Mweseli Monica Wanambisi

Bio: Mweseli Monica Wanambisi is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Poetry & Tenderness. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 4 publications receiving 5 citations.

Utilization of Dramatic Elements in Delineating Human Interaction in Selected Drama of Francis Imbuga and John Ruganda

Abstract: A Research Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Theatre Arts) In the School of Creative and Performing Arts, Film and Media Studies of Kenyatta University. November 2018

Central and East Africa

Abstract: It has become almost impossible to talk about East African writing without feeling haunted by the Sudanese-Ugandan writer and critic, Taban lo Liyong’s now (in)famous declaration that the region was a ‘literary desert’. Recently, Lo Liyong conceded that indeed the region was no longer a desert, although it was yet to yield a quality crop of writings. The issue of quality is a recurrent one, especially with regard to popular literature, a category that has historically been a subject of heated debate in the region. Questions of the relationship between popular literature and canonical literature have continued to exercise East African writing, both creative and critical. In a sense then, debates around quantity and quality provide an appropriate starting point for discussing East and Central African writing during 2004–05. Compared to Southern Africa, the volume of publishing in the region has remained low over the past two years. This is often blamed on the now ubiquitous ‘lack of a reading culture’; although perhaps the reading culture has more to do with economic factors than attitudes. However, even the narrow segment of the population with a significant disposable income is often seen to lack a passion for reading outside of primary educational material. On their part, publishers seem to take these dominant market patterns into consideration, and it is instructive that a huge volume of publications in 2004–05 in this region took the form of textbooks. Despite this, the last two years saw an upsurge of new and small publishing houses such as Mvule Africa in Kenya and MPB Publishers in Tanzania. This is remarkable in a market that has for decades been dominated by big multinationals including Longman, Oxford University Press, Heinemann and Macmillan, and the equally large local ones including East African Educational Publishers and Jomo Kenyatta Foundation. The emergence of small local publishers has served to broaden access to

The role of guiding and counselling in secondary schools in kenya: prospects and challenges

Abstract: Since the 1990s, education system in Kenya has faced dynamic and rapid changes that have had overwhelming effects both on the child, teacher, school and society at large. Education policies have changed over the years including the recently introduced policy on caning which was scraped through children’s Act of 2001 and replaced with guiding and counseling as a measure to prepare a child for the challenges they face both in school and outside school. As corporal punishment remains banned and children becoming more aware of their rights, guiding and counseling remains the most acceptable channel of reaching the children in schools; the children too being teenagers, they experience a time of storm and stress characterized by mixed reactions of being happy at one moment and extremely sad at another moment. The reactions to such situations are likely to be intense and volatile. With parents being too busy to give children quality time and attention, the responsibility has been left to rest squarely on the shoulder of the teachers to help students make decisions on aspects that affect their lives. This therefore necessitates the need to strengthen guiding and counseling in schools. This paper examines the role of guiding and counseling in secondary schools mainly in shaping the career life of the teenager and the challenges faced by schools in using it as a measure to replace caning in instilling discipline in the students. The research was based and build on scientifi c sources, analytical evaluative studies and scientifi c literature; content analysis of documents and refl ection of experience to examine the role of guiding and counseling in secondary schools. From the fi ndings, a conclusion was drawn that to streamline the role of guiding & counseling and overcome the challenges in shaping the students’ integrated development, every party including the MOE, policy makers, schools, teachers and parents have a role to play in shaping the life of the child.

Am I a robot? English language teachers on teachers' guides

Abstract: Teachers’ Guides were part of a wider textbook study that I carried out in Kenya (2008-2012), where both Students’ and Teachers’ Books undergo vetting for Ministerial approval. While this endorsement is important, there is, equally, a need to explore the responses to materials from the perspective of the end-users of the product. The aim of this article is to examine teachers’ views on Teachers’ Guides for secondary school English in Kenya, where English is a Second Language. Faceto-face teacher interviews (2010) provided more nuanced data than a preliminary survey questionnaire (2009), indicating rare or selective use of guidebooks for various reasons. Teacher insights into guidebooks are potentially useful to other teachers, teacher trainers, materials developers and regulatory bodies.

The Philosophy of Dissimilation, Meaninglessness and Isolation in Theatre of the Absurd: Evidence from John Ruganda’s Two Plays

Abstract: Drama and theatrical performance remain one of the most effective ways through which life’s reality can be experienced, described, perceived and portrayed. Absurd drama has come to be seen as one of the most modern literary movements that have been adopted by African playwrights, Ruganda included. Based on a study of plays by Ugandan playwright John Ruganda, this paper discusses the philosophy of dissimilation, meaninglessness and isolation in theatre of the absurd. The study used Ruganda’s two plays, namely The Floods and Shreds of Tenderness. The various modes through which absurd drama appeal to the aesthetic sensibilities were examined. The study employed descriptive research and used purposive sampling. Data was analysed qualitatively by describing the findings of the study to arrive at inferences and conclusions. In Ruganda’s plays, the country is represented as being sick and in dire need of an urgent remedy but no one has the desire to bring in a solution to it. The sickness has not only affected the people as individuals but the nation as a whole. The playwright is by extension pointing to the cause of the sickness affecting the nation as being attributed to bad leadership. Using the lives of main characters, the playwright also demonstrates the senselessness of the human life and the inadequacy of the rational approach by the open abandonment of rational devices and discursive thought. The characters are portrayed as isolated and lonely individuals whose lives and fate area mere subject of time. The finding of the study is an important contribution to understanding drama and the changing trend in literary criticism in drama