Dance of the Kangaroos

Dance of the Kangaroos (The Riot shall not be Televised) is a collection of 42 poems on the socio-political and economic realities of a people polarised by bitter colonial experiences. Through the use of metaphor and other literary devices, closely knitted by an apprehensive sense of a first witness, the poems highlight experiences of oppression, marginalization, social justice and human rights abuse. Dance of the Kangaroos takes the reader on a journey that unveils the realities and challenges of postcolonial African society. It is one where the superior class have taken up the colonial whip and induced their subordinates to re-stage a colonial parody under indigénat, a policy used by the French in colonial Africa. Mbutoh draws on words and expressions from his African background and his knowledge of his people’s colonial experiences to make each poem unique.