My GEM journey
My GEM journey
In my time in Kenya, it was so interesting to see how English functioned across different social settings. I paid careful attention to when people used English, when they shifted into Swahili, and when they used various indigenous languages. My observations reminded me of Alastair Pennycook’s critique of English as not merely a language but …
The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is about two rival Gikuyu villages in colonial Kenya, divided by Christianity, traditional beliefs, and the question of female circumcision. Waiyaki, the main character, tries to unite the people through education, but he is caught between tradition and colonial Christian influence. His love for Nyambura, a Christian girl, …
I took a class this semester called Global Engagement in Practice. As part of our curriculum, we engaged with some of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s work on decolonial theory. We specifically read a chapter from Decolonizing the Mind that focused on the discourse surrounding which language should be used to write African literary works (Wa Thiong’o, 1986). …
