Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2023)

“But he did not commit incest…!” A Comparative Analysis of Utenzi wa Nyakiiru Kibi and Oedipus Rex

https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v12i2.345
Angelus Mnenuka

Corresponding Author(s) : Angelus Mnenuka

amnenuka@udsm.ac.tz

Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), Vol. 12 No. 2 (2023)

Abstract

Human beings share commonalities, many of which are intricately woven into
literature. Literary works allow individuals to explore and gain insights into diverse
cultures and ideas across spatiotemporal contexts. Against this backdrop, this study
compared two literary works, Oedipus Rex (Sophocles, 1992) and Utenzi wa Nyakiiru
Kibi [‘Epic of Nyakiiru-Kibi’] (Mulokozi, 1997), to gain insight into the two societies
from which the stories are derived. Using Aarne and Thompson’s (1961) classification
of the Oedipus story, the study finds that Utenzi wa Nyakiiru Kibi qualifies as an
Oedipal story as it meets several Oedipal narrative motifs in the Oedipus story. The
epic of Nyakiiru-Kibi presents an Oedipal narrative, a relatively scarce tale in Africa. It
presents a complex organisation in the Great Lakes Region, similar to ancient Greece.
The similarities between the stories reflect the comparability of sociology, culture
and political systems in ancient Greek kingdoms, the Kiziba kingdom and several
others in the Great Lakes of East Africa around the 15th century.

Keywords

Nyakiiru Kibi, Oedipus Rex, comparative literature, Oedipal stories
“But he did not commit incest…!” A Comparative Analysis of Utenzi wa Nyakiiru Kibi and Oedipus Rex. (2024). Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), 12(2). https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v12i2.345
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“But he did not commit incest…!” A Comparative Analysis of Utenzi wa Nyakiiru Kibi and Oedipus Rex. (2024). Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), 12(2). https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v12i2.345
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