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"Decolonising The Mind" by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o-Summary

Ngugi wa Thiong'o discusses the impact of British colonialism on language in Kenya in his essay "Decolonizing the Mind." He describes how the British made English the official language, leading Kenyans to view their native languages as inferior. This caused cultural and mental colonization that still persists today. Thiong'o shares his personal experiences growing up speaking Gikuyu at home but facing punishment for using it in colonial schools, where only English was allowed. He argues for restoring native Kenyan languages to literature and education to reharmonize people's relationship with their culture and environment.

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820 views4 pages

"Decolonising The Mind" by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o-Summary

Ngugi wa Thiong'o discusses the impact of British colonialism on language in Kenya in his essay "Decolonizing the Mind." He describes how the British made English the official language, leading Kenyans to view their native languages as inferior. This caused cultural and mental colonization that still persists today. Thiong'o shares his personal experiences growing up speaking Gikuyu at home but facing punishment for using it in colonial schools, where only English was allowed. He argues for restoring native Kenyan languages to literature and education to reharmonize people's relationship with their culture and environment.

Uploaded by

Umut Alıntaş
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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"Decolonising the Mind" by Ngugi wa Thiong’o- summary

The essay “Decolonising the Mind” is written by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, an African


writer. Many countries were colonized by the Europeans in the past. They introduced
their culture and language in the colonized countries as part of their own development.
English was forced into the colonized countries as an official language by the British,
which also colonized the mind of the natives. Even after decolonization of such
countries by the British, people of those countries are still colonized mentally. They
celebrate the British language and try to mimic the British. This essay talks about the
implementation of English as the official language by the British in the colonized
countries, impact of such act upon the native languages and its present condition. This
essay also tries to give suggestion to decolonize the mind. Thiong’o uses a suitable
title by providing suggestions to decolonize the mind.

Thiong’o talks about his personal experience with his mother tongue and the English
language. He was born in a larger family with around 35 members. Their mother
tongue was Gikuyu and it was used for communication. He remembers the evenings of
storytelling around the fireside with his family members. The grownups narrated
stories to the children and the following day the children would retell the stories while
working in the fields. The stories were narrated in Gikuyu and most of them had
animals as main characters, especially hare, though small, it was full of wit and
cunning. The children identified themselves with hare as it struggled against big
animals like lion, leopard or hyena. The children personified the victory of hare as
their victories and it developed their confidence as the weak could outwit the strong.
The children were also interested to observe the hostile natural elements which
confront for animals’ cooperation and sometimes their struggles amongst themselves.
The children compared the animals struggle against nature and other animals with the
real life struggles of the human.

Stories with humans as the lead role had the central theme: togetherness is ultimate for
a community. Those stories had two sets of characters (1) humans with all positive
characterization and (2) humans with all negative characters, who could eat other
humans. Such stories cultivated moral values among the children. Thiong’o talks about
good and bad storytelling. The good storytellers could narrate the same story
interestingly many times with rich usage of different words and images with varying
tones of voices. This kind of effective storytelling enabled the children to understand
the value of words. He believes that language is not a mere connection of words but it
is a powerful one. They enriched that power though language games like riddles,
proverbs. It enabled them to understand the music of the language and also they could
view the world with its images and symbols. The language they used in their house
and the community was the same.

Thiong’o joined school and during the first four years of schooling teaching was in his
mother tongue. He had a pleasant school experience. Later he joined a colonial school
which broke the harmony of the language usage. The language used for education was
not his cultural language. After the declaration of a State of Emergency over Kenya in
1952 all the schools were under the guidance of District Education. Thiong’o states
that since then English became more than a language in Kenya.

Thiong’o shares incidents of humiliating experiences undergone by the Gikuyu


speaking children in school. Different types of punishments were given (1) five strokes
of a cane on their buttocks (2) made to carry a metal plate around the neck with
inscriptions of ‘I AM STUPID’ or ‘I AM DONKEY’ (3) fined with unaffordable
money. Every day teachers handed over a button to particular students to give it to a
student who speaks in mother tongue. At the end of the day the students would give
the list of students who had the button that day. This practice transformed the students
as traitors to their own community. Moreover, attitude towards English language also
got changed. Slowly English language was seen as intelligence and ability. People
started believing English as the main source for a child’s progress.

Apart from the racial demarcation, the colonial education system followed a pyramid
structure to reduce the number of educators in Africa. The primary system was a
broader one and when it goes to the college level the structure becomes very narrow.
The students should clear 10 papers from Maths to Science in English. The student
who failed in a single paper though very brilliant, could not continue his/her education.
Thiong’o remembers a boy who scored distinctions in all subjects except English, later
became a turn boy in a bus company. On the other hand, Thiong’o who passed with
low marks got placed in one of the elitist institutions in colonial Kenya. Students in
spite of their brilliancy were denied admission in University colleges due to failure in
English language. Hence English was seen as the magic formula for higher education.
Consequently Orature (Oral literature) in Kenyan languages has stopped. Moreover, in
primary schools they had British and American classics. This increased gap between
the usage of mother tongue and English.

Thiong’o has started writing his works in Gikuyu since 1977. In his native language he
wrote 2 plays, 1 novel and 3 books for children. Since then he was confronted with a
question particularly in Europe about the reason for his writing in Gikuyu language.
His writing in mother tongue was perceived as an abnormal act. The common practice
in other culture, i.e., writing in mother tongue was criticized and questioned that
indicate the imperialistic attitude. As a result, abnormal was perceived as normal and
vice-versa. In reality Africa enriches Europe whereas Africans were made to believe
that Europe rescues them from poverty. Africa’s resources like natural and humans
developed Europe and America but in reality, it is projected in the reverse manner.
Thiong’o believes that his writing in Gikuyu is a part of the anti-imperialistic struggles
of African especially Kenyan people. In educational institutes the Kenyan languages
were associated with negative aspects such as underdeveloped, humiliation and
punishment. He does not want to see the future generation especially school children
growing up in the imperialistic tradition. He wants them to surpass the colonial
alienation. Thiong’o gives two interlinked forms of colonial alienation, (1) distancing
themselves from the reality around (2) identification with what is most external to
one’s environment. This colonial alienation starts with disassociation of a language in
educational environment but used at home and society. He compares it with separating
a society with bodiless heads and headless bodies.

Thiong’o visualizes a future where he could see the restoration of harmony in


language which enables the Kenyan child to be restored with his/her environment. He
desires to see the Kenyan national languages having a literature which reflect the
rhythms of the language as well as the natives’ social nature and their struggle with
nature. In such a harmonious situation (understanding harmony himself, language and
his environment) one can learn other languages and could enjoy revolutionary
elements in the other languages without any complex about his/her mother tongue,
environment and him/herself. It will benefit the future generation of Kenya to live in
harmony.

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