International Journal of Science Arts and Commerce Vol.

7 No 3, March -2022

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
SCIENCE ARTS AND COMMERCE

CULTURAL ALIENATION AND THE CONCEPT OF

EXILE IN
Covenant with Death.
Jackson Gikunda Njogu

Chuka University, Kenya

Abstract
The Eastern and the Horn of Africa are both the source and home of the world’s biggest
chunk of refugees and internally displaced people. The world’s biggest refugee camp,
Daadab, is in the North-Eastern Kenya. The refugee scenario is evidence that the East
African region has been severely scarred by upheavals of various kinds, which range from
hostile physical environments wrought by nature, such as floods, pestilence or drought.
Physical conflicts in Africa have often involved ethnic groups, individuals and political
systems, but there have also been conflicts between individuals and cultures that lead in
alienation or physical expulsion from one’s community. The later causatives are the concern
of this paper. The paper critically examines John Ruganda’s perspective of cultural exile in
his play, Covenant with Death (1973). The period when this play was written is significant in
the history of his native country, Uganda. The country had attained political independence in
1962, a year before the publication of the play. The ancient kingdoms had not broken off from
traditional cultures. In fact the text addresses the problems brought by colonization on the
cultural fabric on the Baganda people. The paper adopts a structural approach to the
analysis of exile proposed by Anne Gagiano. This approach is complemented by the linear
model of Isaac Yetiv.

Introduction
The East African region has historically been scarred by various forms of conflict that result
in exile. Themes of socio-political dislocation have served to underscore the fragility of
African civilization, especially when subjected to the kind of irreversible devastation wrought
by both cultural and political brutality. The concept of exile involves an examination of that
process of destructive forces of an individual’s world that range from forced expulsion from
one’s home due to ‘uprootedness’ from one’s society or separation of man from nature and
the rest of his community. This state of affairs may result from a devastating upheaval of one
destructive weight or another, which puts the individual in a tragic situation which he neither

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understands nor controls. This leads to a depersonalization that shatters his emotional
harmony with himself, his experience and his society. In dislocation the people are either
pummeled into oblivion by forces too powerful to withstand, or else try heroically to resist
the cataclysmic dehumanization resulting from the cruelty of man against men. In resisting, a
struggle ensues, a struggle that has nothing to do with man against man, but rather a war
between moral and taboo. In analyzing exile, various approaches may be adapted. The texts
may be examined in relation to other texts, or they may be studied against the backdrop of the
times, traditions and circumstances. Bearing in mind the rapid dynamism of society
especially after the colonial invasion, the latter approach is preferred in this article. This is
because it demands recalling the sub-text which, as we have said, influences creative
material. The sub-text alludes to the socio-political background that facilitates understanding
of the texts.

Born in the British colony of Uganda in 1941, Ruganda came to distinguish himself as East
Africa’s foremost playwright. He grew up when the nation was struggling for political
liberties, maturing at a time when the post-colonial middleclass was entrenched in mimicry of
European lifestyles. Covenant with Death could thus be described as a ‘culturally restive’
play as was the playwright’s epoch. In their introduction to Exile and African Literature,
Jones D. and Jones M. observe that “the mass displacement of peoples resulting from internal
feuds1 which have plagued the African continent in the last twenty five years or so have yet
to produce a significant body of literature” (i). They further recognize that an ephemeral
refugee culture that has often emerged from exiled communities has only produced patriotic
songs, skits and reflections which might lead to a more abiding culture, but such material is
yet to be subjected to systematic literary analysis. I concur with the Jones’ that Ruganda’s
drama has received similar treatment, which is rather unfortunate in an environment where
violence, alienation and exile are regular experiences.

Joe De Graft addresses the traditional African man’s conception of drama in which he
identifies the cultural practices of the African people as the foundation of traditional theatre.
The scholar links the origins of African drama to rituals performed by ancient people in
apprehension, propiation and purification against threats to humanity such as floods,
lightening and acts of evil men. This represents the pre-colonial conception of African drama.
During and after colonization, drama continued to address threats of de-culturization with a
call for cultural emancipation, and preservation of the African heritage .A substantial section
of post-independence literature focused on related themes. One of the most notable
productions of the English expression was Okot P’Bitek’s satirical piece, Song of Lawino.
The song is a hilarious critique of African ‘apemanship’, or what post colonial critics call
‘double consciousness’.

Analytical approach
The analysis of Covenant with Death has been guided by Anne Gagiano’s structural
approach to the study of exile experiences, as well as Isaac Yetiv’s linear model. Gagiano
provides a framework for analyzing exile experiences which she categorizes as either
autobiographical (narrator’s own) or Although the Jones refer to physical conflict arising

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from among other things armed wars and ethnic cleansing, the phrase is used here to refer to
both the physical conflicts, as well as the psycho-social conflicts within an individual.
anecdotal (those of his acquaintances). She isolates ‘dimensions’ through which exile may be
analysed. She refers to her model as them ‘dimensions of exile’.

In the first dimension which she calls ontological, escape from one’s home is attributable to
man’s curiosity which compels him to explore the universe in search of the meaning of
existence. Man is thus presented as inquisitive in nature, an attribute that contributes to his
restlessness. Critically examined, the individual is actually pushed out of his habitual
environment by a dream of a better life which he finds lacking at home. He imagines that the
satisfaction he would find in the new world would gratify him and shock his compatriots
when they listen to the story of his exploits.

In the second dimension which she calls colonial/political exile has a dual face. First, it is the
de- culturization originating from the colonial experience which left the African man
psychically and socially disemboweled after his language and cultural practices that sustained
him for centuries were taken away, leaving him with a strong negative image of his way of
doing and imagining. In the third dimension, the social, aspects of exile are attributable to
societal rejection and disapproval. This too has two faces as well; the individual either finds
fault with the society, or society finds fault with the individual. The individual may find the
confines of his society limiting his growth, or develops a strong feeling that it needs to
change for him to belong to it. This is the dimension exemplified in Henrik Ibsen in his play
An Enemy of the People. The protagonist, Dr.Thomas Stockmann makes up his mind to
escape into what he calls ‘New World’ where the “foolish majority” who make up his society
will not manage to set foot. It is here he hopes to bring up a new generation of young people
unpolluted by the mediocrity and hypocrisy he finds in his Norwegian motherland. On the
other hand, the society may reject the individual for non-conformity to social norms,
especially those who commit rape, murder or incest.

In the fourth dimension which she refers to as the mythical Gagiano delves into the
philosophy of textual content. The message of the text is seen as a collective expression of
people’s values and intuitions; the writer merely taking his role as a messenger. Dathorne
(53) refers to this aspect as the ‘group concept’ of the African man’s way of existence in
which the African people are seen to share, in a basic way, a collective attitude to life and
consequently to literature. In the last dimension, - The psychological- dislocation refers to
those anxieties and mental upheavals occurring from physical dislocation. Gagiano observes
that abrupt, indefinite introduction of an individual into a new environment ‘others’ the
individual from himself, causing trauma. This state of affairs, she notes, is ‘a spiritual journey
equivalent to thousands of physical miles’.

Yetiv’s perspective
Yetiv sees dislocation as a process with a beginning and end. The first stage in this process is
what he calls discovery. An individual destined for dislocation enthusiastically ‘discovers’ a
new world which he esteems for its glamour. The next thing he does is to seek identification.

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This is characterized by an urge to identify with the discovery, integrate and assimilate its
values. Here the individual selects those aspects of the new culture that are deemed superior
to his own, and consciously or unconsciously ignores the destructive ones.

In the third stage, which he calls rejection, the individual develops a negative image of his
own culture and everything it purports. He feels that it must change to resemble the new if he
is to continue belonging to it. He is further fascinated by the warmth and understanding of the
‘other’ which receives him with open arms. In the next stage called rediscovery, one begins
to discover the weaknesses of the new. He is elevated to a tower of enlightenment from
which he can look back and see the beauty of his own culture. Nostalgia and disillusionment
set in, invoking a desire to return home. Finally, the individual embarks on a journey home in
what Yetiv calls return. The individual vows to acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of
his people, and learn to live with them. He also hopes to ‘locate’ his lost steps and carry on
with life as before. However, it occurs to him that not only has the wheel of life turned, but
also that society has formed an attitude against him. Re-integration becomes a nightmare,
leaving him physically in society but psychologically and emotionally alone. These two
approaches provide a more comprehensive framework upon which we can effectively attempt
to establish how Ruganda imagines exile in Covenant with Death.

Exile as Cultural Alienation

In this play, Matama, a twenty three year old girl is the subject. The play begins with her
being escorted to her rural home by Motomoto, also a young man, after a five year stint in the
city. She is terminally ill. Her destiny is allegorized by an owl-cry at curtain rise. In the
culture of the playwright, an owl is a bird of bad omen. It is the devil’s messenger to bring
news of death in the homestead where it perches.

Some five years before, Matama allegedly leaves the village after it is established that she is
barren. The community treats her with contempt before one Bwana Duncan, a visiting
European tourist comes by and to her amazement, the white man does not find fault in her
condition. Together they flee into the city. After the end of his African tour, Duncan leaves
Matama infected by an incurable disease, and of course a few coins for the youthful
Motomoto to escort her to the village where the white man originally fished her. Matama’s
own birth has mythical foundations. Her parents, Bamya and Kabooga, were barren and
desperate for a child. They are re-enacted contracting a bond with Kaikara, the goddess of
fruition, to give them heir they had sought in vain for over thirty years. In the bond, the
goddess promises them a child on condition that they would enchant her with roles as the
priestess of the goddess’ shrine. They are to make sure that she knows no man all her life.

At sixteen, Matama breaks the code by she engaging in illicit sex. Kaikara the goddess
strikes, leaving the belle barren. Ruganda constructs her protagonist in the scheme advocated
by Yetiv. The contempt shown to her by the village men characterises her adversity, which in
turn leads to ‘discovery’ of Bwana Duncan and the city, both of which represent destructive
foreign forces. She says of the village men;…they believed it was useless to own a barren
shamba. The shamba was there you see, ready for any farmer, young or old. People sowed

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and sowed. But there was no harvest. So they left the shamba fallow permanently (86). The
shamba motif allegorizes her womanhood, while the farmer represents the men who “dug” it.
The absence of harvest refers to lack of a child despite the willingness she expresses to see
some fertile seed planted in her. In addition, she reveals that the society treated her to epithets
after the famed African herbs failed to cure her. The men would say that “a barren shamba is
best left to children to turn into a playground” (86), or tell her on the face that she was “worse
than elephant dung” (86). Duncan’s arrival thus provides her with a new lease of life, distant
from the village incivility. She explains;

My renewal came when Bwana Duncan called at my father’s house…I felt life crawling back
into my veins. I felt victorious over petty village ideas. I flew away like an eagle determined
never to cast my eyes homewards again, and never to wallow in the mud (93). Her integration
into the new culture is seen in her way of speech, dress and make up, all pointers to
alienation. The Traveller, also a seer, describes her in language reminiscent of Lawino’s in
Okot’s Song of Lawino. He refers to her as a “Mimisabu2…with red lips and trousers and
glasses” (78).

Disillusionment sets in when Matama learns that Duncan was merely having a nice time with
her on his holiday. She regrets; But as Bwana approached his time of departure, somehow or
other I learnt that I had served his purpose very well; and that’s why he had liked me so
much. I was the kind of woman he needed in a foreign land…I wonder whether he will
remember the few years, the few good years, we spent together (93-94). Ruganda insinuates
that the new culture provides temporary happiness, and leaves behind it great destruction. He
also presents this kind of escape as an arena for enlightenment, the reason Matama develops a
spontaneous desire to return home. She says, “I have learnt to live with reality, with my past”
(95). Ruganda reinforces Matama’s alienation through juxtaposing her with Banura, a village
girl of her age, less exposed and far less beautiful, yet highly regarded by society for her
ability to give birth. On seeing her, Motomoto observes that “she is not as beautiful as you
are, my lady, despite your ill-health. She looks monstrously ugly”(88) (Italics mine for
emphasis). Society would rather have her ugliness that a ‘barren shamba’.

Mindblasts of Cultural Exile

Other than physical dislocation, there are instances of psychological festering arising from
physical removal, which I refer here as ‘mindblasts’. Matama personally compares her barren
nature to “a full-grown calabash, shimmering on the outside and rotting on the inside” (96).
This word was used by servants of a colonial master to refer to female members of the
master’s family. Here it may be used to insinuate Matama’s attempt at mimicking the white
man’s culture. The calabash image reinforces the density of trauma from the social discord
society accords her.

Secondly, the psychic unequilibrium she suffers manifests in nostalgia and daydreaming.
Often Matama recalls her mother’s love and nurture, compares herself to the Biblical prodigal
and hopes for motherly treatment upon arriving home. She recalls her mother having to do all
household chores in love, and making her a meal of white ants. She encourages Motomoto to

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cover the remaining hills with her saying;We should be feeling triumphant, because we’ve
got only seven hills to cover, just seven hills, before I arrive home. Moments from now
mother will be grinding millet for her prodigal daughter. ‘Matama, my hands may be frail,
my back tired, but they know what to do when my daughter has returned. No, no, no, child,
you are not going to fetch water, I’ll do it’. (72). Daydreaming is revealed by Motomoto in
his threat to abandon the sick girl on the roadside and run back for fear that her clan might
blame him for her illness. He says, “…with this speed of ours, this snailing over inches, and
your ill-health, and your daydreaming” (73). This enhances the melancholic mood set off at
the beginning of the play by the owl-cry. The social force of disapproval and rejection is
revealed by Motomoto himself in revealing his own condition. At frst he appears an innocent
guide until the moment when Matama’s condition gets into his nerves. He reveals that he too,
had once contemplated suicide. He’s also sterile. Death becomes man’s choice in the face of
the cultural threats. He explains; “I resorted to the knife. And you can see the indelible mark
on my neck up to this time. But some man intervened before I did myself in” (88). In this
play, dislocation is not merely a physical removal from home. It involves conflict within an
individual that somehow overwhelms them. It involves a search for identity, which, more
often than not, overpowers and renders derelict.

The shock of locating home

Yetiv provides a model for analysis of ‘return’ from exile which fits in the exegesis of
Covenant with Death. He has elaborated that return is informed by reflection, and serves an
avenue for enlightenment and self discovery. For Matama, self discovery is a catharsis
actualized in death for disobedience of Kaikara the goddess.

Conclusion
It is evident from this analyses that Ruganda has dedicated Covenant with Death to cultural
alienation and exile. He intelligently interweaves the narrative of both Matama and
Motomoto with the fabric of the specific cultures that produce and destroy them. The text is
a narrative of the predicament of the African man in a hostile cultural milieu. The action he
creates is closely bound with the East African man’s social philosophy, practice and historical
crises of his own era. The theme of cultural exile is undoubtedly multifaceted and sensitive,
but his sensitivity in handling it is commendable.

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