Of course it’s very, very important for me to feel Kenya, to feel, every day, this is where images come from. So to be taken away from that by political pressure or other means – one is taken away from the area, which is the basis of inspiration – is difficult.
NGUGI WA THIONG'OThere is no way we can survive as a nation in the world without finding unity.
More Ngugi wa Thiong'o Quotes
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So we’re talking about the Bible itself being a translation of a translation of a translation. And, in reality, it has affected people’s lives in history.
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Another phenomenon developing in Kenya is ethnic cleansing – and that’s the thing that has made me very sad. Because some people will use the cover of the problems of rigged elections to do things that are unacceptable like ethnic cleansing and displacement of people. It’s completely unacceptable.
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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.
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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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There is no way we can survive as a nation in the world without finding unity.
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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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So what I thought was just an African problem or issue is actually a global phenomenon about relationships of power between languages and cultures.
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The Pan-Africanism that envisaged the ideal of wholeness was gradually cut down to the size of a continent, then a nation, a region, an ethnos, a clan, and even a village in some instances But Pan-Africanism has not outlived its mission.
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Those who strive to build a protective wall around it, and those who wish to pull it down; those who seek to mould it and those committed to breaking it up; those who aim to open our eyes, to make us see the light and look to tomorrow […] and those who wish to lull us into closing our eyes
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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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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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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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We think of politics in terms of power and who has the power. Politics is the end to which that power is put.
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I was wondering why I was put in prison for working in an African language when I had not been put in prison for working in English. So really, in prison I started thinking more seriously about the relation between language and power.
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People went to war as a result of it and even today, every Sunday.
NGUGI WA THIONG'O