Speaking in Tongues: NgugI's Gift to Workers and Peasants through Murogi wa Kagogo

Abstract

In his article "On Writing in Gikuyu", Ngugi says that "[a]n African writer should write in a language that will allow him to communicate effectively with peasants and workers in Africa - in other words, he should write in an African language" (1985: 151; my italics). This article is a deconstructive reading and assessment of Ngugi's performance in his latest and largest novel "Murogi wa Kagogo" (Wizard of the Crow) which is in three volumes in its Kikuyu version. The reading is premised on the Derridian idea that texts and their discourse propositions contain within themselves seeds of their own deconstruction or undoing. I argue that Murogi wa Kagogo contains within it seeds of destruction of the very ideological values that NgugT seeks to validate. In a newspaper article, Kamoche (2005) raised a fundamental question regarding this novel: "(C]an Ngugi ape and hope to promote the vernacular?" His conclusion was that Ngugi "inadvertently ends up perpetuating a hybrid language that is only part Gikuyu". "He is preaching Gikuyu while practicing Pidgin English", he "sneaks in a disproportionate volume of 'Englisms' through the backdoor". Kamoche's newspaper article, which was limited to the novel's preface, dedication, acknowledgments, and synopsis, did not touch on Ngugi's stated objective: to communicate with peasants and workers. This article seeks to answer the question of how far Ngugi manages to reach his targeted audience of workers and peasants in his novel "Murogi wa Kagogo" (2004, 2006a).

Opsomming

In sy artikel "On Writing in Gikuyu se Ngugi: "An African writer should write in a language that will allow him to communicate effectively with peasants and workers in Africa - in other words, he should write in an African language" (1985: 151; eie beklemtoning). Hierdie artikel is 'n dekonstruktiewe interpretasie en evaluasie van Ngugi se onlangse en langste roman "Murogi wa Kagogo" (Wizard of the Crow) wat in die Kikoejoeweergawe uit drie volumes bestaan. Die interpretasie is gegrond op die Derridiaanse idee dat tekste en hul diskoersstellings self die saad van hul eie dekonstruksie of vernietiging bevat. Ek voer aan dat Murogi wa Kagogo self die saad dra vir die vernietiging van die einste ideologiese waardes wat Ngugi wil bevestig. In 'n koerantartikel vra Kamoche (2005) 'n fundamentele vraag oor hierdie roman: "[C]an Ngugi ape and hope to promote the vernacular?" Hy kom tot die gevolg­trekking dat Ngugi "inadvertently ends up perpetuating a hybrid language that is only part Gikuyu". Verder se hy: "He is preaching Gikuyu while practicing Pidgin English" en "[he] sneaks in a disproportionate volume of 'Englisms' through the backdoor'. Kamoche se koerantartikel - wat beperk is tot die roman se voorwoord, opdrag, be­dankings en sinopsis - het nie Ngugi se gestelde doelwit om met plattelanders en werkers te kommunikeer aangeroer nie. Die doel met hierdie artikel is om die vraag te beantwoord oor tot watter mate Ngugi in sy roman "Murogi wa Kagogo" (2004, 2006a) daarin slaag om sy teikengehoor van werkers en plattelanders te bereik.