Obama and Kenya : contested histories and the politics of belonging / Matthew Carotenuto and Katherine Luongo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carotenuto, Matthew, author.

Luongo, Katherine, 1975- author.

Series:

Research in international studies. Global and comparative studies series ; no. 15.

Ohio University research in international studies, global and comparative studies series ; no. 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Obama, Barack--Family.

Obama, Barack.

Group identity.

Relations.

Families.

United States--Relations--Kenya.

United States.

Kenya--Relations--United States.

Kenya.

United States--Politics and government--2009-.

Politics and government.

Kenya--Politics and government--2002-.

Group identity--Kenya.

International relations.

Physical Description:

xvi, 240 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Athens : Ohio University Press, [2016]

Summary:

Barack Obama's political ascendancy has focused considerable global attention on the history of Kenya generally and the history of the Luo community particularly. From politicos populating the blogosphere and bookshelves in the United States and Kenya, to tourists traipsing through Obama's ancestral home, various groups have mobilized new readings of Kenya's past in service of their own ends. Through narratives placing Obama into a simplified, sweeping narrative of anticolonial barbarism and postcolonial "tribal" violence, the story of the US president's nuanced relationship to Kenya has been lost amid stereotypical portrayals of Africa. At the same time, Kenyan state officials have aimed to weave Obama into the contested narrative of Kenyan nationhood. Matthew Carotenuto and Katherine Luongo argue that efforts to cast Obama as a "son of the soil" of the Lake Victoria basin invite insights into the politicized uses of Kenya's past. Ideal for classroom use and directed at a general readership interested in global affairs, Obama and Kenya offers an important counterpoint to the many popular but inaccurate texts about Kenya's history and Obama's place in it as well as focused, thematic analyses of contemporary debates about ethnic politics, "tribal" identities, postcolonial governance, and US-African relations. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I. Obama and Kenya

Discovering Obama in Kenya

Representations of Kenya: myth and reality

The Obama family: ethnicity and the politics of belonging in Kenya

Part II. Contested histories and the politics of belonging

The politics of condemnation: the American right's reactions to Obama's roots in Kenya

The politics of celebration: ethnic grandeur and Obama's heroic embrace

Political violence and history at the ballot box

Obama for Africa or Africans for Obama?

Epilogue: Tuko Pamoja: we are together.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780896802995

089680299X

9780896803008

0896803007

OCLC:

932386957