Post Colonial Literature Assignment

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Post Colonial Literature Assignment

Hshdh dhdhd. Sudhd dhehdhd

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shivammehta786

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INTERNAL ASSESSMENT

NAME-SHIVAM
ROLL NO.-11389
COURSE- BA HONS. ENGLISH
PAPER- POST COLONIAL LITERATURE

QUESTION- Comment critically on the role of language in distorting

African realities with reference to from Decolonising the mind by Ngugi
wa Thiong’O.

ANSWER- Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African

Literature by the kenyan novelist and post-colonial theorist Ngugi wa
Thiong’O is a collection of essays about language and its constructive
role in national culture, history, and identity. 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.

In Decolonising the Mind, the author suggests the genesis of linguistic

conflict in Africa occurred with the Berlin Conference. Here, the
capitalist powers of Europe divided up the vast African continent of
many peoples, languages and cultures into various colonies. The
cultural aspect of this saw the imposition of European languages so that
the colonies eventually came to define themselves in terms of the
languages of Europe [in much the same way as many people now like to
define Ireland solely as ‘an English-speaking country.
He suggests that in all cases of colonialism, language is part of the
process, supressing the native language and elevating the colonial one.
He speaks of the Caribbean plantations where African languages were
banned and people were hanged for speaking them. He says that,
historically, you see the same attitudes regarding language in places as
diverse as Canada, South America, Japan, New Zealand and
Australia.Colonial powers initially gain their control through violence.
They must then move to quell any resistance through enculturation and
the imposition of an education program. The bullet kills the physical
body but, ‘Language was the means of the spiritual subjugation’.In
1952, following a state of emergency being declared in Kenya, all
schools were taken over by the colonial machine. English was imposed
as the mode of education. ‘In Kenya, English became more than a
language: it was the language, and all the others had to bow before it in
deference’.

Wa Thiong’o suggests that language is the major component of culture,

and culture is important in the formation of worldview. In this way,
language is central to identity and how we see ourselves. The
imposition of an alien language confuses and distorts the identities of
the colonial subject. Colonialism creates the absurd illusion that native
languages are the sources of division, but that the colonial language is a
unifying force.

For Ngugi wa Thiong’O, language acts as a carrier of the history of the

people who speak it.The colonial language carries the culture and
values of its nation.Language also plays a role in the images we have
ourselves individually and collectively.Furthermore, language
encapsulates the worldview of the past and present speakers of the
language is the carrier of the values by which we come to perceive
ourselves and our place in the world.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Decolonising the Mind challenges us to see the
culture and the history that is carried by a language, and the subtle
ways in which colonial languages continue to be exalted at the cost of
native languages and native cultures. He prompts us to open our eyes
to the normalisation of linguistic imperialism. Interestingly, his theories,
experiences and observations are primarily based in Kenya, a country
where English has nowhere near the dominant position it has in Ireland;
and where the native languages are spoken by millions of people.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o reminds us of the rich value that is intrinsic in native

culture and languages, and the role they play in identity and values. He
suggests that for an individual to know all the languages of the world
but not their own is enslavement. However, knowing ones native
language and adding languages to this is empowerment.

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