BRAJ KACHRU’S IMPERIAL DIASPORA AS A CHALLENGE TO LOCAL IDENTITY AND PLURALISM IN OKOT P’BITEK’S SONG OF LAWINO

Abstract

In this paper, the concept of imperial diaspora and its formidable threat to local identity and cultural diversity as presented in the iconic postcolonial epic Song of Lawino (1966) by Okot p’Bitek will be critically analyzed under the analytical framework of Braj Kachru’s Three Concentric Circles Model. The British colonial project made strategic use of the idea of diaspora, in moving settlers into colonized African lands, as a means of establishing their domination over the native population. In P'Bitek's groundbreaking piece, this colonial mechanism is revealed through the agony expressed by Lawino, an Acholi woman who finds her native culture threatened by a westernized husband representing the threat of colonial cultural domination. With the use of Kachru's framework of indigenization and concept of imperial diaspora, this paper will illustrate how the outer circle voices resist the hegemony of the inner circle. Using the Kachruvian strategies of Lexical Innovation, Translation Equivalence, Contextual Redefinition, and Rhetoric and Functional Style, p'Bitek uses the English language to preserve, propagate, and exalt indigenous African culture, flora, fauna, and literature. This study reveals that indigenization is not only a linguistic process but also an effective strategy of cultural and political resistance against the threat posed by imperial diaspora on local plurality and identities. This paper adds yet another perspective to existing scholarship in that it considers imperial diaspora as the primary colonial mechanism targeted by p'Bitek.