And even in terms of justice, law codes, the legal system. A person who does not know English in Africa is excluded from that system because he can only operate through acts of translation.
NGUGI WA THIONG'OThey want to be the ones telling people: “This is what we have done in history” but when people begin to say, “No this is what we have done in history” it’s a different thing.
More Ngugi wa Thiong'o Quotes
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Christianity and Western civilization-what countless crimes have been committed in thy name!
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If poverty was to be sold three cents today, i can’t buy it.
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The Bible in translation is being read to thousands and thousands in Africa. It is an integral part of their functioning and the way they look at the world.
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For me, being in prison writing in an African language was a way of saying: “Even if you put me in prison, I will keep on writing in the language which made you put me in prison.”
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Seen as an economic, political, cultural, and psychological re-membering vision, it should continue to guide remembering practices
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How did we arrive at this, that the best leader is the one that knows how to beg for a share of what he has already given away at the price of a broken tool? Where is the future of Africa?
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Why did Africa let Europe cart away millions of Africa’s souls from the continent to the four corners of the wind?
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A person who acquires English has access to all the things that that language makes possible.
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People went to war as a result of it and even today, every Sunday.
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The Bible has affected their lives, but in translation, since they do not read the Bible in the original Greek or Hebrew.
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I’m more trying to connect; I’m more listening to people. Whatever I get is very meaningful to me.
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There is no way we can survive as a nation in the world without finding unity.
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In terms of language, English is very dominant vis-Ã-vis African language. That in itself is a power relationship – between languages and communities – because the English language is a determinant of the ladder to achievement.
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Then they begin to see through their language that the problems described there are the same as the problems they are having. They can identify with characters from another language group.
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They want to be the ones telling people: “This is what we have done in history” but when people begin to say, “No this is what we have done in history” it’s a different thing.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O