Stephen Doesn't Know of Ngugi

Well my friends I am back to the world of blogging after a week of putting it to rest. Today I would like to write about the infamous Ngugi, but before I get started let’s begin right there. Just how infamous is he? We studied him in the postcolonial literature class in which I am currently enrolled, and I was told of his fame in Kenya. We were assigned to read his book titled Devil On The Cross, which is currently starring at me from my bookshelf. This assignment fell over our Easter break and so I thought it would be a fine opportunity to further connect with my family’s new found Kenyan friend Stephen.
Stephen is a young man from Kenya who is studying here in the United States to become a nurse. He hopes to then go back to Kenya and serve his native people. My family first met Stephen because he is currently working as a PCA at the nursing home at which my Alzheimer’s stricken grandfather lives. My aunt who spends quite a few hours of her week at the nursing home quickly befriended Stephen and learned his story. My mother works at a nurse at the same residence and she too came to know Stephen and his story. Before I knew it he was attending my family’s holiday functions and began referring to my family as his American family. So over Easter as Stephen and I were sitting eating breakfast at the church my family attends I asked him if he was familiar with Ngugi. Much to my dismay Stephen had never heard of the man. I couldn’t help but consider that this was the result of the education he had received from the catholic missionaries in Kenya, though I by no means want to belittle their efforts. They are, after all, the ones who gave Stephen the opportunity to come and study here in the United States.
In ,On the Abolition of the English Department, Ngugi gets at this revolt against the British colonial rule. It presents how academic institutions have helped implement cultural imperialism in Africa. Ngugi provides a glimpse into the political effects of literature and the seemingly neutral institutions of writing. I agree with Ngugi in the sense that I think that one’s own literature should be at the center of its country’s curriculum. If in Africa this means abolishing the English Department, then dare I as an English major say, I think that the English Department should be abolished. This doesn’t mean that English literature wouldn’t be taught elsewhere, but simply that it would not be at the center of the education. Think of it in terms of our own culture. It would essentially be like us having an Africa Department instead of an English Department. Perhaps that sounds like a far cry, but really that is what it is like. For this reason a salute Ngugi and his efforts to uphold his own culture.