Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance

175 Pages·2008·0.49 MB·English

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Something Torn and New
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Something Torn and New
(cid:2)
An African Renaissance
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP
NEW YORK
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Copyright © 2009 by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Published by BasicCivitasBooks,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of
America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in
the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
and reviews. For information, address BasicCivitas, 387
Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810.
Books published by BasicCivitasBooks are available at
special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States
by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For
more information, please contact the Special Markets
Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut
Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800)
810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail
[email protected].
Designed by Timm Bryson
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, 1938–
Something torn and new : an African renaissance / Ngugi
wa Thiong’o.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-465-00946-6 (alk. paper)
1. Africa—Civilization. 2. Decolonization—Africa. I.
Title.
DT14.N48 2008
325.6—dc22
2008044278
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Ntongela Masilela,
Haunani-Kay Trask, Michael Neill,
Tim Reiss, and Pat Hilden
And in memory of the late Ngũgĩ wa Mĩriĩ,
Apollo Njonjo, Kĩmani Roki, and Ime Ikiddeh
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Dismembering Practices:
CHAPTER 1
Planting European
Memory in Africa 
Re-Membering Visions 
CHAPTER 2
Memory, Restoration, and
CHAPTER 3
African Renaissance 
From Color to Social
CHAPTER 4
Consciousness: South Africa
in the Black Imagination 
Acknowledgments 133
Notes 135
Index 149
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PREFACE
When in 2002 I accepted Professor Henry Louis (“Skip”)
Gates’s invitation to give the 2006 McMillan-Stewart Lec-
tures at Harvard, I had no particular subject in mind. The
germ of the theme of memory and renaissance that now runs
through this book was originally expressed in the 2003 Biko
Memorial Lecture (currently Chapter 4), that I gave at the
University of Cape Town, South Africa. I took up the same
theme in my acceptance speech for the Honorary PhD of Phi-
losophy and Literature awarded me by the Albert Sisulu Uni-
versity in South Africa in 2004. At the time, it was becoming
clear to me that the question of memory may not only explain
what ails contemporary Africa but may also contain the seeds
of communal renewal and self-confidence.
This idea eventually crystallized into a phrase, Re-membering
Africa, which became the title of the Nairobi-based Ford
Foundation lecture that I gave at the University of Nairobi at
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