The politics of language in African literature has been the focus of major debates in classrooms, lectures, talks, seminars, workshops and conferences, and the subject of theoretical exposition in numerous publications in Africa and elsewhere over the past 45 years. Obiajunwa Wali, the novelist and critic, had caused a storm at the historic 1962 Kampala conference on African Literature, when he challenged the main theme of the gathering:

The whole uncritical acceptance of English and French as the inevitable medium of educated African writing is misdirected, and has no chance of advancing African literature and culture … What we would like future conferences on African literature to devote time to, is the all-…

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Citation: Ekwe Ekwe, Herbert. "Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 January 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3332, accessed 23 November 2024.]

3332 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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