Défense et Illustration des Langues Africaines: Linguistic Commitment and Critical Thought in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s and Kwasi Wiredu’s Works

• Main Author: Pierre Boizette
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Pléiade (EA 7338) 2019-07-01
• Series: Itinéraires
• Subjects: African Renaissance; Wiredu (Kwasi); Wa Thiong’o (Ngugi); cultural nationalism; decolonial; conversation
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/itineraires/6122

This article proposes to return to the history of the notion of “African Renaissance” and its link with the question of the revalorization of African languages. By presenting the work of the Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu and the Kenyan novelist Ngugi wa Thiong’o, we wish to illustrate how the linguistic dimension has been central to thinking about how to free the continent from Western domination. The use of English could thus appear antinomic to the very idea of rebirth as it symbolized the renewal of a form of imperialism, even after independence. Nevertheless, these two authors did not give up English. Their works testify to the fact that English, despite but also thanks to its hegemonic status, can today contribute to the African renaissance by promoting a conversational ideal capable of reviving the Pan-African dream.