East Africa
"The Uhuru Generation" (Generation of Independence)
"Generation X Meets the Uhuru Generation in East Africa" " In the US those born in the 1960s through the early 1980s have variably been identified as Generation X whereas their counterparts in East Africa have been termed the Uhuru Generation. Uhuru is a Swahili term for “independence” and denotes the period immediately after the colonial occupation of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda by the British. Although scholars may not have regarded these two generations as similar (and the term Generation X has no notable presence in East Africa), their experiences and identities have been influenced by the same global processes that I argue acted as a catalyst for hip hop. Generation X in the US constitutes children raised by the Baby Boomers, who themselves are often regarded as the generation that challenged traditional values of their parents’ generation. As a result, Generation Xers were raised within a period of great cultural, economic, and political changes. In the US these were the times of president Ronald Reagan’s “trickle down economics” or “Reaganomics,” which led Generation Xers to become more “flexible, adaptable, technoliterate, information-savvy, independent, and entrepreneurial” (Tulgan 12) as well as cynical to politics and the government’s ability to bring about positive social change. These characteristics are also present, albeit in different degrees, in East Africa especially following the changed political and socioeconomic terrain brought by the effects of “Reagonomics” that forced their own governments to adopt (or adapt) to the fiscal belt tightening that came with Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). SAPs were meant to make development more effective by reducing government subsidies and control of social services and increasing the role of markets as engines for development. The promises of Uhuru (employment opportunities, education and health care for all, and better roads, to name a few) could no longer be delivered and the citizens of these nations were soon disillusioned about their futures and started agitating for political and economic change. This agitation led to political crackdowns as presidents sought to entrench themselves in power and quashed all political dissent and opposition." ~ Mwenda Ntarangwi, Excerpt from Generation X Goes Global |
Mwenda Ntarangwi. Associate Professor of Anthropology and executive director of IAPCHE at Calvin College with research interest in popular cultural expressions, youth identity, the practice and history of anthropology, and inter-cultural engagement. He is the author of Reversed Gaze: an African Ethnography of American Anthropology (2010), East African Hip Hop: Youth Culture and Globalization (2009), Gender Identity and Performance: Understanding Swahili Cultural Realities Through Song (2003), editor of Jesus and Ubuntu: Exploring the Social Impact of Christianity in Africa (2011), and co-editor of African Anthropologies: History, Critique and Practice (2006). |
For Further Reading:
Anderson, Elijah. Streetwise: Race, Class and Change in an Urban Community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. Print.
Bourgaut, Louise. Mass Media in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1995. Print.
Bourgois, Philippe. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: Picador, 2005. Print.
Dimitriadis, Gregory. “From Live Performance to Mediated Narrative.” Popular Music 15.2 (1996): 179-94. Print.
Hazzard-Donald, Katrina. “Dance in Hip Hop Culture.” That’s The Joint!: Hip-hop Studies Reader. Ed. Forman Murray and Mark Anthony Neal. New York: Routledge, 2004. 505-16. Print.
Kalamashaka. “Ni Wakati.” Ni Wakati. Master Jay. 2001. CD.
Kelley, Robin. “Foreword.” The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture. Ed. Basu, Dupannita and Sidney Lemelle. New York: Pluto Press. i-x. 2006. Print.
Nakaaya. “Mr. Politician.” Nervous Conditions. Mandugu Digital. 2008. CD.
Ntarangwi, Mwenda. East African Hip Hop: Youth Culture and Globalization. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. 2009. Print.
_______. Gender Identity and Performance: Understanding Swahili Social Realities through Song. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. 2003. Print.
Nyairo, Joyce and Ogude, James. “Popular Music, Popular Politics: Unbwogable and the Idioms of Freedom in Kenyan Popular Music.” African Affairs 104: 415 (2005): 225-49. Print.
Nyerere, Julius. “Leaders Must Not be Masters.” African Philosophy: An Anthology. Ed. Emmanuel Eze. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998. 77-80. Print.
_______. Uhuru na Ujamaa: Freedom and Socialism. Dar Es Salaam: Oxford University Press. 1968. Print.
Schactman, Tom. Airlift to America: How Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours. New York: St. Martins Press. 2009. Print.
Ssewakiryanga, Richard. “‘New Kids on the Block’: African-American Music and Uganda Youth.” CODESRIA Bulletin. 1&2 (1999): 24-28. Print.
Ukoo Flani Mau Mau. “All Over the World.” Kilio Cha Haki (Nairobi Yetu). UpToYouToo. 2004. CD.
Bourgaut, Louise. Mass Media in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1995. Print.
Bourgois, Philippe. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.
Chang, Jeff. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: Picador, 2005. Print.
Dimitriadis, Gregory. “From Live Performance to Mediated Narrative.” Popular Music 15.2 (1996): 179-94. Print.
Hazzard-Donald, Katrina. “Dance in Hip Hop Culture.” That’s The Joint!: Hip-hop Studies Reader. Ed. Forman Murray and Mark Anthony Neal. New York: Routledge, 2004. 505-16. Print.
Kalamashaka. “Ni Wakati.” Ni Wakati. Master Jay. 2001. CD.
Kelley, Robin. “Foreword.” The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture. Ed. Basu, Dupannita and Sidney Lemelle. New York: Pluto Press. i-x. 2006. Print.
Nakaaya. “Mr. Politician.” Nervous Conditions. Mandugu Digital. 2008. CD.
Ntarangwi, Mwenda. East African Hip Hop: Youth Culture and Globalization. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. 2009. Print.
_______. Gender Identity and Performance: Understanding Swahili Social Realities through Song. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. 2003. Print.
Nyairo, Joyce and Ogude, James. “Popular Music, Popular Politics: Unbwogable and the Idioms of Freedom in Kenyan Popular Music.” African Affairs 104: 415 (2005): 225-49. Print.
Nyerere, Julius. “Leaders Must Not be Masters.” African Philosophy: An Anthology. Ed. Emmanuel Eze. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998. 77-80. Print.
_______. Uhuru na Ujamaa: Freedom and Socialism. Dar Es Salaam: Oxford University Press. 1968. Print.
Schactman, Tom. Airlift to America: How Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours. New York: St. Martins Press. 2009. Print.
Ssewakiryanga, Richard. “‘New Kids on the Block’: African-American Music and Uganda Youth.” CODESRIA Bulletin. 1&2 (1999): 24-28. Print.
Ukoo Flani Mau Mau. “All Over the World.” Kilio Cha Haki (Nairobi Yetu). UpToYouToo. 2004. CD.