Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Encyclopedia
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan author
, formerly working in English
and now working in Gĩkũyũ
. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal, Mũtĩiri.
In 1977, Ngugi embarked upon a novel form of theater in his native Kenya which sought to liberate the theatrical process from what he held to be "the general bourgeois education system", by encouraging spontaneity and audience participation in the performances. Ngugi's project sought to "demystify" the theatrical process, and to avoid the "process of alienation [which] produces a gallery of active stars and an undifferentiated mass of grateful admirers" which, according to Ngugi, encourages passivity in "ordinary people". Although Ngaahika Ndeenda
was a commercial success, it was shut down by the authoritarian Kenyan regime six weeks after its opening. Ngugi was subsequently imprisoned for over a year.
Adopted as an Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience, the artist was released from prison, and fled Kenya. In the United States, he taught at Yale University
for some years, and has since also taught at New York University
, with a dual professorship in Comparative Literature
and Performance Studies
, and the University of California, Irvine
. Ngũgĩ has frequently been regarded as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature
. His son is the author Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ
.
in Kiambu district
, Kenya
, of Kĩkũyũ
descent, and baptised James Ngugi. His family was caught up in the Mau Mau rebellion; his half brother Mwangi was actively involved in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, and his mother was tortured at Kamriithu homeguard post. He received a B.A. in English from Makerere University
College in Kampala
, Uganda
, in 1963; during his education, a play of his, The Black Hermit, was produced in Kampala in 1962.
He published his first novel, Weep Not, Child
, in 1964, which he wrote while attending the University of Leeds
in England. It was the first novel in English to be published by an East African. His second novel, The River Between (1965), has as its background the Mau Mau rebellion, and described an unhappy romance between Christians and non-Christians. The River Between is currently on Kenya's national secondary school syllabus.
His novel A Grain of Wheat
(1967) marked his embrace of Fanonist
Marxism
. He subsequently renounced English, Christianity, and the name James Ngugi as colonialist
; he changed his name back to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and began to write in his native Gĩkũyũ
and Swahili
. The uncensored political message of his 1977 play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) provoked then Vice President Daniel arap Moi
to order his arrest. While detained in the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison
, he wrote the first modern novel in Gĩkũyũ, Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ (Devil on the Cross), on prison-issued toilet paper.
After his release, he was not reinstated to his job as professor at Nairobi University, and his family was harassed. Due to his writing about the injustices of the dictatorial government at the time, Ngugi and his family were forced to live in exile. Only after Arap Moi was voted out of office, 22 years later, was it safe for them to return.
His later works include Detained, his prison diary (1981), Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986), an essay arguing for African writers' expression in their native languages, rather than European languages, in order to renounce lingering colonial ties and to build an authentic African literature, and Matigari (1987), one of his most famous works, a satire based on a Gĩkũyũ folktale.
In 1992 he became a professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies at New York University
, where he held the Erich Maria Remarque
Chair. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature as well as the Director of the International Center for Writing and Translation at the University of California, Irvine
.
On August 8, 2004, Ngũgĩ returned to Kenya as part of a month-long tour of East Africa. On August 11, robbers broke into his apartment: they assaulted both the Professor and his wife, and stole money and a computer. Since then, Ngũgĩ has returned to America, and in the summer 2006 the American publishing firm Random House
published his first new novel in nearly two decades, Wizard of the Crow, translated to English from Gĩkũyũ by the author.
On November 10, 2006, while in San Francisco at Hotel Vitale at the Embarcadero
, Ngũgĩ was harassed and ordered to leave the hotel by an employee. The event led to a public outcry and angered the Kenyan community in the San Francisco Bay area and abroad, prompting an apology by the hotel.
Literature of Kenya
Kenyan literature describes literature which comes from the African country of Kenya. Kenya has a long oral and written literary tradition, primarily in English and Swahili, the two official languages of the country....
, formerly working in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and now working in Gĩkũyũ
Gikuyu language
Gikuyu or Kikuyu is a language of the Bantu family spoken primarily by the Kikuyu people of Kenya. Numbering about 6 million , they are the largest ethnic group in Kenya. Gikuyu is spoken in the area between Nyeri and Nairobi. Gikuyu is one of the five languages of the Thagichu subgroup of the...
. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal, Mũtĩiri.
In 1977, Ngugi embarked upon a novel form of theater in his native Kenya which sought to liberate the theatrical process from what he held to be "the general bourgeois education system", by encouraging spontaneity and audience participation in the performances. Ngugi's project sought to "demystify" the theatrical process, and to avoid the "process of alienation [which] produces a gallery of active stars and an undifferentiated mass of grateful admirers" which, according to Ngugi, encourages passivity in "ordinary people". Although Ngaahika Ndeenda
Ngaahika Ndeenda
Ngaahika Ndeenda, a play translated later into English as I Will Marry When I Want, was written by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and first performed in Kenya in 1977 in the playwright's home village of Kamiriithu...
was a commercial success, it was shut down by the authoritarian Kenyan regime six weeks after its opening. Ngugi was subsequently imprisoned for over a year.
Adopted as an Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience, the artist was released from prison, and fled Kenya. In the United States, he taught at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
for some years, and has since also taught at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, with a dual professorship in Comparative Literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
and Performance Studies
Performance Studies
Performance studies have been growing as an academic field since the 1960s. Performance studies believe in the social act of Doing as it takes performance itself as the object of inquiry.The process of defining it becomes a practice in performance studies itself...
, and the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
. Ngũgĩ has frequently been regarded as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
. His son is the author Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ
Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ
Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ is a Kenyan poet and author. His father is the author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.Mũkoma holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Creative Writing . He is the author of Conversing with Africa: Politics of Change and Hurling Words at Consciousness...
.
Biography
Ngũgĩ was born in Kamiriithu, near LimuruLimuru
Limuru is a town in central Kenya. It is also the name of a parliamentary constituency and an administrative division. Current 2004 population is about 4800....
in Kiambu district
Kiambu
Kiambu is a town in Central Province, Kenya. It is located at around , in the elevation of about 1,720 m. It has an urban population of 13,814. It is the capital of the Kiambu District, which bounds the northern border of Nairobi...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, of Kĩkũyũ
Kikuyu
The Kikuyu are Kenya's most populous ethnic group. 'Kikuyu' is the Swahili form of the proper name and pronunciation of Gĩkũyũ although they refer to themselves as the Agĩkũyũ people.There are about 5,300,000 Kikuyu people in Kenya The Kikuyu are Kenya's most populous ethnic group. 'Kikuyu' is the...
descent, and baptised James Ngugi. His family was caught up in the Mau Mau rebellion; his half brother Mwangi was actively involved in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, and his mother was tortured at Kamriithu homeguard post. He received a B.A. in English from Makerere University
Makerere University
Makerere University , Uganda's largest and second-oldest higher institution of learning, , was first established as a technical school in 1922. In 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees from the University of London...
College in Kampala
Kampala
Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, in 1963; during his education, a play of his, The Black Hermit, was produced in Kampala in 1962.
He published his first novel, Weep Not, Child
Weep Not, Child
Weep Not, Child is Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's first novel, published in 1964 under the name James Ngugi. It was the first English novel to be published by an East African. Thiong'o's works deal with the relationship between Africans and the British colonists in Africa, and are heavily...
, in 1964, which he wrote while attending the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
in England. It was the first novel in English to be published by an East African. His second novel, The River Between (1965), has as its background the Mau Mau rebellion, and described an unhappy romance between Christians and non-Christians. The River Between is currently on Kenya's national secondary school syllabus.
His novel A Grain of Wheat
A Grain of Wheat
A Grain of Wheat is a novel by Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. The novel weaves several stories together during the state of emergency in Kenya's struggle for independence , focusing on the quiet Mugo, whose life is ruled by a dark secret. The plot revolves around his home village's preparations...
(1967) marked his embrace of Fanonist
Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon was a Martiniquo-Algerian psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer whose work is influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory and Marxism...
Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
. He subsequently renounced English, Christianity, and the name James Ngugi as colonialist
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
; he changed his name back to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and began to write in his native Gĩkũyũ
Gikuyu language
Gikuyu or Kikuyu is a language of the Bantu family spoken primarily by the Kikuyu people of Kenya. Numbering about 6 million , they are the largest ethnic group in Kenya. Gikuyu is spoken in the area between Nyeri and Nairobi. Gikuyu is one of the five languages of the Thagichu subgroup of the...
and Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
. The uncensored political message of his 1977 play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) provoked then Vice President Daniel arap Moi
Daniel arap Moi
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi was the President of Kenya from 1978 until 2002.Daniel arap Moi is popularly known to Kenyans as 'Nyayo', a Swahili word for 'footsteps'...
to order his arrest. While detained in the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison
Kamiti Maximum Security Prison
Kamiti Maximum Security Prison is a prison in Nairobi, Kenya. It is located in the agricultural district of Kiambu. Originally named "Kamiti Downs", it sits in the middle of its own estates which lie fallow and untended....
, he wrote the first modern novel in Gĩkũyũ, Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ (Devil on the Cross), on prison-issued toilet paper.
After his release, he was not reinstated to his job as professor at Nairobi University, and his family was harassed. Due to his writing about the injustices of the dictatorial government at the time, Ngugi and his family were forced to live in exile. Only after Arap Moi was voted out of office, 22 years later, was it safe for them to return.
His later works include Detained, his prison diary (1981), Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986), an essay arguing for African writers' expression in their native languages, rather than European languages, in order to renounce lingering colonial ties and to build an authentic African literature, and Matigari (1987), one of his most famous works, a satire based on a Gĩkũyũ folktale.
In 1992 he became a professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, where he held the Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque was a German author, best known for his novel All Quiet on the Western Front.-Life and work:...
Chair. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature as well as the Director of the International Center for Writing and Translation at the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
.
On August 8, 2004, Ngũgĩ returned to Kenya as part of a month-long tour of East Africa. On August 11, robbers broke into his apartment: they assaulted both the Professor and his wife, and stole money and a computer. Since then, Ngũgĩ has returned to America, and in the summer 2006 the American publishing firm Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
published his first new novel in nearly two decades, Wizard of the Crow, translated to English from Gĩkũyũ by the author.
On November 10, 2006, while in San Francisco at Hotel Vitale at the Embarcadero
The Embarcadero (San Francisco)
The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront and roadway of the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, along San Francisco Bay, constructed atop an engineered seawall on reclaimed land, and derives its name from the Spanish verb embarcar, meaning "to embark"...
, Ngũgĩ was harassed and ordered to leave the hotel by an employee. The event led to a public outcry and angered the Kenyan community in the San Francisco Bay area and abroad, prompting an apology by the hotel.
External links
- Official homepage
- Interview of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o by Leonard Lopate on WNYC, New York public radio, following publication of "WIzard of the Crow"
- Launch of "Wizard of the Crow" in London 10 August 2006
- An Interview With Ngugi wa Thiong'o, May 2004
- Interview with Ngugi wa Thiong'o following publication of "WIzard of the Crow", Socialist Worker, 4 November 2006
- Profile: Ngugi wa Thiong'o
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - Books and Writers
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - Emory University
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - Overview
- biography and booklist
- Biography of Ngugi from University of Florida Library
- Turning Toward the World: Ngugi's Petals of Blood
- International Center for Writing and Translation
- About "A Meeting in the Dark" Interpretations of and more background information on the short story.
- Famous People from Kenya: Ngugi wa Thiongo
- James Currey Publishers. (Publishers of 'Decolonising the Mind', 'Writers in Politics' and 'Moving the Centre')
- A Conversation with Novelist Ngugi wa Thiong’o - video interview by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...