REPRESENTATION OF AFRICAN VOICES THROUGH THE PORTRAYAL OF INDIGENOUS CULTURE IN P’BITEK’S SONG OF LAWINO AS A CHALLENGE TO THE COLONIALIST INNER CIRCLE

Abstract

The study analyzes the representation of indigenous voices and culture in Song of Lawino (1966) by Okot p’Bitek. It is a critique of the impact of the imperialist discourse and agenda on the colonized socio-cultural values through the undertaken theoretical framework- Kachru’s indigenization that is known as the Three Concentric Circles Model. P’Bitek represented the native culture in his work as a resistance against the imposition of the foreign culture. The selected epic that is the masterpiece of African oral literature is replete with the indigenous language that has been used by the poet as a dissent and demonstration against the invasion of Western culture. Therefore, the portrayal of the indigenous unheeded and marginalized African voices can be a potent counter-strategy to save the local representation against the onslaught of colonialist plan. Hence, Lawino as a spokesperson of the poet in this long epic comes up to voice against misrepresentation of her own loved ancestral identity through the usage of African linguistic terms and titles, idioms, etc. The poet in the selected work embedded local flora and fauna and indigenous figurative devices to highlight Imperial coercion and repression. The article is an attempt to offer an additional understanding of the selected work that the existing stock of knowledge has not explored it from the angle the study intends to delve into.