Githinji: Insults and folk humor
Insults and folk humor
Verbal transgression in Sheng’s Mchongoano
Peter Githinji, Ohio University
Abstract
Sheng — formerly a stigmatized linguistic code in Kenyan has gained a lot of ground in
staking its space in Kenya’s multilingual environment. To the majority of the Kenyan
urban youth who wish to express their contemporary identity, it has become a language of
choice. Still, Sheng’s success in claiming legitimacy in this complex setting will
eventually be determined by the extent in which the youth will appropriate it in different
cultural institutions as has already happened in the matatu1 industry and hip-hop music
(Mbugua 2003, Samper 2002, 2004). In this paper, I discuss another domain in which
Sheng has stamped its mark — a genre of folk humor popularly known as mchongoano.
The most important distinctive feature of mchongoano discourse is its vulgar language
and taboo themes. These are mediated by a non-mainstream linguistic code that
challenges established linguistic hierarchy. Using the Bakhtinian approach to folk humor
as carnival expressions that operate by temporarily suspending the mainstream logic, I
discuss how mchongoano allows the Kenyan youth in the margins to define themselves as
agents of social discourse in the midst of insufficient socialization in traditional cultural
institutions.
1. Introduction: What is mchongoano?
Mchongoano is a form aggressive verbal contest comparable to African American ritual
insults or the Turkish boy’s verbal duels (see Abrahams 1964, Labov 1972, Dundes,
Leach & Örzök 1972). A typical mchongoano exchange requires the presence of at least
two antagonists and an optional audience. The audience regulates the exchange by
inciting the two antagonists, encouraging the witty remarks, while deriding the dull ones.
Each contestant tries to outwit the other by saying something disparaging, mostly about
the subject or members of his/her family (see Dollard 1939, Rap Brown 1972 about
African American Dozens). Although mchongoano is normally associated with pre-
adolescents, there is evidence that the practice extends beyond adolescence. Recent
developments heralded by the appearance of mchongoano threads on Kenyan internet
sites calls for the broadening of our definition of mchongoano to incorporate both
performance and non-performance texts. The interaction between Boy A and Boy B is a
typical example of a face-to-face performance text.
Boy A: Budako mreefu mpaka anaweza ona next week
Your father is so tall that he can see next week
Boy B: na wako mreefu mpaka akivaa trao, kitambo ifike waist ishatoka fashion.
And yours is so tall that when he wears pants by the time they reaches the waist,
they have gone out of fashion
Audience: (appreciating B’s retort) Maze hiyo ni kali!
Hapo umewezwa
Man, that is tough! He got you there
1
Private commuter minivans and minibuses in Kenya
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The Joy of Language
Boy B’s retort may vary to na wako mreefu mpaka akikunywa maziwa kitambo ifike
tumboni ishakuwa mala “and yours is so tall that when he drinks milk, by the time it gets
to the stomach, it has become sour”. Although both statements are ridiculously
exaggerated, the lengthening of the vowel in the adjective mrefu “tall,” accompanied by a
rise in intonation and other kinesics intensifies the attributes of the subject. As the
exchange progresses, the audiences’ comments increases, and the exchange becomes
more animated. The pressure to win drives the losing antagonist into frustration leading
to the breaching of the norms governing these types of exchanges such as saying
something that he or she knows will hurt the opponent. This normally leads to a fight or
termination of the exchange (Githinji 2006).
Online mchongoano on the other hand lacks the face-to-face dynamism such as
modification of voice quality for dramatic effect, or the participation of the audience2. In
addition, the question and response adjacency pair sequence (Schegloff & Sachs, 1973)
such as the one between Boy A and Boy B above is not possible because the internet
anonymity and virtual distance between contributors does not compel anyone to respond.
The example below is a typical online mchongoano which is not directed to anyone in
particular;
lips zako rusty mpaka chali yako hukuchorea kiss na biro
kwa mwili
your lips are so rusty that your boyfriend draws you a
kiss on your body with a ball point pen.
Contributors can for instance post as many jokes as they wish with no expectation of a
response. If they cannot come up with their own joke, they search in other forums which
they then ‘copy and paste’ onto an ongoing thread. This is evidenced by the orthographic
errors on the same mchongoano that are persistently repeated in different forums. While
face-to-face mchongoano serves socialization and cognitive functions such as cementing
friendship and sharpening verbal skills, online mchongoano is only intended for
amusement, or as a time-filler driven by a need to interact without necessarily building
intimacy. Although much can be said about mchongoano, and the differences between its
spoken and online variants, this paper will focus on what unifies the two — transgression.
My approach is inspired by Bakhtin’s (1965) concept of carnival practices as a
‘temporary liberation from established order’ (p 8). In itself, mchongoano is not a way of
life, but an alternative youth discourse that enriches Kenya’s folk culture.
2. Bakhtinian approach to folk humor
Bakhtin approach to folk humor is based on the concept of the carnival, defined as the
“people’s second life, organized on the basis of laughter” (Bakhtin 1965:8). The carnival
“cerebrated temporary liberation from the prevailing truth and from the established order;
it marked the suspension of all hierarchical rank, privileges, norms, and prohibitions.” (p
10) Bakhtin further identifies the three manifestations of folk culture as; 1) ritual
2
There are attempts to make comments such as kubali amekuweza ‘accept you are beaten,’ sare ‘surrender
or leave him alone’. In addition there are other innovative ways such as the copying the funny
mchongoano, and then accompanied by smiley.
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Githinji: Insults and folk humor
spectacle like carnival pageants, and comic shows of the marketplace; 2) comical verbal
compositions such as oral and written parodies in Latin and vernacular and 3) various
genres of billingsgate such as curses, oaths and popular blazons. In our discussion of
mchongoano as folk humor, the second and the third manifestations are the most relevant
because it is here where the divide between the official and folk culture becomes more
prominent3. While (2) hints at creativity that straddle the official and non-official modes
of expression, (3) encompass the transgression of prohibitions, restraints, inhibitions,
adherence to conventions and political correctness that characterize official culture.
Viewing mchongoano as carnivalesque expressions, puts it at par with Creole talk
because it provides the means to say what is “conventionally ‘unsayable’ by twisting
language around (e.g., through humor, understatement, double entendres) or using words
in such a manner that a truth (normally not part of the dominant ethos) is confirmed or
revealed” (Cara 2003:40). Since many the human negotiations, whether material or
symbolic take place outside official circles, everyday speech is conducted in a casual
non-standard speech or vernacular (see Labov 1972). The notion of marketplace language
or unofficial speech converges with the sociolinguistic concept of viewing vernacular in
terms of unmonitored speech as captured in Bakhtins quote below;
Abuses, curses, profanities, and improprieties are the unofficial elements of
speech. They were and still are conceived as a breach of the established norms of
verbal address; they refuse to conform to conventions, to etiquette, civility,
respectability. These elements of freedom, if present in sufficient numbers and
with a precise intention, exercise a strong influence on the entire content of
speech, transferring it to another sphere beyond the limits of conventional
language. Such speech forms, liberated from norms, hierarchies, and prohibitions
of established idiom, become themselves a peculiar argot and create a special
collectivity, a group of people initiated in a familiar intercourse, who are frank
and free in expressing themselves verbally (Page 188)
The marketplace language’s lack of inhibitions enhances its frankness and the expressive
freedom, but to be fair to Bakhtin, we must point out that vernacular speech is not a
monopoly of non-official contexts. As Cochran (1979) rightly observes, occasions such as
“fertility rites, marriages, funerals, coronation, victory cerebrations, initiation rites”
which can be classified as official functions have a unique speech identified with them.
The forms of speech and the ritual enactments in these occasions turn the world “inside
out” (Bakhtin 1965) due to their cosmic inversions and subversion of conventional
norms. A good example is the medieval Corpus Christi4 feasts (Bakhtin 1965, Cochran
1979) where immodesty was sanctioned in comic performances. Still, this transgression
was understood as instances of alternative discourse in relation to institutionalized
religion rather than as an anti-religious discourse. This logic inspires Bakhtin’s account of
Rabelaisian transgressions as legitimate within medieval carnivalesque discourse.
Similarly, the transgression in mchongoano can be treated as legitimate carnivalesque
expressions within the youth popular culture, in spite of their perceived breach of the
3
Comic shows cannot be completely excluded. The comedian group formerly known as Reddykyulass once
performed a mchongoano scene at the Nairobi Carnivore. In the scene, the comedians all dressed up as
schoolboys, taunts each other until one cannot take it any more and the scene ends in a fight.
4
Feast of the body of Christ. A sacrament (feast) observed two months after Easter.
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The Joy of Language
norms. Through mchongoano, the youth project a ‘second life’ where they turn the world
into a circus.
Although this unofficial discourse may be regarded as “a parody of extracarnival life”
(Bakhtin p 11) i.e., the official culture, the verbal transgressions are not simply an
opposition of the mainstream. Instead they are vistas of providing the global picture of
the universe outside the eyes of the mainstream. For instance, the Corpus Christi
performances that captured the biblical history from creation to damnation, though
replete with marketplace immodesty, were a part of the church’s festivals (Cochran
1979). In the same vein, mchongoano should be seen as a discourse that affords the youth
an opportunity to indulge in what society proscribes, but within specified boundaries in
its cultural matrix. A brief look at the theories of humor will further enhance our
understanding of mchongoano and its place within the wider cultural discourse.
3. Mchongoano within the humor theory
The three dominant theories of humor are 1) superiority 2) incongruity and 3) relief
theories. The superiority theory, also known as disparagement theory (Wicker, Baron &
Willis 1980) emphasizes on the comparative aspect of human nature. A person’s self-
esteem is boosted by the knowledge that others are inferior or inadequate as compared to
him/herself. Incongruity theory juxtaposes two incompatible paradigms where one
paradigm is more salient than the other. Humor is created by the suspension of the salient
paradigm in favor of the non-salient one. The third theory, relief theory follows Freud’s
(1960) analysis of the relationship between jokes and the unconscious. The thrust of this
theory is that humans have pent-up energy that originates from repression of internal
inhibitions and aggressive impulses. Within the superiority theory, trying to outwit the
opponent and the very logic of the verbal contest may be seen as a face negotiation
strategy within Goffman’s facework theory (Goffman 1967). In mchongoano, the
antagonist raises his/her self-esteem (superiority) by verbally putting down his/her
opponent. Incongruity theory accounts for the extreme exaggerations in mchongoano that
creates paradigms that are in conflict with our belief system, resulting in suspension of
our expectations. Finally, the breaking taboos give interlocutors a sense of relief by
displacing those repressed impulses censored by the mainstream order. To the consumers
of these texts (audience, listeners, readers, etc.) the relief results by having someone do
the forbidden for them. For the present purpose, all these theories will be united within
the Bakhtinian framework carnival expressions that offer temporary suspension of
mainstream logic.
4. Against the grain: Transgressive code and transgressive discourse
A great majority of mchongoano jokes are told in Sheng — an urban hybrid language as
illustrated by the joke hao yenu iko na gate lakini haina fence “your house has a gate but
no fence. ” We observe the English insertion into the Swahili frame as a classic case of
code-mixing. However, the word hao, the phonological reduction of ‘house’ which is a
common lexification (see Githinji 2006) is what marks the joke as Sheng. Like
mchongoano, Sheng’s does not respect the ranks or hierarchies of Kenya’s fuzzy
language policy and is regarded as a code for deviant youth. Transgression resonates in
many commentaries on Sheng that appear in the local dailies. In a recent column,
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Githinji: Insults and folk humor
Mwaura, (Daily Nation 08/04/200 characterizes Sheng as “bad news for those interested
in upward mobility,” bad for schoolchildren,” “linguistic garbage,” “non-language,”
“linguistic sloth,” “moral and linguistic pervasiveness,” “unproductive and uncreative,” a
language with “no applicability in the real world of work,” a “waste of youthful energy
and talent,” “not a language of respect,” “secret code of deviance… littered with words
referring to drugs, sex and loose behavior” among others. Mwaura’s diatribe is reflective
of the official attitudes towards linguistic transgression. Unfortunately, this clouds
objective analysis of Sheng as an alternative code with its domain of use. Criticism about
its lack of creativity betrays ignorance of Sheng’s innovations and the genres of
expressive art that it has inspired. The popularity of matatu stickers, hip hop music
(Mbugua 2003) and mchongoano can chiefly be attributed to Sheng as a linguistic
medium. Luckily, not everyone shares Mwaura’s view. Writing in the same paper,
Onyango Obbo, (Daily Nation 04/13/2006) stated that Sheng spreads as a “complete
system…with its own street fashion” that is heavily used throughout East Africa,
especially in the internet. According to Obbo, Sheng’s use by the internet community will
soon surpass that of standard Swahili. Obbo see the use of Sheng in popular theatre as a
threat to the status quo because it is “East Africa’s biggest counter-culture movement
ever.” The terms ‘popular theater’ and ‘counter-culture’ point to Sheng and mchongoano
as carnivalesque expressions and will be treated as such in this paper.
Mchongoano shares striking parallels with African American game of dozens (Labov
1972, Abrahams 1964). To begin with, both are carnival modes of expression that revel in
transgression of taboo and subversion of the mainstream. Both are embedded in linguistic
codes that are highly stigmatized. They are also identified more with young boys, though
girls also excel in the practice (see Rap Brown, 1972, Mitchel-Kernan 1972). Evidence of
mchongoano borrowing from African American dozens comes in the forms of ‘yo mama
jokes’ that are copied and pasted onto mchongoano threads. In others cases, ‘yo mama
jokes’ are translated into Sheng and made to conform to Kenyan reality as we can see in
the examples below. M (mchongoano in Sheng) is glossed in italics, followed by yo
mama joke D (Dozens).
M. wee mjinga mpaka ulitegwa na a wireless fone.
You are so stupid that you were tripped by a wireless phone
D. Yo mama's so stupid, she tripped over a cordless phone
M. wee mjinga mpaka ulithrow jiwe kwa floor ukamiss!
You are so stupid that you threw a stone to the floor and
missed!
Yo mama's so stupid, she threw a rock to the ground and missed
M. wee mso ukijump kwa air una get stuck!
You are so big that when you jump up in the air you get stuck
D. Yo mama's so fat, she jumped up in the air and
got stuck
M. we m-ugly mpaka una trick-or-treat over the phone
You are so ugly that you trick or treat over the phone
D. Yo mama's so ugly, she has to trick or treat over the phone.
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The Joy of Language
In spite of these similarities, there is need for caution because too much emphasis on
African American influence denies agency to the users of mchongoano. I agree with
Mbugua’s (2003) arguments that authenticity should not be restricted to the origin of the
signifiers. Instead, it should be extended to the choice of contexts in which the signifiers
are deployed. The same story, creatively told by a different narrator to a different
audience is different; so is the story told by one narrator to a different audience in a
different context. Through the agency of the Kenyan youth, African Americans signifiers
assume new meanings and nuances when deployed into Kenyan folklore. After
translation and localization, the jokes are completely altered and are entered into local
folklore.
5. The ambivalence and exaggerations in mchongoano
Gross exaggeration in mchongoano creates ambivalence. Characters and certain attributes
are presented in circumstances that conflict with conventional logic and this determines
whether they are to be interpreted within the ‘real’ or ‘imagined’ contexts (Norrick 2003).
Exaggeration results in the suspension of the salient parsing which is consistent with
conventional logic, in favor of the non-salient parsing which violate conventional logic.
Take the joke nyanyako hubraid moustache yake “your grandmother braids her
moustache,” as an example. While it is possible to have women with facial hair, the
impossibility of braiding a moustache, even for males, elicits laughter due to its
implausibility. This is very common in Rabelais’ novels where images and scenarios that
contradict our belief system are presented. Although it can be argued that Rabelais may
be exercising his authorial freedom; the reader expects that his monastic background
binds him to values that propagate the church’s doctrines, not those that challenge them.
A reader is confounded by the profanities and swearing emanating from his monastic
character Friar John, who transgresses on almost everything that the church advocates for
— overindulgence in food and wine, swearing by the devil, killing and cursing the enemy
when they beg for his mercy, and using the staff of the cross as a weapon of slaughter.
Elsewhere, Friar John’s warns the pilgrims about the monks’ lecherous tendencies, while
Panurge elicits a vivid account of sexual intercourse between monks and prostitutes from
a demisemiquaver friar. All these contradict our beliefs about religious symbols and the
pious and celibate image of Catholic monks. In spite of these violations, we understand
Rabelaisian obscenity as instances of humor due to the ambivalence of Friar John’s
curses. For instance, when he is questioned by Ponocrates about his swearing, he
responds; “if I swear…I do so to adorn my language, for what are oaths save colorful
figures of Ciceronian rhetoric?” (Book 1:107). Such expediency implies that
exaggeration and value reversal are masterpieces of alternative interactive style. The
following mchongoano texts may be understood in this sense.
(1) wee ni mwizi mpaka padlock ikikuona inajifungua
You are such a thief that when the padlock sees you, it unlocks itself
(2) wee ni mrefu mpaka giraffe zinacomplain
You are so tall that even the giraffes complain
(3) Fathako ni mrefu mpaka akianza kuvaa trouser inapofika waist ishakwisha fashion
40
Githinji: Insults and folk humor
Your father is so tall that when he begins wearing a pant, by the time it gets to the
waist, it has gone out of fashion.
(4) Wewe ni m_ugly hata hauneed mask kuact movie ya horror
You are too ugly that you do not need a mask to act in a horror movie
(5) wee mchafu mpaka mbu ikikuuma, inatema mate kwanza
You are so dirty that when the mosquito bites you, it first spits.
Apart from the implausibility of inanimate padlock gaining animacy in (1), we laugh at
the notion of the padlock unlocking itself to let the thief in rather than lock itself to keep
the thief out. In (2), a height that supersedes that of a giraffe is inconceivable. But we
may also interpret the joke within the carnivalesque concept of degradation of humanity
who is reduced to an animal. (3) is an inversion of height advantage while in (4) ugliness
is both scorned and exalted Finally, we can regard (5) as degradation of a person whose
untidiness disgusts a disease-carrying bug, but it also mocks the mosquito that will not
give up its meal in spite of its disgust for the victim’s untidiness. The exaggerations and
ambivalence in these jokes inhibits their parsing in real contexts, thus paving way for
their humorous parsing in imagined contexts. This brings them in line with Labov’s
(1972) distinction between ritual insults and personal insults. The Labovian approach
treats ritual insults as humor and they are not denied because they are parsed as unreal.
Therefore to deny them or react in a physically aggressive manner is to imply that what
was said is indeed true. The exaggerations in the above texts can also be regarded as
instances of ‘grotesque style’ (see Bakhtin pp 303-367) which enhance their ambivalence
through their ability to elicit laughter, as well as their symbolic significance. Although
laughter can be an end in itself in line with carnival practices, the existence of an
extracarnival meaning in mchongoano texts leaves the possibility of their interpretation
as social satires wide open.
6. Taboo: The forbidden themes
Linguistically, certain words, topics, subjects or expressions are regarded as taboo
because they arouse a deep sense of revulsion which offends some people’s taste.
Obscenities, curses and swearing are the most obvious manifestations of taboos in many
cultures. However, the concept goes further to include material of the lower body stratum
(Bakhtin 1965) and their respective functions like copulation, procreation, excretion and
urination. The inhibitions on materials of the lower body stratum present an interactional
irony because they are very central to human existence, yet they cannot be discussed
openly, or if they do, then they have to be cloaked in euphemisms. Taboos are a barrier to
interactive freedom because they limit expressive choices. They therefore become targets
of carnivalistic degradation in order to demystify them.
Breaking taboos challenges the polite society’s attempt to regulate interaction. Erection of
fixed boundaries of what constitute legitimate cultural practices hampers human
creativity resulting in cultural dormancy. Carnival practices that breach these taboos
become necessary for cultural vitality. When taboos and other elements of folk culture
e.g. humorous texts move out of their subculture, they gain entry into the mainstream,
completing the cultural cycle of regeneration.
Taboos may be breached for maledictory or solidarity effects relative to the social
relationship between the interlocutors. A speaker who intends to offend may use insults or
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deliberately break a well known taboo as an aggressive strategy; but the same speaker
may use the same interaction tools on a friend as a sign of affection. When a taboo is
broken in disregard of the consequences, it is a signal that the speaker is operating in a
value system parallel to the value system that imposes those taboos. Deliberate breaking
of taboos has a cathartic effect similar to overcoming a psychological disorder. In the
Bakhtinian carnivalesque logic of degradation, the social values are being brought down
to the material level by suspending the salient meaning in favor of the non-salient one. In
mchongoano texts for instance, ‘mother taboo’ and the lower body stratum are degraded
to the material level and they become signifiers that can be played with. As a background,
a brief look at the ambivalent values for mother as a cultural signifier among the Gĩkũyũ
will help us understand how it can be used in mchongoano to create laughter.
In Gĩkũyũ culture, the lexical equivalent for mother is maitũ. Folk etymology
decomposes the word as ma ‘truth’ and iitũ ‘our’ or our truth. The mother is associated
with attributes such as love, innocence, fairness, honesty, truth, and justice. For identity,
the Gĩkũyũ invoke their fathers’ name, but when they it comes to solemn vows or taking
an oath, the mother’s name is elevated to that of a god. To mock such as revered figure
amount to breaking an important cultural taboo. Yet, the reverence can be erased through
the depiction of the mother as ignorant and stupid. The insult ũkĩĩgĩĩte ta nyũkwa ‘you are
as stupid as your mother,’ is one of the worst insult amongst the Gĩkũyũ. This shows that
although mother is a revered figure, she is not untouchable during carnivalesque
degradation. Examples (6) and (7) below show how the the mother taboos is broken in
mchongoano.
6. Mathako akishondeka hawezi kuishia toilet lazima apewe ndoo sita.
When your mother shits she cannot fit in the toilet, she has to be given six buckets
7. Masa yako akishuta, kitchen mende hucomplain
When your mother farts, the kitchen roaches complain
But mothers alone are not the only taboo signifiers in mchongoano. Examples (8) through
(10) degrade the material of the lower body stratum and their respective functions, which
in many cultures, is taboo.
8. Dame yako ni kama fridge nyama huingia na kutoka kila siku
Your girlfriend is like a fridge, meat gets in and out everyday
9. Senye ya manzi wa kwako huthrow hadi akipanuwa miguu inzi zinahepa
Your girlfriend’s vagina stinks so much that when she spreads her legs flies take
cover.
10. Decki yako tiny…we huifunga na string ndio isipotee kwa mafudhee
Your penis is so tiny that you tie it with a string lest it disappears in the pubic hair
11. Mazee ni sad ati deki yako iko na kucha
Man, it is sad that your penis has nails
To confront the issue of the breaking of taboos in mchongoano is to confront the issues
that surround the Kenyan urban youth’s reality. Not only is their identity shaped by a
mosaic of different ethnic cultures each with its own set of values (Samper 2002), but the
influence of the global media and the imbibing of western values have redefined the
treatment of sexual matters. In the traditional setup, the youth had to wait until puberty to
42
Githinji: Insults and folk humor
be educated on sexual matters. There was virtually no avenue where young people could
access this type of knowledge before the appropriate time. Today’s youth on the other
hand can read textbooks, watch television and movies, or browse the internet. Open
discussions about their sexuality whether in school or among their peers, has reduced the
mystery that surrounded human sexuality. In addition the globalization of discourse has
resulted in borrowing and sharing of values as we mentioned earlier regarding the
influence of African American game of dozens. It is within these contexts that the values
of taboos have changed.
7. Conclusion
The society’s conservative view of what is permissible as legitimate cultural practice
(Mbugua 2003) has been a hindrance to scholarly work on mchongoano. While personal
morals should not interfere with academic scholarship, the obscenity in mchongoano
texts is repulsive to many scholars and is responsible for their relegation to the margins.
Bakhtin was aware of this fact when he remarked that the marketplace and billingsgate
elements in Rabelais novels alienated readers. Although this greatly contributed to the
neglect of his classic writings, Bakhtin does not consider the attempts by the cultural
purists to expunge those indecencies (Bakhtin 1965: 118) as the solution because
Rabelais truthfully represented the modes of expression that were in vogue in his era. To
the cultural purists, there si need to understand that mchongoano and other marginal
genres of folk culture such as mugithi dance5 (see Mbugua 2003) are not symbols of
moral decadence. The youth are not responsible for the fragmentation of traditional
values. On the contrary, they are picking up the fragments of their parent’s traditional
culture and creating a cohesive discourse similar to what happens in Creole situations. To
fill the vacuum caused by insufficient socialization into traditional institutions, the youth
have created a discourse that empowers them, giving them a platform for challenging the
social order that denies them participation in social discourse. Any account of the Kenyan
folk culture that ignores the expressive forms of the margins (no matter how indecent
they may seem) will be incomplete and dishonest. As Bakhtin warns,
We cannot understand cultural and literary life and the struggle of mankind’s historic past
if we ignore that peculiar folk humor that always existed and was never merged with the
official culture of the ruling classes. While analyzing past ages we are too often obliged
to “take each epoch at its word” that is, to believe its official ideologists. We do not hear
the voice of the people and cannot find and decipher its pure unmixed expression. (1965:
474)
Before accusing the youth of indecency and moral corruption, there is need to hear ‘the
voice of the people’ by dissecting all aspects of their expressive forms in order to
understand their operations and functions. As Peek (1982) suggests, African visual and
verbal arts selects sexual references for aesthetic purposes due to the vividness of the
imagery rather than interest in sexual organs and functions. With respect to mchongoano,
it is ridiculous that the youth are being accused of using a discourse that is deeply rooted
in traditional aesthetics. The conservative definition of what counts as legitimate cultural
5
Bawdy songs played in bars in the late hours of the night. In most cases, the lone one man-guitarist leads a
crowd of revelers in singing popular songs which he inserts obscene phases to the amusement of the
audience.
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The Joy of Language
practices is responsible for the youth’s feeling of alienation because there is nothing to
reflect their contemporary reality. It is not a wonder then that they are challenging
mainstream institutions that have confined them to the margins by deliberately bleaching
their codes. To them, transgression has become a device of freedom that liberates their
creative energies. This will eventually allow them to negotiate agency in social discourse
and also to contribute to the richness of Kenya’s folk culture.
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