and on ethno-history, that is, 'the history of a localised group of people, at that time without historians and academics'.