This book captures the essence of life in this world with all its whims and fancies and dreams. It takes you through a virtual tour of a common mans life in his own words. Learn from these stories as if they are shared with you, as if over a cup of tea and warm conversation. You will learn history, facts, trivia, and interesting tidbits that will make you appreciate things in general in this worldchildren playing, birds chirping, thunder clapping, then a silence that will set in, never to be broken, unless perhaps in the far pasture of the Milky Way. I meant this book to be entertaining, relaxing, armchair reading, and the stories are such that you can identify with them. Also, I wanted to keep my memories alive. In doing so, you will find some factoids to be chewed on.

While Allan Ogot's circuits of influence have been very wide, and while he has participated in conferences and forums around the world, he has never yielded his intellectual and personal anchorage in Kenya - though he has had numerous opportunities to accept distinguished chairs overseas. Extraordinarily, Allan Ogot has sustained his incredible level of service and scholarship through shifting and challenging conditions within Kenya and within Africa, navigating changing economic and political circumstances. His steady hand and persistent commitment to the highest ideals of scholarly engagement and community provide remarkable model for all who are dedicating themselves and will dedicate themselves to Africanist scholarship. This autobiography provides a commentary on the history of Kenya as seen through Allan Ogot's life experiences.

Who were the actors involved in colonial and post-independence education in Africa? This book on the history of education in Africa gives a special attention to narratives of marginalized voices. With this original approach and cases from ten countries involving four colonial powers it constitutes a dynamic and rich contribution to the field. The authors have searched for narratives of education 'from below' through oral interviews, autobiographies, films and undiscovered archival sources. Throughout the book, educational settings are approached as social spaces where both contact and separtation between colonisers and colonised are constructed through social interaction, negotiations, and struggles. Contributors include Antónia Barreto, Lars Folke Berge, Clara Carvalho, Charlotte Courreye, Pierre-Éric Fageol, Frédéric Garan, Esther Ginestet, Pedro Goulart, Pierre Guidi, Lydia Hadj-Ahmed, Kalpana Hiralal, Mamaye Idriss, Mihary Jaofeno, Raoul Kahuma, Rehana Thembeka Odendaal, Roland Rakotovao, Maria da Luz Ramos, Ellen Vea Rosnes, Caterina Scalvedi, Eva Van de Velde, Pieter Verstraete.

This volume covers Kenya’s history, society, culture, economics, politics, and environment from precolonial times through the first years of independence. The book comprises twenty-one chapters divided into two parts. Part I focuses on the long precolonial moment, detailing the nature of precolonial Kenyan societies and their economics, politics, gender dynamics, and social organization. Part II examines Kenyan societies’ encounters with British colonialism, critically outlining the impact and implications of these encounters. The volume concludes with an examination of political consolidation after the country’s attainment of political independence and the subsequent foundations for political authoritarianism.

Kenya stands at a crossroads in its history and heritage, as the nation celebrates its fiftieth anniversary of independence from Britain in 2013. At this important juncture, what parts of its history, including the Mau Mau uprising, do citizens and state wish to remember and commemorate and what is best forgotten or occluded? What does heritage mean to ordinary Kenyans, and what role does it play in building nationhood and forging peace and reconciliation? Focusing on the 1990s to the present, "Managing Heritage, Making Peace" is a timely exploration of the ways in which Kenyans are engaging with the past in the present, including such local initiatives as the community peace museums movement, local and national monuments and other notable commemorative actions. The authors show how Kenya is facing a continuing crisis over nationhood, heritage, memory and identity, which must be resolved to achieve social cohesion and peace.

Author Samuel Ndogo offers an understanding of the autobiographical genre in contemporary Kenyan literature. He draws attention to life-writing as a form of cultural re-imagination in post-colonial Africa. Taking into consideration contradictions and paradoxes of referentiality in life writing, this book examines the autobiographies of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Wangari Maathai, and Bethwell Ogot. The analysis dwells on self-representations in correlation with imaginations of the 'Kenyan nation' in these works. Thus, the study gives a critical account into the modern memoir: the forms and styles it takes, the ways in which these authors tend to understand and present their lives. (Series: Contributions to African Research / Beitr�¤ge zur Afrikaforschung, Vol. 63) [Subject: African Studies, Literary Criticism]����

Footprints In The Sand...is an encouraging and uplifting book that reminds us about the importance of being careful with the "words" we choose to say and our actions. Everyone leaves footprints in the sands of time. They can be negative impressions or they can be positive. The choice is ultimately ours. This book encourages the reader to "Make a Difference" in our world by leading the way with positive footprints.