Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Decolonizing the mind: the politics of language in African literature
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Language
in African
Literature
An Aside
toNgiigi
Joseph Mbek
X h e subject of languag e is now c en tra l in discussions of African litera-
ture. M any issues have been raised. Is language th e determ ining feature of Afri-
can literature? Is it acc epta ble for the A frican writer to write in non -African
languages? In the process of asking such ques tions , N gug l wa T hi on g'o has
emerged as a key advocate of writing in African languages, and it has becom e
almost unfashionable to challenge h is views on th e subject, but 1 believe it is
necessary to exam ine w hat N gugl has been saying and to consider th e possibility
of looking at th e language question in new
ways.
Developments in literary the-
ory enable us to pose new questions abou t the nature of language and th e ways
in which language mediates writing, a uthorial in tentio ns, th e reading process,
and literary meaning. Such questions invite broader considerations of a politi-
cal na tu re , involving the re lation ship am ong the social classes and th e respec-
tive dem ands of nationalism and internationalism .
Ngugi has expressed his views rather
forcefiiUy;
An African writer should
write in a language that will allow him to comm unicate effectively with
peasants and workers in Africa; in other words, he should write in an Afri-
can language Literature published in African languages will have to be
meaningful to the
masses
and therefore
much closer to the realities
of their
situation. ("On Writing" 151)
This sta tem en t is significant b oth for w hat it reveals and for wha t it con-
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146 I
Research in African Uteratures
If the m ea nir ^s of words are so indeterm inate, th e use of language
poses
seri
problems for writers as well as readers. For writers, the essential problem
w heth er they c an say, throu gh language, wh at they desire to say. N o m atter h
optim ist ic we m ight he about th e power of language, we must concede t
there are m om ents, as Heidegger expla ins, "wh en we can not find the right w
for som eth ing th at con cern s us, carries us away, oppresses or encourag es
T he n we leave unspoken what we have in m in d .. ." (59 ). Lewis Nk osi has s
gested tha t, wh atever language writers
use,
they cann ot escape this problem
In a
way,
any writer always falls short of his true ideal: his struggle with his
materials, the attem pt to wrestle from language the true meaning of the
world he seeks to depict, is always endless and incomplete, incom plete,
because in describing the true lineaments of what the writer sees with his
inner
eye language
can
only
approximate
the shapes
and
figures
of
his
imag-
ination. In this respect, therefore, the situation of the African writer is not
unique. It is the same struggle with language. (6)
T he o the r problem conce rns the reader. Like writing, reading is an a c
process. It is a dialog ue, a struggle w ith langu age, and its ou tco m e is far fr
ce rtain. Even assuming th at w riters could say exactly what they intende d to
it is never certain that readers will receive the intended message. In procla
ing th e need to "com m unica te effectively with peasants and workers in Afric
NgugT fails o recognize that the reading process is problematical. In discuss
his experience in writing
Ngaatuka
N deenda with the villagers, he clearly st
his op inio n about th e transparency of language:
And because there was no language barrier, the villagers could also com-
ment on the content of
the
play. There
was
no mystification of
the
play's
message They could now participate in correcting the con tent of the
script. ("On W riting" 152-53)
But the rece ption of language is nev er so unp rob lem atic t ha t everyone agr
about its me aning.
Ng ugl himself rem ains con te nt to no te the popu lari ty of his Giku
language works am ong th e GtkQyii masses w itho ut asking himself w ha t m e
ing they atta ch to these works. C onc ernin g th e reception o(Cmtaani Muth
ba-iru, or
example, he observes:
The novel had an interesting kind of reception. At
first
t was read in fami-
lies.
When
families
gathered together in the evening,' they would get one
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josephMbek I 147
C onc erne d ab out conveying w hat he regards
as
a revolutionary m essage, Ngug l
assumes th at th e Gikuy u masses enjoy h is works because they un derstand the
message he intend ed to com m unica te. But if we can never be sure what readers
see in a text, his assum ption becom es even more dubious when we consider th e
probab le responses of readers and aud iences w ho are drinking beer.
Jon atha n C uller has remarked that:
None would deny tha t literary works, like most other objects of human
at tent ion, can be enjoyed for reasons tha t have little to do with under-
standing and mastery—the texts can be quite blatantly misunderstood and
still be appreciated
for
a variety of personal reasons. (120)
Cu ller's po int can be corrobo rated in the African co ntex t, w here epics, folk-
tales, and oth er oral genres often co nta in segments tha t ne ithe r performers n or
audiences und erstand; nev ertheless, th is lack of und erstand ing does no t ham -
per their enjoyment of the performances. Th us , many ofth eS w ah ili w ho listen
to the pop ular epic Rosi 'LGhuii enjoy it w itho ut un de rstan din g w ha t it is all
about (Ridhiwani 1).
U nde r such circum stances, N gugi 's insis tence tha t the African writer
should w rite for pea sants and w orkers is no t as un pro blem atic as he assumes.
Furtherm ore, African society is also comprised of oth er social groups, including
intellectuals. M ao Tse Tung, o ne of the most influential cham pions of the peas-
an ts an d workers , had a more real ist ic perspective on this que st ion. W hile
stressing that literature an d art should be for the masses, he also pointed out that
they are;
.. . needed by the cadres. T he cadres are the advanced elements of the
masses and generally have received more education; literature and art of a
higher level are entirely necessary
for
hem. To ignore this would be a
mis-
take. (83)
In oth er wo rds, Mao recognized th e im po rtance of a l i terature tha t mig ht be
inaccessible to pea san ts and workers on a cc ou nt of its com plexity or its exis-
ten ce in a foreign langu age . N o t on ly Ng ugi but also scholars such as A biola
Irele an d Emm anuel N gara, wh o rail against w ha t they call elitist literature, are
vulnerable to criticism o n these grounds (Irele 55-56 and Ngugl 39-48 ).
M ao was also ahe ad of NgCigr in ano the r way. A ltho ug h he recognized
tha t the c ultural level of the peasants and workers was low, he advo cated th at it
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8 I Research in A /ncan
literatures
repeat the saying; "A
foreign
anguage is a weapon in the struggle of life."
(439)
It would be ne ith er accurate no r fair to charge Ngugi w ith having ignored inte
nationalism- A ltho ug h he cham pions w riting in African languages and no
writes only in Gtk uyu, he has considered the question of how to rea ch reade
outs ide . His answer has a lways been tha t they wi l l be reached throug
translations:
Writing in Gikuyu does no t cut me off from other language comm unities
because there are always opportunities for ranslation. My Gikuyu novel,
for example, has been translated not only into English and Kiswahili but
also directly from Gtkuyu into
Swedish.
A German edition is planned, and
a translation directly from Gtkuyu into Japanese may appear later. In other
words, there is already a dialogue emerging with the rest of the world due to
the translation of a piece of Gikuyu literature into
foreign
anguages. This
kind of dialogue has also occurred within East Africa with the publication
of a translation into K iswahili. Hopefully a situation will arise where this
novel is translated directly into other African languages within and outside
Kenya, so tha t once again there will be direct communication between two
African language communities rather than indirect communication
through an intermediary language such as English or French. ("On Writ-
ing"155)
But som ething is always cha nge d, adde d, or lost in tran slation . For this reaso
the re really can be no tru e tran sla tion ; in fact, a translatio n is actually a ne
work of
art.
Ideally, works should he read in the original languages, and if w
mu st have translation s, we should acknowlege the m as a necessary evil.
Since NgugT appears to believe tha t th e work rem ains the same in transl
tio n, why is it essential for him to w rite in GTkuyu
first?
If tran slat ion ofifers suc
an efficient bridge be tw een langu ages , he could just as easily w rite in Englis
and the n have his work translated into GTkuyu. Irele is undoubtedly right wh
he a i ^ e s tha t "the literary artist will produce his best work in the m edium th
he m ost confidently con trols" (5 9) . In light of this fact it is quite possible th
NgCigT is ca pa ble of pro du cin g be tte r work in English t h a n in Gi ku yu . By h
own adm ission, h e lacks the m astery of GTkuyu tha t would ena ble him to w ri
his best work in it:
And when we scripted th e play in Gikuyu called Ngaahika Ndeenda (or I
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]osephMbele I 149
In criticizing w ha t he calls "petty-bourgeois African writers" who, while
writing in foreign languages, misrepresent the African peasants, Ngugl actually
underm ines his own views on translation:
Often the African peasant characters were made to appear naive and sim-
ple minded because of the kind of simplistic, distorted foreign languages
through which they
were
made to articulate their feelings and world out-
look. More ofren the peasant/worker characters were given the vacillating
mentality and pessimistic world outlook of the petty bourgeois. But the
final indignity was that even where the peasant/worker characters were
given their due in terms of dignity and world outlook, they were made to
express
these awkwardly
in
foreign languages. Thus the
tongues
of millions
of peasants were mutilated in ' he works of African writers, and in the ir
stead the peasants were given plastic surgery in the literary laboratories of
Africa and emerged with English, French and Portuguese tongues. (Writ-
en 58)
How ever, h e fails to cite a single work of African fiction in w hich p easants are
portrayed in this way. Fu rtherm ore , o ne is tem pted to ask wh at hap pen s to
Ngugfs ow n novels wh en they are translated into European languages. D o his
Gtkuyu peasants and w orkers escape the simple-mindedness an d awkwardness
th at em erge wh en they are made to speak in an alien tongue? To save his peas-
an ts and w orkers from such ind ign ities, NgugT should pe rhap s refuse to allow
any of his Gtku yu works to be translated into foreign languages.
Ng ugi's decision to ab an do n E nglish as a m edium for expression for his
crea tive work and to use only Gtkuyu is intriguing because it seems to be based
on a non -dia lectica l view of English and, for tha t m atter, of other European lan-
guages as well. For him , these languages are simply the languages of the former
colon ial masters. A ny African writer wh o uses them today thus becomes a vic-
tim of neo-colonialism. Ngugt himself explains:
There are o ther contradictions of a writer in a neocolonia
state.
For whom
does he write? For the people? But then what language does he use? It is a
fact tha t the African writers who emerged after the Second World War
opted for European languages. All the major African writers wrote in
English, French, and Portuguese. But
by
and large, all the peasants and a
majority of the workers—the masses—have their own languages.
Isn't the writer perpetuating, a t the level of cultural practice, the
very rieo-colonialism he is condemning at the level of economic and politi-
cal practice? For whom a writer
writes
is a question which has not been sat-
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150 I
Research in African
titeratures
language of Gikuy u peasants and workers, it
is
atso the language of Glkuyii land
lords
and capitalists. If these capitalists and landlords had the power, they coul
easily use Gtkuyu to dom inate people of oth er language groups.
NgugT has consistently argued th at the colonialists downgraded Africa
languages and prom oted Eu ropean languages; howevet, his views on th is subje
are rather simp listic. T h e co lonialists' policies on African languages were no
uniform throughout the co ntine nt, n or were they entirely nega tive. In fact, th
colonialists and missionaries whom N gugi castigates were instrum ental in pro
m oting m any African languages. Even in Kenya, Ngugi 's own country, the
produced the orthograp hies, d ictionaries, grammars, and readers tha t enable
large num bers of Africans to becom e literate in these languages. In many p lace
in Africa, colo nial ists and missionaries star ted new spapers and p ublishin
enterprises tha t enab led indigenous writers such as Tho m as M ofolo of Lesoth
and Sha aban Ro bert from Tanganyika to make nam es for them selves. T ha
Ng ugi can now w ri te in G iku yu and t ha t he ca n be read by an appreciat iv
Gikuy u a udience result largely from the good work done by the colonialists an
the missionaries.
In many ways, Ngijgrs struggle against English appears to
be
fueled
by
ps
cholog ical conflicts, a nxieties , and guilt feelings. His situation is a variation o
th e Oedip al the m e of the father-son conflict, for he is bent o n killing the fathe
th e former colon ial master, w ho , th rou gh a process of disp lacem ent, is repre
sente d by the colonizer's language. But this language begot Ngu gi as a write
His struggle is all th e mo re inte ns e because the father is perc eive d as bein
int en t upo n ema sculating and obliterating th e son, by subjecting him to cu
tural institutions such as the language and the school. In this respect, Ngug
resem bles all of us w ho w ere formerly colon ized, O ko t p'Bitek's Lawino h a
characterized our pred icam ent quite well, embod ying i t in the m etap ho r o
castration:
Bile bums my inside
I feel like vomiting
For all
our
young men
Were
finished
n the forest,
Their manhood was finished
In the classrooms,
Their testicles were smashed
With large
books
(17)
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]osephMbek I 151
How did
we
arrive at this acceptance of the
fatalistic
ogic of the unassail-
able position of English
in
our
literature; [a phrase Achebe
had
used]
in our
culture and in our politics?... How did we, as African writers, come to be
so
feeble towards the claims of our languages on
us
and
so
aggressive in our
claims on other languages, particularly the languages of out colonization?
(Decolonising
9)
References to aggressiveness and feebleness provide further ptoof, from a psy-
choanalytical perspective, that NgugT is subject to a deep-seated anxiety. Fee-
bleness is
j
ust another term for the condition that Lawino names, without
mincing
words,
in the quotation cited above.
Ngiigi's pronouncements about the use of languages in African literature
are not completely unacceptable. Much of what he says is valid, but the subject
is
a complex one, and there are no easy solutions to the theoretical and practical
problems that it implies. By pointing out the gaps and weak links in Ngugi's
arguments, I hope to stimulate a rethinking of the crucial issues to which Ngugl
has drawn our attention.
WORKS CITED
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on
Creation Day. G ard en C ity, NY; An chor, 1976.
Cul le r , Jona than . Structuralist
Poetics:
Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Litera-
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Heidegger , Mar t in .
On
the
W ay
to
Language.
Trans . Peter D. Her tz . San Francisco:
Harper, 1982.
I re le , Abiola . The African Experience in Literature and Ideology. L o n d o n : H e i n e m a n n
1981.
Lafargue, Paul. "From Reminiscences
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M a r x . " O n
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Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1984.
M ao Tse Tung. "Talks at th e Yenan Forum on Literature and A rt ." Selected Works
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Tse Tung. Vo l. 111. Beijing: Foreign Lan guag es P, 1967.
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l>]ovel A
Study of
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Influence of Marx
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London: Heinemann, 1985 .
Ngiigt wa Th io ng 'o . Decoionising the M ind: The Politics of Language in African Uterature.
Lon don : James Currey Ltd. , 1986.
" O n W rit in g in G iku yu ." Research in A/rican Literatures 16 .2( 19 85 ): 151-56.
Venters in Politics. London: Heinemann, 1981.
Writing Against NeocohniaUsm. W embley (M iddlesex) , England: Vi ta Books,
1986.
Nkosi , Lewis.
T asks and Masks: Them es a nd Styles of African
Literature. H ar bw (Essex),
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