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In The Lady who married a Crow and Other Stories J. C. Makori brings rare tales and storytelling from the past. The stories capture a tradition and wisdom which, if not documented, would disappear all the same.
Storytelling was at the core of the social fabric of the people of the past. It brought together the young and old, and the raw and experienced. Through this interactive process, the community’s cumulative knowledge, experiences and wisdom were passed from generation to generation. The process further cemented the place of the storytellers as custodians of community wisdom, values and history.
In this collection, the author has given a glimpse into that past, the lessons the community treasured and wisdom embedded in the stories. Written in the style of the original oral form, the tales offer lessons, and insights into history and culture that could inform the present and shape the future.
What others say
“The stories in this collection are compelling, painting vivid images in the reader’s mind through immersing the reader in the world of the different characters and the community in which the stories are set! The book adds a much needed African folk tale resource, and can be used as a pedagogical tool and for recreational reading.” – Grace Wangari, Children’s Book Editor.
“This is thrilling collection that would interest readers across age sets. The stories offer moral lessons such as the value of truthfulness, kindness and good relations.” – Bethsheba Nyabuto, Book Designer/Editor.
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Vyama Institutions of Hope
This book makes the case for informal sector institutions in development theory. Through practical examples and interviews conducted in Kenya, the author captures how ordinary people organize themselves to meet daily economic and development challenges. The author traces how ordinary people (wananchi) use non-mainstream mechanisms in the form vyama (social groups) to enable individual, group and community development. The book offers insights into the evolution of vyama (institutions of hope) and the role these institutions continue to play in realizing economic growth: wealth creation and distribution; investments, social protection; and general community development.
The work shows how, despite historical disruptions, modernization and neo-liberal policies, ordinary people creatively borrow from tradition. In the process, they use collective mechanisms for resource mobilization, investment, risk-sharing and shared gains for the common good. The author offers pointers into the future and how the chama concept can become mainstream in a people’s economic development.
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“The analysis is rigorous. It is highly original, emotive, and an excellent piece of work. It makes a major contribution to our knowledge of the proto-proletariat and the informal sector in the developing world. - How the author beautifully weaves anecdotes from classical African novels into her analysis to reinforce her argument makes this work distinctive and unique.” - Professor MBK Darkoh, University of Botswana
“This book is based on real life cases in an area that most scholars have not ventured into. It is a major addition of new findings in the body of knowledge. The presentation is clear, understandable and would appeal to most readers.” –Paul Kamau, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, University of Nairobi
“The strength of this book is the way it has managed to present the lives of the ordinary people as not hopeless, but rather the base where future development for Africa could be emerging. The book starts from the grassroots and the development actions and innovations taking place there based on the needs as experienced by the ordinary people, rather than the technical fixes of development experts that follow the books rather than the actual needs of the people being developed.” – Professor Beth Maina Ahlberg, PhD, Professor of International Health, Uppsala University
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Proverbs of the Abagusii of Kenya Christopher Okemwa
Like most cultural groups, the oral tradition of Abagusii People of Kenya is expressed in, among others, proverbs. These capture lessons and meaning, modulated by time and context as they are passed down generations. Like riddles and metaphors, proverbs express the wisdom of a culture and find apt applications in many situations. Christopher Okemwa's work documents some of the proverbs of Abagusii, their meaning, context in which they are used and application thereof. In this book proverbs are documented in the original form accompanied by English translations in addition to lessons they offer. Embedded in this collection are cultural aspects such beliefs and norms which touch on many aspects of Abagusii society. These aspects include relationships among people, communal life, gender matters, economic issues and many more.
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"Through careful transcription and translation of proverbs of Abagusii people of Kenya, Okemwa shares knowledge and cultural diversity as a wide range of themes and motifs recur hence multiplying meanings and implications. The proverbs explore both socio-political and socio-economic issues, in addition to fulfilling an aesthetic function." - Gladys Nyaiburi Ogaro, Mount. Kenya University
"The uniqueness of this work lies in its use of Ekegusii language to impart culture of Abagusii on the reader through the imagery in proverbs. The advantage of 'hearing' Ekegusii first hand, its literal and deep meaning provided, makes it ideal for students and teachers of language and culture in learning institutions. The work also preserves, for posterity, wisdom that may become extinct with the passage of time." - Margaret Kemunto Obaga, Catholic University, Nairobi, Kenya
"Christopher Okemwa's Proverbs of Abagusii of Kenya: Meaning & Application captures and radiates, with delight, the wisdom and beauty in Abagusii proverbs. For Ekegusii speakers, the proverbs nudge one to take a deep look at oneself and see how entertaining they can be. For non-speakers of the language the translation provided gives the poems versatility in content and pervasive reach, thus making them universal pieces of erudition that challenge and encourage. The proverb, 'Naigure ndumo boina ko mosiori ntamanya' (I have heard noise coming from grave diggers, but I am not sure who will be first to be interred), for instance, warns everybody against the barbarism of intransigence and physical confrontations, a universal piece of wisdom. Reading this invaluable book is a sure-fire route to intellectual nourishment. Okemwa has documented answers to our deep-seated questions on our socio- cultural, socio-economic and socio-political queries as captured by Abagusii proverbs. The wisdom therein helps one pry into one's own inadequacies and learn to challenge adversity." - Bwocha Nyagemi Bwocha, St. Augustine University, Tanzania
Research Methodology: A Blue Print
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This book gives examples that provide opportunities for students and other researchers to engage in acceptable conventions of APA style of writing. Further, it demystifies research methodology with a view to improving the quality and standards of academic writing.
The Natural Environment! My other Threatened Self
This book examines the natural environment as an integral dimension of human identity, framing it as the 'Other Threatened Self.' The 'Other' is understood not as an alien entity but as that which shapes and complements human identity from beyond the self (a silent partner in existence).
From philosophical, ecological and phenomenological perspectives, the book argues that estrangement from nature is not only an ecological crisis but also a crisis of selfhood. The destruction of ecosystems reflects the fragmentation of human subjectivity; to forget nature is to lose the fullness of being. On the other hand, taking it into account restores an ontological wholeness where humanity and the natural world share their essence.
Modern technological relationships, however, tend to reduce the environment to a calculable resource, abstracted into units of use and exchange. Against this reduction, the book reclaims the environment as the 'Other Threatened Self,' reawakening the ethical imperative of responsibility in which care for the earth is inseparable from care for oneself.
Such a reorientation opens a path to ecological renewal, not through technical fixes, but through grounding human life in an ontology of interdependence and reverence for the more-than-human world. The book, therefore, proposes an integrative vision of sustainability that heals the fractured relationship between humans and their threatened ecological self, calling for a renewed consciousness that recognises care for nature as care for one's own being.
Till I’m Laid to Rest
In this compelling novel, Till I'm Laid To Rest by Garfield Ellis' , we meet Shirley Temple Brown a young woman who has survived some of the hardest social and political times Jamaica has seen. But now she is finally tired of just surviving, she wants to thrive and she knows she must leave Jamaica in order to do so.
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