

Take away our language and we will forget who we are: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the language of conquest
Oct 10, 2025
Join stage and screen actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as he breathes life into Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's poignant essay on language and decolonisation. The discussion highlights Ngũgĩ's reclamation of his Kikuyu identity and his Marxist activism, alongside the historical suppression of native languages as tools of conquest. Delve into the grim realities of cultural erasure in educational settings and the ongoing postcolonial privileging of imperial languages. Ngũgĩ emphasizes the urgent need for decolonised education that honors indigenous languages and fosters genuine knowledge.
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Renaming And Reclaiming Identity
- Ngũgĩ and Aminatta Forna describe colonial renaming: Ngũgĩ became James and Forna's father Mohammed became Moses, though both later reclaimed their names.
- Ngũgĩ published Weep Not Child as James Ngugi early in his career before reclaiming his Kikuyu identity and writing politically in Kikuyu.
Writing Under Repression
- Ngũgĩ endured exile, imprisonment and harassment yet kept writing, even composing Devil on the Cross on prison toilet paper.
- He was ignored by authorities when writing in English but arrested when his Kikuyu plays reached ordinary people.
Language As A Tool Of Conquest
- Ngũgĩ links language conquest to deliberate political strategy, showing Ireland as an early lab for English-language dominance.
- He traces legal and cultural policies like the 1366 Statutes of Kilkenny and Edmund Spenser's writings as models for linguistic erasure.