Ngugi Wa Thiong O On Language

There was a time i wrote in english but now i often write in my language gĩkũyũ spoken by almost seven million kenyans and translate it back into english.

Ngugi wa thiong o on language. 08 march 2017 06 56 michelle gumede author and african intellectual ngugi wa thiong o says decolonising the language of education is the contemporary form of pan africanism and the future relies. If you love the wretched of the earth or black skin white masks you will love decolonising the mind by ngugi wa thiong o. He is the founder and editor of the gikuyu language journal mũtĩiri. In this excerpt ngugi wa thiong o makes the call to african writers to begin writing literature in their own languages and to make sure that literature is connected to their people s revolutionary struggles for liberation from their neo colonial contexts.

The book which advocates linguistic decolonization is one of ngũgĩ s best known and most cited non fiction publications helping to cement him as a preeminent voice theorizing the language debate in post colonial studies. As he became sensitized to the effects of colonialism in africa ngugi adopted his traditional name and wrote in the bantu language of kenya s kikuyu people. 5 0 out of 5 stars five stars. 7 people found this helpful.

In 1977 ngũgĩ embarked upon a novel form of theatre in his native kenya that sought to. Thirty years after graduating from his missionary run high school near nairobi the kenyan author ngũgĩ wa thiong o had gained enough distance to reflect on the lasting effect of colonial education policy in kenya. Ngũgĩ wa thiong o and the tyranny of language. In an effort to fight back the humiliation and the intended degradation of the spirit ngũgĩ decides to write a novel on toilet paper a book that will become his.

L ast year when the kenyan writer ngũgĩ wa thiong o entered a packed auditorium at the university of the witwatersrand in johannesburg he immediately received a standing ovation. Or why humans walk upright is translated into 94 languages from around the world. Behind the cannon was the new school he wrote in decolonising the mind the 1986 exposition on cultural imperialism in which he examined how the colonial classroom became a tool of psychological conquest in africa and. Ngũgĩ wa thiong o is a kenyan writer and academic who writes primarily in gikuyu.

His work includes novels plays short stories and essays ranging from literary and social criticism to children s literature. Ngugi wa thiong o original name james thiong o ngugi born january 5 1938 limuru kenya kenyan writer who was considered east africa s leading novelist. Reviewed in the united states on february 12 2018. It s more of a.

His short story the upright revolution. Wrestling with the devil an unforgettable chronicle of the year ngũgĩ was thrown in prison without charge.