Interview with Ngugi wa Thiong'o

We recently published Globalectics: Theory and the Politics of Knowing, by renowned Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o. In the book, Ngugi wa Thiong’o summarizes and develops a cross-section of the issues he has grappled with in his work, which deploys a strategy of imagery, language, folklore, and character to “decolonize the mind.” Ngugi confronts the politics of language in African writing; the problem of linguistic imperialism and literature’s ability to resist it; the tension between national and world literature; and the role of the literary curriculum in both reaffirming and undermining the dominance of the Western canon.

In this 2010 video with Granta, Thiong’o discusses some of these issues as well as his life growing up in Kenya, contemporary African writing, and modern Kenyan history: