Historical Reconstruction of Resistance in Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s Revolutionary Plays: The Trial of Dedan Kimathi and I Will Marry When I Want
Asian Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies,
Page 137-150
Abstract
The intense struggle of the Kenyan peasants during the British colonial and neocolonial eras had been the subject of Thiongo’s writings. His revolutionary plays such as The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) and I Will Marry When I Want (1977), dealt with the freedom struggle, patriotism, internal colonization, the influence of Christianity, and the effects of decolonization as central issues that the Kenyan society faced during the colonial and neocolonial period. Though the plays were written successively, the period of dramatic events that connects the history of Kenya through anti-colonial uprisings and post-independent neo-imperialist practices justifies the selection of the above-mentioned plays for analysis. Through close reading and textual analysis of the selected plays, the paper analyzes how reconstructing the history of resistance revives the consciousness of the mass in the aftermath of independence to resisit the socio-culture oppression, such as land expropriation, exploitation, and subjugation in terms of material control, resources, Proselytization, and degeneration of cultural values by the imperialist and neo-colonial compradors. The paper also discusses Thiongo’s theatrical motifs and ideological standpoints responsible for the creation of such revolutionary plays in the 1970s. The research findings prove that Thiong’o’s ideas of unity and resistance not only decolonize the mind of grassroots but also renew their consciousness to resist the oppressive influences of colonial and neo-colonial ruling elites which continued in the aftermath of Kenyan independence.
Keywords:
- Kenyan peasants
- historical consciousness
- Mau Mau rebellion
- neocolonial power politics
- revolutionary ideas & resistance
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References
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