Kikuyu gender norms and narratives

This book offers an interpretation of the divergent ways in which Kikuyu gender norms are imagined. Imagination relates to concept and fantasy, interpretation and metaphor. This multiple meaning accounts for the wide variety of channels in which imaginations are expressed. This book concentrates on literary imaginations of Kikuyu gender norms. Both in oral and written narratives, identity, gender and norms are processed in a special manner. These literary expressions, however, are explicitly linked to extraliterary imaginations of Kikuyu gender norms. The first chapter is a guide to the methodological and theoretical ideas underlying the book. The next chapter starts with an introduction to Kikuyuness and then maps the divergent imaginations of Kikuyu gender norms in context. Ch. 3 deals with oral literature. After an introduction to the oral genres, the author explains what status has been attributed to these genres. This is followed by an interpretation of the normative processes in oral narratives. The last chapter follows a similar procedure, but focuses on written literature.