Power Narratives and Political Campaigns in Kenya

Abstract

Narratives are stories that people tell about the past and the present for the purpose of making sense of their lives. They are used to pass on information from the past to the present and also for constructing the present, and influencing the future. Narratives can be real or imaginary and today some of them are based on fake news. Those narratives used by politicians can be referred to as power or political narratives. A political narrative is impactful in its ability to elicit pathos, thereby allowing the narrative to be influenced through the value it provides, rather than the truth that is told. Politicians construct disparate facts and weave them together cognitively to make sense of reality. They use narratives to appeal to the emotions of the electorate by talking pompously about themselves while casting doubt on the suitability of their opponents. This paper starts by defining narratives and then moves to focus on political narratives. The next section examines power narratives in the context of the Kenyan political landscape in the run-up to the 2017 General and Presidential Elections. The paper concludes that narratives are told by different people for different reasons, but specifically to pass on messages. Kenyan politicians use narratives, devoid of ideas, to talk a lot about themselves and to disparage their opponents, but the media, especially social media, also generate many stories about the politicians.