One Day I Will Write about This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina

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Binyavanga Wainaina’s memoir, One Day I will Write About this Place is a biting an enticing memoir into the life of the author as he grows up in Kenya. The title itself suggests that the book alerts readers to an important story, yet leaves that story nameless and the setting yet to be determined. It is possible for the reader to read the book from several different perspectives, yet the most important perspective is the story of a boy coming of age in post-colonial Kenya and maturing into his state as a professional author. As the author grows the politics ever-imposing forces Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, of Daniel arap Moi, the second president of Kenya, and the mentally present but psychically distant Idi Amin forces Wainaina to face the oppressive and influential role of Kenyan politics in everyday situations. Through these difficulties, however, Wainaina will embrace the idea of Pan-Africanism
Binyavanga Wainaina was born in Naruku, Kenya in 1971. His mother’s life tormented by politics back in her him country of Uganda, from which she fled, to escape the collapsing economy and political turmoil spiraling out of control in Unganda. Because of these facts, Wainana is born into an astutely aware family in terms of politics. In the first chapter, politics for Wainaina are simply comparative and distant when he discusses the fall of Uganda under Field Marshal Amin Dada, otherwise known as Idi Amin. “Field Marshal Amin Dada, president of Uganda, ate his minister for supper. He kept his minister’s head in the fridge.”(7) Several page later in the first chapter, he writes, “Kenya is a peaceful nation,”(9) while comparing it to the turmoil in Uganda.
His mother’s Ugandan heritage would begin to cause problems for his...

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...ation will fail. (227) This explains he reluctance to support anyone based on tribal affiliation and wish not to receive any special treatment, like at the airport.
Despite both presidents of Kenya and Idi Amin attempts at dividing both the country of Kenya and the continent of Africa as whole, the xenophobic and ethnocentric men drive Wainaina into the idea of Pan-Africanism. The politics of all three men had tremendous influence as Wainaina grew up. Yet, despite their negativity, and hope to see those not like them, or refusing to subjugated themselves before the leaders, Wainaina persevered and still, while extremely upset about the entirety of the situation and extremely homesick, believes that there is a tiny bit of hope in the future.

Works Cited

Wainaina, Binyavanga. One Day I Will Write about This Place: A Memoir. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf, 2011. Print.

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