Political Atrocity in Kenyan Swahili Novel after the Year 2000

Political atrocity has been a major theme in Kenyan fiction since its founding days, and fiction in the Swahili language is no exception. Since the mid-1970s, when Swahili writing in Kenya had established itself as an integral part of national literature, Swahili-writing authors have been reacting with sensitivity to the fluctuations of the political climate in the society, and depicting them both in a realistic and allegorical manner in their works. Focusing on Kenyan Swahili novels of after 2000, this chapter examines manifestations of political atrocities in these novels using the updated notion of the political novel as advanced by Karauri (2012). In this, the author investigates the representation of political atrocity in the works of selected authors such as Mwenda Mbatiah, John Habwe, Kyallo Wamitila, Ken Walibora, showing the forms and varieties of depicted cases of political repressions and violations.