Popular Music and Construction of Ethnic Political Identity

This article injects Discourse Analysis into a literary genre, popular music, to show how language is creatively manipulated to position a group within a larger society, while also portraying the group’s beliefs about ‘Others’. As many studies of creation of identity have argued, a group defines itself by ‘subscribing’ to some ideologies and holding claims of similar historical experiences which are presumed to bring the members of the group together. Membership to these groups is largely imagined and only brought to consciousness in discursive sites such media, social gatherings and others. In such sites, together with other form of discourses such as media debates and informal discussions, popular music may play a big role in ‘reminding’ people of shared heritages, fears and aspirations. The need for defining a group identity is heightened during conflicts such as political strife.  In this paper, we show how Kikuyu (one of the big tribes in Kenya amongst forty one others) popular musicians use language to create a collective identity of the tribe, largely portraying it as superior with unique capabilities. The relationship between the tribe and the political establishment is crucial in the artists’ articulation of how they view their tribe versus the rest of the Kenyan society. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this article analyses and interprets the language in Kikuyu popular music to show how the artists endeavour to shape a socio - political identity of the Kikuyu people.