Katama Mkangi

Last updated
Katama Mkangi
Died6 March 2004(2004-03-06) (aged 59–60)
Citizenship Kenyan
Alma mater University of Dar es Salaam (B.A)
University of Sussex (M.A)
(Ph.D.)
Occupations
  • Socio-political activist
  • Novelist
  • Sociology Professor
Notable workUkiwa (1975)
Mafuta (1984)
Walenisi (1995)
SpouseDr Joyce Kaendi Munguti
Children2

Professor George Chamanje Katama Mkangi was a Kenyan novelist, sociologist, and pro-democracy activist. He was born in Ribe Location, Kaloleni Constituency, Kilifi County, and is known both as a lecturer in Sociology and as a writer whose novels engaged deeply with Kenya's social and political realities. [1] Beyond academia and literature, Mkangi was an advocate for human rights and democratic reforms.

Contents

Education

Mkangi Katama earned a B.A. in education with Honors from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1971. He then pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Sussex in England, obtaining an M.A. in Sociology of Development in 1973 and later completing a Ph.D. in the same field in 1978. His PhD dissertation was titled Population Growth & Myth of Land Reform in Taita. [2]

Politics

Contribution to the second liberation struggle

President Moi waged a war against intellectualls, whom he considered to be critical of his administration. He accused them of spreading Marxism to the people. [3] Professor Katama Mkangi was an active fighter for democracy against this Presidency of Daniel Moi which was characterised by authoritarianism. [4]

Professor Mkangi alongside other progressive lecturers and academicians such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Maina wa Kinyatti, Micere Githae Mugo, Alamin Mazrui, Abdilatif Abdalla used literary work and teachings to expose the injustices of the Moi regime. [5] This made universities such as University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University hubs of resistance and opposition. [6] After the coup attempt in 1982, the Moi government became even more repressive against anyone challenging their authoritarian leadership. [7]

In early 1986 Katama Mkangi was arrested and detained wthout trial alongside Professor Ngotho Kariuki, Professor Maina wa Kinyatti and Gibson Kamau Kuria, among others, during a crackdown on the Mwakenya Movement. [8] [9] The Mwakenya Movement had been known to advocate for multiparty democracy. [10]

Mkangi alongside nine other political detainees including Raila Odinga were released in February 1988, a month before the parliamentary elections. They spoke about the police brutality and torture that they endured while in prison. [11] Mkangi had been in prison for two years.

1997 presidential elections

Katama Mkangi vied for presidency and the Kaloleni Constituency seat in the 1997 general elections. He was amongst the fifteen candidates. [12] He vied under the Kenya National Congress Party (KNC). [13]

He lost both the presidential and parliamentary elections, receiving 23,554 votes, which accounted for 0.38% of the 6,189,684 votes cast in the presidential race. [14]

Career

Novels

As a novelist Katama Mkangi published several books. Some of his notable publications are:

The book Walenisi is the one of the five inaugural African literature selections that are to be translated to English in 2026 through the African Language Literatures in Translation series by the University of Georgia Press. [15] [16] The book will bear the title They Are Us and the English translation will be done by Richard Prins. [17] [18]

Scholarly publications

Achievements

His novels and scholarly work have featured in and inspired several research work, including

Teaching

Katama Mkangi began his teaching career as a teacher at Ribe Secondary School in 1971. One year later, he became a headmaster at Aggrey High School in Wundanyi.

Upon completing his PhD in 1978, Prof Mkangi began lecturing at the University of Nairobi, Department of Sociology and later served as an external examiner at the University of Dar es Salaam in 1986.

After his detention in 1986, Professor Katama Mkangi struggled to get a job locally. [25]

Professor Mkangi also had international stints in his career, serving as a visiting Fulbright Scholar in Residence at the Department of Sociology, Carroll College between 1998 and 1999. [26]

At the time of his death, he was an Associate Professor of Sociology at the United States International University Africa, a position he held since 1995. [25]

Death

Professor Katama Mkangi passed away in a road accident on March 6, 2004 while on his way to Mombasa. He died on the spot after his car with registration number KAM 067B was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle. [25] [27]

References

  1. "The pens that left a big mark". Daily Nation. 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  2. Gearhart, Rebecca; Giles, Linda L., eds. (2014). Contesting identities: the Mijikenda and their neighbors in Kenyan coastal society. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. ISBN   978-1-59221-898-1.
  3. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung; Citizens for Justice (Nairobi, Kenya), eds. (2003). We lived to tell the Nyayo House story. Nairobi, Kenya: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. ISBN   978-9966-957-03-0.
  4. "Scores detained in Mwakenya crackdown". Daily Nation. 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  5. 1 2 "KAULI YA MATUNDURA: Mkangi aliandika Walenisi kwa mafumbo kuepuka rungu la dola?". Taifa Leo. 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  6. "Disruptive scenes that birthed Moi's torture era". Rwanda Today. 2020-10-16. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
  7. Ong'wen, Oduor (2020-03-13). "Moi as I knew him". Nairobi Law Monthly. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  8. "Intellectuals lost their way, and the nation is bleeding". Daily Nation. 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  9. "African Prisoners of Conscience". ASA News. 21 (1): 34–35. March 1988. doi:10.1017/S0278221900595327. ISSN   0278-2219.
  10. Juma, Wamalwa; Cletus, Chukwu N.; Mary, Wahome N. (2018-08-31). "BACKGROUND TO THE CONTEMPORARY KENYAN DEMOCRACY: FROM COLONIAL TO 1991". IJRDO - Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research. 3 (8): 72–85. doi:10.53555/sshr.v3i8.2219. ISSN   2456-2971.
  11. Archives, L. A. Times (1988-02-06). "Kenya Frees 9 Political Prisoners; 4 Allege Torture". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  12. "Kenya: IRIN Election Briefing - Kenya | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 1997-12-13. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  13. Ajulu, Rok (1998-09-23). "Kenya's 1997 Elections: Making Sense of the Transition Process". New England Journal of Public Policy. 14 (1). ISSN   0749-016X.
  14. "Elections in Kenya". africanelections.tripod.com. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  15. Mushakavanhu, Tinashe (2025-08-28). "African novels are being translated to English in a bold new trend. We review Ignatius Mabasa's The Mad". The Conversation. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  16. Nawotka, Ed. "UGA Press Launches African Language Literature in Translation Series". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2025-08-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. "University of Georgia Press Launches Series on African Language Literatures in Translation". Brittle Paper. 2025-05-14. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  18. "Richard Prins". www.arts.gov. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  19. Wamitila, Kyallo Wadi (1998). "TOWARDS UNLOCKING KATAKA MKANGI'S WALENISI A CASE OF PARABOLIC NARRATIVE?". Kiswahili. 61. ISSN   2546-2229.
  20. Benjamin, Jesse (2010-06-14). "Representation in Kenya, Its Diaspora, and Academia: Colonial Legacies in Constructions of Knowledge About Kenya's Coast". Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective. 2 (2). ISSN   1930-3009.
  21. Mbatiah, Mwenda (2017). "Visions of the Future in East African Fiction: A Comparative Exploration of Selected Works in Kiswahili and English". Kiswahili. ISSN   2546-2229.
  22. Yenjela, Wafula (2018-03-25). "Novelistic Dedications as Memoir: The Moral-Political Imagination of Katama Mkangi". Oxford Research in English.
  23. Wafula, Richard Makhanu (2021-04-30). "Economic Perspectives in East African Literature: A Study in Selected Novels in Kiswahili". The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies. 9 (4). doi:10.24940/theijhss/2021/v9/i4/HS2104-026. ISSN   2321-9203.
  24. M, Enock (2024-01-30). "WALENISI-REVIEW". Saturday Nation.
  25. 1 2 3 "Pro-democracy crusader killed in car crash". Daily Nation. 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  26. "J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 1999-02-12. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  27. "Death of Professor Katama Mkangi". Blog. 2004-03-10.