Ngugi, language and colonization

by Nicole 2 Comments

 

but African languages refused/

to die

dey wud not simply go/

the way of Latin/

to become the fossils for linguistic archeology/

to dig up/ classify/ and argue

about the international conferences

“Decolonizing the Mind,” N’gugi wa Thiongo (p. 23).

 

Throughout the text Thiong’o reflects on how language can define an individual and their culture. He outlines how writers have grappled with the question of which language they should use and what that choice says about them. It is important that Thiong’o makes it clear that African languages are still thriving and how speaking in one’s native tongue does not prevent one from “belonging to a larger national or continental geography,” (23). Speaking in one’s native tongue is also an act of defiance against imperialism. He continues to say that even when the peasantry and working class were forced to speak imperialist languages they creolized them to fit their own needs. African languages, despite being made second to imperialist languages, have managed to survive and continue to play a role in maintaining African cultures.

I found it difficult to break up the prose in a way that added to the meaning of the text instead of merely fragmenting the lines. I attempted to highlight the determination of African cultures to resist colonialist culture through language. The exercise made me think about what the pauses and breaths in poetry actually do to the consumption of the text. I also found that transforming some of the words into black vernacular did not skew the meaning or the integrity of the text as I thought it might. Using “wud” instead of “would” did not make the text seems any less intelligent or poignant. Overall I found that the task of transforming the prose into Shange style poetry made the text almost easier to digest. Without periods or commas the words all seem to flow together without hesitation or clear stops.

Comments ( 2 )

  1. Kim Hall
    Nice post Nicole. I am interested in your point, "I also found that transforming some of the words into black vernacular did not skew the meaning or the integrity of the text as I thought it might." Is it possible that it doesn't have that effect to the degree that we expected because Shange's method somewhat matches Ngugi's ideology? Which is to say, if the slash in part is her "deforming and maiming" the english language to make it match her needs, it doesn't jump out as much because this is not a language that needs that treatment?
  2. Tiana Reid
    Nicole, I appreciate how you shared a bit of the struggle behind this exercise. I think it follows a particular kind of grappling or reckoning with that Ngugi attempts to do by showing that language is a world-making activity. While Ngugi's politics of language has a particular prescriptive element, and thus seems to emphasis choice--and a writer's choice--your post seems to also stress how reading practice is just as important.

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