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This paper examines how issues of national identity and tribal identities are handled in Kiswahili textbooks for secondary school students in Kenya. Kenya is a multi-ethnic country whose historical record does not easily provide a common narrative with which to unify the nation. To compensate for the absence of a national narrative, textbooks propagate and advance particular themes and national ideologies such as African socialism, Harambee and Nyayoism: Peace, Love and through the various genres of Kiswahili. The decision of Kenya to use Kiswahili as the national language immediately after independence came as a need to foster national identity and unity since it is the language of inter ethnic communication. Subsequent to the recommendations of past two consecutive education commissions in Kenya, the education sector strengthened the teaching of Kiswahili as a subject and a language for national unity. The Kiswahili curriculum has changed over time in the attempt to Africanize the Kenyan education. Owing to this, publishing firms have developed textbooks for Kiswahili which schools use to teach the language. To determine the extent and the nature of the inclusion of national identity in these textbooks, the study analyzed the content of 12 sampled textbooks. The findings suggest the need to improve the content of textbooks in terms of the values received in developing citizens with a strong sense of national identity and unity needed for national development. The study is useful to both scholars and the general readers in Kenya as it contributes useful knowledge on the role of language in establishing a national identity and fostering patriotism.
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