Great African Reads discussion

For the first quarter of the year, we'll be reading a work of Post-Colonial Theory: Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.

I have a PDF of this book I can send anyone who needs an electronic version. Please send me a private message.

Let's use this space to sift out the main ideas of the book so we can discuss (or debate?) them, and also to ask and answer questions about the context and concepts to help us better understand.

I'll look up some good background on post-colonial theory this week. Can't wait to start the book!

Here is the link to a Litquake discussion between Ngugi wa Thiong'o and his son Mukoma wa Ngugi on Decolonizing the Mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSPCdb...

There are four videos.

Awesome! I'm so glad we're going to read this. I will obtain it asap.

@Beverly Listening now, thank you so much for the link = )

yes! this was great, Beverly. Thanks for finding and sharing.

Language is a topic that has come up from time to time in the threads in this group so i'm really excited to delve into Ngugi's thoughts on it.

I was really struck when Mukomo wa Ngugi said 'all languages are equal'
Should be taken for granted - but of course it never is. In Western education context, only European languages have any value (and dead ones are at the top of the senseless hierarchy)

Here is my review which is really just a summary of what I understood.

Wow! That is a very thorough review. I will try to comment on my day off but great work!

Thanks Jamiella! I don't really have any critique to offer on the book. I just want to find out how things have changed in Kenyan education and in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's thinking and writing = )

Zanna wrote: "Here is my review which is really just a summary of what I understood."

Very nice review! It looks like I will be able to start the book later this week.

Thank you Beverly, looking forward to reading your thoughts

Amazingly swamped with work the last week, but I've finished the first section, on literature, and highlighted quite a lot. I hope to have time to collect and share thoughts/questions this weekend. Ngugi's arguments are powerful, and I love how he draws from personal experience, emotions, and also posits linguistic theory. I was happy to discover his writing is eminently readable, even in this post-colonial genre that tends to be a bit heavy!

How far are you? What's standing out so far?

I agree, the writing is so clear and lively!
I think the identification of the mechanism of colonising intellectuals through education in English so that they feel disconnected from the working class/peasantry is the core of the first section?

I wonder if folks agree with Ngugi wa Thiongo that 'Afro-European literature' (that written by African people in European languages) will last only as long as the (neo)colonial project in, for example, Kenya?

Tinea wrote: "Amazingly swamped with work the last week, but I've finished the first section, on literature, and highlighted quite a lot. I hope to have time to collect and share thoughts/questions this weekend..."

I am a little behind in my reading schedule - hoping to start reading in a couple of days.

I promised some background reading on "Post-Colonial Theory," so here's a little overview.

Postcolonialism, the way I understand it in a nutshell, is the untangling of the cultural, emotional, and insidious/invisible ways that colonialism impacted and shaped, and continues to impact and shape, the world, especially the societies and people who experienced colonization. It's an activist theory, written to both describe colonialism's ongoing effects but also to inspire personal and political change.

One thing I think is cool about postcolonial theory is that there is both "Postcolonial Literature," which would include Ngugi's novels in which he uses the novel form to illustrate and examine the ways colonialism continues to manifest in the lives of liberated Kenyans (Petals of Blood is a good example). Then there is also "Postcolonial literary criticism" in which colonial (or neocolonial) works are deconstructed to tease out how their messaging reinforces colonial paradigms (and Ngugi's Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature fits here). The concept gives you a lot of tools to contextualize and understand writing from and about formerly colonized places.

This article gives a good overview of postcolonialism, surveying major ideas within the field and highlighting the authors/works most associated with them.

Some of the best known postcolonial writing is by authors who are not African, but who are closely associated in some way. Said (Orientalism) writes about North Africa and the Middle East; Fanon (The Wretched of the Earth)spent much of his life in Algeria, and Césaire (Discourse on Colonialism) was part of the African diaspora, born in Martinique.

I finally have the book in hand!

I just started this one. I'm reading the section on African theatre right now. So far, what stands out for me is the use of Marxist language and the way he almost venerates the peasants for being the people who really preserved the language without the inner conflict of the petty bourgeoisie, which I would think includes Ngugi. Schooling and language as a big way of promoting colonialism. Even as a white person who went to school the US, I can't help but look back on my education and think school is about transmitting the values of whatever the predominant culture values. I think about that when I read this book. But specifically to Africa, what would they have created if they had not gotten that Western colonial education and I guess that is why he feels a need to go back to celebrating the peasantry.
I'm not terribly familiar with postcolonial literature and I'm wondering if writing in Western languages instead of translating from the original language is more of an African phenomenon or if other colonies like India and Indonesia have done something similar. I'm sure a big draw to that is having more relevance in a marketplace where a writer is more likely to spread ideas, as well as to make more money. It is hard to put someone down for doing that.
It is quite readable and short. It shouldn't take too long to finish.

In reply to Susan:

I agree that it wouldn't be right to denigrate a writer for choosing to use English... Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for example, explicitly claims English and states that it belongs to her - I agree 100%. And while Ngugi wa Thiong'o clearly respects what he calls the Afro-European tradition, perhaps it's not quite fair to call it a 'minor' tradition.

But I also agree with Ngugi wa Thiong'o's justification for writing in Gikuyu and other native languages. Since, I think he argues, colonial education alienates the African child from her home and community, it inculcates a feeling of self/African inadequacy and a belief that only a global English (or other colonial language)-speaking audience is WORTH reaching or is capable of understanding whatever she might write. If the writer wants to connect with the people and fight along with them in an anti-imperialist spirit, then, as Paulo Freire says in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, she must 'trust the oppressed' and enter dialogue with them...

Zanna wrote: "In reply to Susan:

I agree that it wouldn't be right to denigrate a writer for choosing to use English... Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for example, explicitly claims English and states that it belongs..."

I feel the same way. They are both valid ways of expression.

I like this part I just read when he speaks of actors in the community center practicing and developing productions in the open as opposed to the school's theatre who practice in secrecy.
'Such a theatre is a part of the general bourgeois education system which practises education as a process of weakening people, of making them feel they cannot do this or that- oh, it must take such brains!... Education, far from giving people the confidence in their ability and capacities to overcome obstacles or to become masters of the laws governing external nature as human beings, tends to make them feel their inadequacies, their weaknesses, and their incapacities in the face of reality...They become more alienated from themselves and from their natural and social environment.'

I LOVE that part too, especially as an educator. So true

I'm just finishing this book. I'm not sure if there is such a thing as spoilers in a nonfiction book like this.
I found the literature section interesting. He says the biggest challenge in writing in Gikuyu was writing for people who did not have the mind of reading novels. He had to rethink the way in wrote instead of using different narrative styles. I thought, at first, why would you have to change the style for the audience and would they not appreciate it as much as someone who has a history of reading novels?
There seems to be a going back to the oral storytelling tradition, in a way, when writing the books, and when writers go back to the original language, they can still create a truly African art form. It also sounds like a way of promoting African unity by encouraging Africans to translate stories into each other's different languages, as well as to give reason to promote the preservation of African languages in education. English and Western literature is still of value, but within the context of multiculturalism, and not at the center.
I enjoyed this and I look forward to reading more of his books.

Unity, or solidarity, yes = )
I love the idea of pushing the 'Western' canon to the margins. Ngugi picks up the theme in Wizard of the Crow where students demand to learn about their own country and culture.

Zanna wrote: "Unity, or solidarity, yes = )
I love the idea of pushing the 'Western' canon to the margins. Ngugi picks up the theme in Wizard of the Crow where students demand to learn about their own country an..."

I read your review of Wizard of the Crow, and though I may not get to that book soon, I want to see how the writing is changes from his earlier work to his later work within the context of this book.

Hi everyone,

I haven't managed to start this book yet, but i saw this mentioned on twitter today and thought it would be interesting to watch (i hope it will be available after it is no longer live!)

Adichie and Zadie Smith discuss postcolonial literature

Thanks for reading Susan = D
Thanks for the link Marieke! I just found this too and am listening right now = )

I didn't get to listen yet, so I really hope it's available after the fact! I was commuting, then feeding dogs and a cat, which is more complicated than one might think lol.