Postcolonial reading of contemporary East African prose fiction

Abstract

Debates about relevance of humanities and social sciences have pervaded studies since the establishment of formal education. The need for curricula that inculcate skills relevant to demands for the job markets has revived debates from earlier decades. Some debates about what constitutes education appraise utilitarian and consistently denigrate immaterial attributes that the humanities and social sciences inculcate. A section of scholars disparages social sciences such as psychology as idle stories without impact on national development. As result of this trajectory of thought, the Kenya government has scaled down the number of students to be enrolled in the humanities and social sciences in senior high school under the new Competence Based Curriculum. There is general tendency to suggest that the humanities and social sciences have little or no contribution to development. This study was carried out on two East African novels to interrogate the role of the humanities and social sciences in modern African nations. Five novels by African modernist novelists (both pioneer and contemporary African writers) were read. In spite of most of the writers expressing the pertinent role of humanities, Parkin’s Baking Cakes in Kigali (2012) and Faye Small Country (2016) were purposively sampled because of representation of the Rwandan genocide as a side effect of neglecting the humanities and social sciences. The study adopted the narrative analysis qualitative design. Data from secondary sources enabled the theoretical comprehension and qualitative analysis of primary texts. The study proceeded through close textual reading of the primary and secondary texts while Quayson (2003) calibrations theory, served as a theoretical framework for interpretation. It was found that the humanities and social sciences are essential in national cohesion and development.