Hello friends
I am Bhavna Sosa from Department of English MKBU. This task was given by Yesha ma’am. This blog about 'Neo-colonialism : with reference to Petals of Blood.
Abuot Ngugi wa Thiong'o :
Ngugi wa Thiong'o (born 1938) was Kenya's most famous writer. Best-known as a novelist, he also wrote plays, literary criticism, and essays on cultural and political topics.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o (formerly James Ngugi and known generally as Ngugi) was born in Limuru, Kenya, on January 5, 1938. Educated initially at a mission school and then at a Gikuyu independent school during the Mau Mau insurgency, he went on to attend Alliance High School in 1955-1959 and Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda, in 1959-1964. After earning a B.A. in English he worked as a journalist for Nairobi's Daily Nation for half a year before leaving to continue his studies in literature at the University of Leeds in England.
His works :
Ngugi's literary works were concerned with major social, cultural, and political problems in Kenya, past and present. His first two novels, Weep Not, Child (1964) and The River Between (1965), set in the colonial period of his childhood, focussed on the traumatic effects of the Mau Mau uprising on Gikuyu family life and on the impact of the independent schools movement on rural Gikuyu society. His third novel, A Grain of Wheat (1967), combined memories of the Mau Mau era with a depiction of Kenya on the eve of independence - a time of great bitterness, Ngugi claimed, "for the peasants who fought the British yet who now see all that they fought for being put on one side."
About Novel
Petals of Blood is considered to be an important work that shows the Kenyan post-independence marked by neo-colonialism. One of the most easily accessible critical overviews of Ngugi’s writing is David Maughan Brown who considers that the novel is aesthetically deficient and the use of Gikuyu words in the novel is an act of aggression against the western readers. He contends that the novel was affected by the powerful western aesthetic ideologies. He also comments that ‘’Ngugi’s sensitivity to the human motives on both sides of the conflict is one of his greatest strengths as a novelist.
Title :
The title Petals of Blood is derived from a line of Derek Walcott's poem 'The Swamp'. The poem suggests that there is a deadly power within nature that must be respected despite attempts to suggest by humans that they live harmoniously with it.
Summary of the novel
The book begins by describing the four main characters – Munira, Karega, Wanja, and Abdulla – just after the revelation that three prominent Kenyans, two businessmen and one educator, have been killed in a fire. The next chapter moves back in the novel's timeline, focusing on Munira's move to Ilmorog, to begin work as a teacher. He is initially met with suspicion and poor classroom attendance, as the villagers think he will give up on the village soon, in much the same way previous teachers have done. However, Munira stays and, with the friendship of Abdulla, another immigrant to Ilmorog who owns a small shop and bar, carves out life as a teacher.
What is neo colonialism :
Neocolonialism has been broadly understood as a further development of capitalism that enables capitalist powers (both nations and corporations) to dominate subject nations through the operations of international capitalism rather than by means of direct rule.
Roland Fuh gave a simple definition of Neocolonialism that,
"Neo-colonialism can be defined as the indirect control of the economic, political and socio-cultural life of African countries by their former colonial masters. Unlike colonialism which was direct control, neo-colonialism operates indirectly and secretly."
The initiative has been criticized as a form of neocolonialism: hooking up countries, particularly in Africa, to high-interest loans that leave them beholden to Chinese investment. - Wired
The term neocolonialism was originally applied to European policies that were seen as schemes to maintain control of African and other dependencies. The event that marked the beginning of this usage was a meeting of European heads of government in Paris in 1957, where six European leaders agreed to include their overseas territories within the European Common Market under trade arrangements that were seen by some national leaders and groups as representing a new form of economic domination over French-occupied Africa and the colonial territories of Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The agreement reached at Paris was codified in the Treaty of Rome (1957), which established the European Economic Community or Common Market.
Neocolonialism in Petals of Blood :
The novel starts with the news of murder of: Mzigo, Chui and Kimeria.
Wanja, Munira, Karega and Abdulla are suspected. Ilmorog has grown from a traditional Kenyan village to a modern industrial town. According to Josephine Sitwala, The modernisation of the area brings changes which Ngugi regards as examples of neo-colonisation. He does not accept the urbanisation of Ilmorog because it has destroyed its original beauty and, as such, brought suffering to its inhabitants. The focus of neo-colonialism in Petals of Blood is land and is based on social abuse, oppression, exploitation and injustice.'
The novel shows the failure of the ruling elite to meet the masses' needs concering land ownership adequately. The elite still maintain their connections with the departed colonisers, thus, creating a rift between the middle class and the bourgeoisie.
A speech given by Nyakinyua contrasts the working class and the elite; this motivates her to agree to make a trip to Nairobi: "I think we should go. It is our time to make things happen. There was a time when things happened the way we in Ilmorog wanted them to happen. We had power over the movement of our limbs. We made up our own words and sang them and we danced to them. But there came a time when this power was taken from us. We danced yes, but somebody else called out the words and the song. They ate our forest. Then they sent for our young men. They went on swallowing our youth. Ours is only to bear in order for the city to take... that is why Ilmorog must go there and see this Ndamathia that only takes but never gives back."
Females' being oppressed by males and African's being exploited by the colonists have the same ideological basis. Women were described as "oppressed" because they were exploited and dominated. Subaltern nations, too, were oppressed on the same basis: they were exploited and dominated by colonial and/or imperial powers. Wanja Kenya, Africa. What money wanted was body, just like the imperialists desired for the African land. Weiping and Zhang said that, as objects of sexual desires, both Wanja's mature body and the fertile African land were exploited. By narrating Wanja's past, Ngugi expressed his harsh criticism against the imperialists control and domination of Africa.Politician Nderi wa Riera - he is only concerned with the votes of Ilmorog at elections and he ignores the social and economic needs of remote areas such as Ilmorog. Wanja and Abdulla lost Baar and money.
Conclusion:
For Ngugi, the African females were driven to be prostitutes directly because of the imperialists' exploitation; however, these females, like other proletariats, would take actions to fight. The conflicting narrative of Ngugi reflect his oppositions concerning neo-colonialism, one as an insider opposing it, while the other as an outsider standingby it. Ngugi has catapulted caustic criticism against the middle class of Africa who derived power from the common people during the anti-colonial struggles and after independence derived it to "form a cozy relationship with the western bourgeoisie.
Thank you...
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