Share this page!

gathara Profile picture
Twitter logo
23 May, 5 tweets, 2 min read
Dear Kenyans,
Notice the images of GoK vehicles? The "Africans" who inherited the colonial states to this day continue their odiero forefathers invention of "tribes" and "traditions". Notice too how references to the odiero Bible are used to legitimise the fake miro practice.
“What is a tribe? It is very largely a creation of laws drawn up by a colonial state which imposes group identities on individual subjects and thereby institutionalises group life.” - Mahmood Mamdani
theelephant.info/features/2018/…
The ideas of pre-colonial miros regarding who they were and how they related to the world around them bear little resemblance to what we call tribes today, which would probably be completely unrecognisable to them.

theelephant.info/features/2018/…
“[TheAgikuyu] traditional mode of burial and funeral rites …has disappeared and has been replaced by methods and practices from other cultures, English culture being the largest contributor.” - Prof Johnson Mbugua
theelephant.info/culture/2019/0…
Many popular ideas of tradition and culture are not based on what actually existed but rather on a combination of the myths of British anthropologists and officials as well as the interests of small African elite.
theelephant.info/culture/2019/0…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with gathara

gathara Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @gathara

gathara Profile picture
23 May
Terrible. LeClerc and Scuds' paying the price for yesterday's crash in the worst possible way. He's out even before the race starts. Now we just have Sai in P3 whose Q3 was compromised by the crash. #MonacoGP #ForzaFerrari #F1
Scuds just can't catch a break. Every time they try to take risks, cut corners even, they get severely punished. But let's hope Sainz at P3 can save us blushes and get on the podium. #MonacoGP #ForzaFerrari #F1
Formation lap. #MonacoGP #ForzaFerrari #F1
Read 15 tweets
gathara Profile picture
12 May
Western expressions of "dismay" and "grave concern" at Palestinian death while proclaiming the "right" of the brutal colonial occupier to commit mass murder, and claiming that as "moral clarity", are reminiscent of the worst justifications for racist colonial violence in Africa.
Here too, colonial land grabbers claimed the right to terrorise, brutalize, torture and murder the natives, whose land they were stealing, under the rubric of "self defense". Their "moral clarity" justified the expulsion and confinement of entire populations, even genocide.
Today in Gaza, the same "moral clarity" justifies as "self defense" attacks on a refugee population by the colonial power that took their land, blockades them in an open air prison, visits death and daily indignities on them, and then claims the right to do so in peace and quiet.
Read 4 tweets
gathara Profile picture
9 May
Race Day!!! #SpanishGP #ForzaFerrari #F1
Formation lap. #SpanishGP #ForzaFerrari #F1
Lights out!!! #SpanishGP #ForzaFerrari #F1
Read 12 tweets
gathara Profile picture
8 May
Dear Kenyans,
Remember the story of Long Teeth and the Seven Dwarfs?
wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1… Image
Here's a little context. It involves what was then considered to be the "world's richest ruby mine", the President's wife and niece, and the "black mark in the middle of the Kenya pudding."
wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1… Image
Here's how @TIME reported it in October 1974.
content.time.com/time/subscribe… Image
Read 11 tweets
gathara Profile picture
4 May
To be fair, @MarthaKarua proposed this very thing when she was close to power as Minister for Justice under Kibaki. My questions then are the same now: After how long does corruption qualify as "past" and what is "past" about corruption when we continue paying for it today?
Good to remember that @RailaOdinga too promised an amnesty for "past corruption" during the 2007 election campaigns (when he and @WilliamSRuto were on the same side). gathara.blogspot.com/2007/10/railas…
The fact is, Kenya has had an undeclared amnesty for all corruption, past and present, since independence. Kamau did not go after the colonials and chiefs, Mo1 shielded the Kamaus and their acolytes, and Kibaki talked a good game on corruption but left Mo1 and his friends alone.
Read 9 tweets
gathara Profile picture
2 May
Sad that many Kenyans do not seem to realize the colonial origins of the "discipline" fetish.
"The African needed to be flogged ‘like a child’ to inculcate discipline, yet once ‘trousered’ he had taken an important step towards the world of the white man and might be treated with greater respect".
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108… Image
The whole discourse of "discipline" was meant to infantilize the miro. Till today, brutalising Kenyans, whether it is enforcement of covid-19 restrictions or corporal punishment in schools, is always justified using the language of "discipline".
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @gathara has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @gathara!

Read all threads by @gathara

:(