Gakaara wa Wanjaũ
{{Short description|Kenyan author, historian, and editor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gakaara wa Wanjaũ
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1921
| birth_place = Nyeri District, Kenya
| death_date = {{death date|2001|03|30|}}
| resting_place = Karatina
| nationality = Kenyan
| other_names =
| occupation = Gĩkũyu author, historian, editor, publisher
| years_active =
| known_for = contributed to the preservation of indigenous languages{{cite journal|title=East African Voice: The Wa-Nduuta Stories of Gakaara wa Wanjaũ|journal=Research in African Literatures|last=Biersteker|first=Ann|publisher=Indiana University Press|volume=22|number=4 (Winter)|pages=63–78|year=1991|jstor = 3820358}}
}}
Gakaara wa Wanjaũ (1921–30 March 2001) was a prolific Gĩkũyu author, historian, editor and publisher from Kenya.
Biography
He was born in Nyeri District, Kenya, in 1921 and attended a local primary school in colonial Kenya. He never finished high school and never received tertiary education.{{harvnb|Pugliese|1995}} Nonetheless, he began a career as a writer in the mid-forties{{cite web|url=https://kimaniwawanjiru.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/gakaara-wa-wanjau%E2%80%94a-prolific-man-of-letters/|title=GAKAARA WA WANJAU—a prolific man of letters|author=kimaniwawanjiru|publisher=|date=2011-06-08|access-date=2016-10-26}} when he started documenting events in his life, albeit discreetly.{{harvnb|Elkins|2005|p=475}}
Later, his books after having been banned and causing him to be arrested, were passed to be included as part of various syllabi for Gĩkũyu language instruction in the lower grades of primary school—mostly standard one, two, and three.{{Cite web|title=Mtandao wa Sanaa Kenya {{!}} Gakaara wa Wanjau|url=http://kenya.spla.pro/en/file.person.gakaara-wa-wanjau.37167.html|website=kenya.spla.pro|access-date=2020-05-24}} These books mainly included children's short stories—often a collection of folk-lore.{{Cite web|title=Mtandao wa Sanaa Kenya {{!}} Gakaara wa Wanjau|url=http://kenya.spla.pro/en/file.person.gakaara-wa-wanjau.37167.html|website=kenya.spla.pro|access-date=2020-05-24}} Teachers often used the popular introductory texts by writer Fred Kago titled Wĩrute Gũthoma (Foundations of Learning){{cite book|title=Wirute Guthoma: Book 1|year=1990|author=F.K. Kago|publisher=Evans Brothers Ltd|isbn=978-0237511715}}{{cite book|title=Wirute Guthoma: Book 2|year=1990|author=F.K. Kago|publisher=Evans Brothers Ltd|isbn=978-0237511722 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Wirute-Guthoma-Kago-1990-06-01-Paperback/dp/B012UTQNY0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477497430&sr=1-3-fkmr0&keywords=Fred+K+Kago|title=Wirute Guthoma: Book 3|date=1990-06-01|author=F.K. Kago|publisher=Evans Brothers Ltd|asin=B012UTQNY0|access-date=2016-10-26}} for the basics and supplemented{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Teachers-guide-Kamba-Longmans-language/dp/B0007JBEO0/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477497485&sr=1-8&keywords=K+Kago|title=Teacher's guide to Kamba|work=Longman's new Kenya language series
|year=1965|author=Fred K Kago |publisher=Longmans, Green|asin=B0007JBEO0|access-date=2016-10-26}} them with Gakaara's stories.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
Gakaara wa Wanjaũ died on 30 March 2001, and was interred in Karatina."A Tribute to Gakaara wa Wanjau: A Literary and Cultural Icon Passes On", Free Media Foundation. Gakaara left a personal archive of more than 7,000 pages, a large proportion of which had been composed during his detention in the 1950s.{{sfn|Peterson|2008}} Works of Gakaara wa Wanjau are archived at the Center of African Studies Library, University of Cambridge which were sourced from the Yale University Library microfilm collection of the Gakaara wa Wanjaũ papers.{{refn|name=microfilm|group=note|6 microfilm reels are archived at the Centre of African Studies at the University of Cambridge. Those are sourced from the Yale University Library microfilm collection of the Gakaara wa Wanjaũ papers.{{cite web|url=http://www.library.african.cam.ac.uk/Collections/archives|title=Archives and special collections|publisher=University of Cambridge|access-date=2016-10-26|archive-date=2016-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026234221/http://www.library.african.cam.ac.uk/Collections/archives|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.library.african.cam.ac.uk/Collections/archivelist/Wanjaufindingaid|title=A Guide to the Yale University Microfilm Collection of the Gakaara wa Wanjaũ Papers|last1=Woodson|first1=Dorothy C (Yale University)|last2=Peterson|first2=Derek (University of Cambridge)|publisher=African Studies Centre Library|date=|access-date=2016-10-26|archive-date=2016-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026233900/http://www.library.african.cam.ac.uk/Collections/archivelist/Wanjaufindingaid|url-status=dead}}}}
Work
- Riũa Rĩtaanathũa
- O Kĩrĩma Ngaagũa
- Mageria Nomo Mahota
- Ngwenda Ũũũnjurage
- Marebeta Ikũmi ma wendo
- Mwandiki wa Mau Mau Ithaamirio-ini{{cite web|url=https://kimaniwawanjiru.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/gakaara-wa-wanjau%E2%80%94a-prolific-man-of-letters/|title=GAKAARA WA WANJAU—a prolific man of letters|author=kimaniwawanjiru|date=2011-06-08|access-date=2016-10-26}}
- Nyĩmbo cia Mau Mau: iria ciarehithirie wiyathi: gũkũngũĩra mĩaka 25 haraambee!: Nyayo!{{cite web|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007984145|title=Nyĩmbo cia Mau Mau: iria ciarehithirie wiyathi: gũkũngũĩra mĩaka 25 haraambee! : Nyayo! / Gakaara wa Wanjaũ|work=Catalog, Hathi Trust Digital Library|author=Gakaara wa Wanjaũ|display-authors=etal|location=Karatina, Kenya|publisher=Gakaara Press|year=1988|access-date=2016-10-26}}
- Uhoro wa Ugurani{{cite web|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007590289?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Gakaara%20wa%20Wanja%C5%A9.%22&ft=|title=Uhoro wa Ugurani|others=Cristiana Pugliese (translator)|author=Gakaara wa Wanjaũ|work=The first company of writers in Kenya: the African Book Writers Ltd, Karatina, 1946-1947|location=Nairobi|publisher=French Institute for Research in Africa|year=1994|pages=6–13|access-date=2016-10-26}}
- Mũrutani wa thiomi ithatũ hamwe = Mwalimu wa lugha tatu pamoja = A teacher of three languages togetherWritten in three languages as Gĩĩg̃ĩkũyũ, Kiswahili, and English. {{cite web|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007984146?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Gakaara%20wa%20Wanja%C5%A9.%22&ft=|title=Mũrutani wa thiomi ithatũ hamwe = Mwalimu wa lugha tatu pamoja|trans-title=A teacher of three languages together |author=Gakaara wa Wanjaũ|publisher=Gakaara Press|location=Karatina, Kenya|year=1989}}
- Mĩhĩrĩga ya aagĩkũyũ / rĩandĩkĩtwo nĩ Gakaara wa Wanjaũ{{cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007984143?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Gakaara%20wa%20Wanja%C5%A9.%22&ft=|title=Mĩhĩrĩga ya aagĩkũyũ / rĩandĩkĩtwo nĩ Gakaara wa Wanjaũ|author=Gakaara wa Wanjaũ|publisher=Gakaara Press|location=Karatina, Kenya|year=1998|access-date=2016-10-26}}
Notes
{{reflist|group=note}}
Footnotes
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book
| last = Pugliese
| first = Cristiana
| year = 1995
| title = Author, Publisher and Gĩkũyũ Nationalist: The Life and Writings of Gakaara wa Wanjaũ
| location = Bayreuth
| publisher = Bayreuth African Studies
| isbn = 978-3-927510-35-7}}
- {{cite book
| last = Elkins
| first = Caroline
| title = Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya
| year = 2005
| publisher = Pimlico
| location = London
| isbn = 978-1-84413-548-6}}
- {{cite journal
| last = Peterson
| first = Derek R
| journal = Journal of African History
| title = The Intellectual Lives of Detainees
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| year = 2008
| volume = 49
| pages = 73–91
| doi = 10.1017/S0021853708003411
| doi-access = free
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanjau, Gakaarawa}}