MCHONGOANO AND THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to give an ethnographic description of
mchongoano in order to understand how it achieves its objectives.
Mchongoano is a verbal duelling game popular with young people in Kenya
but also appreciated by many adults for its humorous content. It has been
compared to the American dozens and sounds (Githinji, 2006, 2007; Kihara
& Schröder, 2012). This article analyses mchongoano with specific
reference to the Ethnography-of-Communication framework first proposed
by Dell Hymes (1974) and represented by the mnemonic acronym
SPEAKING. The description and analyses of mchongoano offered in this
paper show that mchongoano is a communicative event in its own right.