African philosophers, thinkers of the world

Ngugi wa Thiong'o, the language fighter

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Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

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By: Florence Morice Follow

1 min

Ngugi wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan thinker born in 1938. Novelist and post-colonial theorist, he is notably the author of a major essay published in 1986,

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In this work, a real plea in favor of African languages ​​and cultures, he analyzes the violence and “mental enslavement” represented by the imposition of European languages ​​in colonial societies.

In his novels, and through his theatre, Ngugi Wa Thiongo develops a virulent critique of the bourgeoisie stemming from independence and the oppression of the African working classes.

Influenced by Marxist thought and Franz Fanon, he is also a thinker of Pan-Africanism and the emancipation of Africa.

In

, an essay published in France in 2017, he develops themes that are dear to him: the need for self-esteem among Africans, the relationship of the African writer to his language(s), the heritage of slavery or writing as an instrument of peace and the emancipation of peoples.  

• Kenya

• Culture

• Philosophy

• Africa