Postcolonial Kenya

A notable amount of literary works produced in Africa today follow the postcolonial literary mode. This mode of writing highlights the affects of the imperialistic colonization of the pre-World War I period. Postcolonial literature aims to give a voice to the colonized peoples while promoting their language and cultural ideals and rejecting the previously enforced ideals of Western civilization. Weep Not, Child by James Ngugi explores such postcolonial themes in its examination of life during the Mau Mau Revolution. Weep Not, Child essentially stands as the tale of a young boy of Kikuyu tribal heritage growing up in the squatter lifestyle imposed by British rule. Njoroge’s family is by no means wealthy. They live on the land of Jacobo, a shrewd and opportunistic African made rich by his dealings with white settlers, namely Mr.Howlands, the most predominate and powerful land owner in all of Kipanga. What Njoroge’s family does possess, however, is to the tribal mentality even sweeter than economic power—respect. Ngotho, Njoroge’s father, commands respect from the community for his ability to hold his family together. Ngotho takes much pride in the land, and tends Mr.Howlands crops to his utmost ability not out of loyal service, but because he believes in prophesies that the land will someday return to the Kikuyu people. Ngotho tries to fulfill this prophesy by respecting the land and also by giving his son an education so that Njoroge may someday lead the oppressed Kikuyu to victory against British rule. Njoroge thus grows up very differently from his brothers Kamau and Boro. Kamau works as an apprentice to a carpenter and feels firsthand the lowered expectations and menial labor that he must accept for his life. Boro, the eldest living son, is haunted by his experiences of forced service in World War II and witnessing the death of his elder brother to white men. Njoroge, though young, feels the full burden of his family’s future on his shoulders and is grateful for an education. He devotes himself to an idealistic outlook and Christian faith which follows him throughout his childhood and into adolescence. Njoroge perseveres through family tragedies and pressures due to his relationship with his dear friend and classmate Mwihaki, the daughter of Jacobo, who helps him adapt to school. When Ngotho attempts to attack Jacobo in a heated workers strike, Njoroge’s family is forced to move and Ngotho loses his job. Njoroge’s education is thereafter funded by his brothers who have lost all respect for their father. While Njoroge attends high school he has a strange encounter with Mr. Howlands’ son Stephen and together they discuss the absurdities of inequality. Soon after Njoroge’s dreams are smashed when the vengeful Jacobo places blame of Mau Mau connections on Ngotho and Mr.Howlands has Njoroge removed from school for questioning. Both father and son are brutally beaten before release and Ngotho is left barely alive. Njoroge’s brothers assassinate both Mr.Howlands and Jacobo and Njoroge is left as the sole provider to his two mothers. Doomed to failure, he has lost all hope of returning to school, has lost faith in God, and when he finally pledges his love to Mwihaki, she is too afraid to marry him. At this the idealistic protagonist of Weep Not, Child, can take no more, and fails an attempt at suicide at the novel’s closure. The main contention of Ngugi against colonialism emerges clearly from this narrative. Here, we witness a boy full of hope for a bright new future, full of love for his family, joy at the prospect of an education, yet still anchored with a strong sense of cultural identity to support him through his endeavors. Ngugi seems to apply a sociological experiment on the protagonist when one by one taking away all that sustains his strength. Naturally the first enabling quality stripped away stands as the most irrevocably destroyed—tribal identity. Njoroge finds his life full of conflict. He stands with one foot in western modernism and the other in a world awed by the mythologies of olden times. He must accept Christian faith as a prerequisite to a European education, yet yearns to know the ancient stories of his origin. One instance where this notion prevails is when Njoroge stands before his class, a class aimed at learning western culture and language, and is asked by his teacher to tell a story. Njoroge knows many stories passed down by his mothers, but becomes frozen; in fact, devastated that he does not remember a single one. Ngugi here makes the first of several statements about Africans choosing between two social modes and failing when trying to live in both. Going to school with more westernized children teaches Njoroge to feel for the first time shame of his social position. He avoids walking past Mwihaki and hides so that she does not see his worn calico smock. Before attending school the boy knew nothing of wearing shorts and shirts, and so, had no concept of shame. Colonialism imparted desirable new technologies to the Kikuyu people, yet in the same hand brought a sense of inferiority never before felt by the culture. According to Simon Gikandi of the University of Michigan, the Kikuyu people where not prone to individualism. They, as a culture, saw life as conducted according to the ‘basic rhythm of nature’; [in Gikandi’s view], the African encounter with colonial modernity was a catastrophic event (Gikandi). Another manner in which Ngugi deteriorates his protagonist occurs after Ngotho’s attack on Jacobo at the worker’s strike. To understand the weight of this event it is first imperative to examine the circumstances of generational divides between the youth brought up under colonial rule and the elders of tribal heritage. Ngugi aims to reveal the duality of the oppressing force. Many white settlers were colonizing to avoid conflicts of war in Great Britain. A certain level of irony presents itself due to the terms of Howlands sojourn in Kenya. He aims to escape the memories of warfare and brutality imposed upon him by his mother country, yet settles in Kenya to brutalize with identical violence. His only drive in life of acquiring and cultivating the “wild and chartered” lands of Africa helps balance his shell-shocked mind, yet Ngugi shows in Howlands avarice that inevitably effects of war will trickle down even years after a war’s end. Indeed, the concept of a “trickle down” effect with war aftermath presents itself boldly in a generational sense. Boro, Ngotho’s eldest living son, spurs conflict in the land of Kipanga due to his rash behavior and bitter hatred of white oppression. His experiences in the heat of battlefields and the trauma of witnessing his brother’s death cloud any rationality the might have aimed at uniting the Kikuyu towards a goal. When looking at histology through the scope of time it is clear that the alternatives to the Mau Mau violence where available. The British relations with India and the works of Gandhi are proof of this concept (Byford). Ngotho does not understand his son, even fears him because of his experiences in World War II, and acts rashly in a worker’s strike to win his son’s approval. The patriarchal tribe of Ngotho’s youth has truly been destroyed due to the economic, social, and political pressures applied by colonization. When all the dust settles, inevitably, Njoroge bears the responsibility of holding together the family. As children lose respect for parents due to their ineffective rejection of colonization, the colonization turns the normal family structure of the Kikuyu backwards and allows the rash youth to dictate the conditions of the cultures’s future. Indeed, it is said that the only way for the Kikuyu to survive would be to follow tribal traditions (Gikandi). Ngugi strips away Njoroge’s respect for the solidarity of his family, and even teaches the boys to feel ashamed of his social status. Despite this Njoroge still thrieves because he sees the hope of a better future. He believes with all his heart that with an education, anything becomes possible no matter what the state of the world. Njoroge stands as an example of what happens to the idealistic that cannot accept reality. Ngugi encourages the reader to admire Njoroge for his fortitude and optimism, yet makes the audience bear witness to the hero’s downfall. By choosing to portray his protagonist as such, Ngugi forces a realization that though all factors in a personalty seem naturally to lead to a culmination of well-deserved success, the outside factors, such as an oppressive political climate will render failure in even the most strong of characters. The world Ngugi creates is one in which the naïve and true or heart are trampled by the fiscally savvy. Through this he makes a bitter statement of the bleak opportunies available to Africans when weighed down under the heavy curtain of colonial oppression. Ngugi reveals his views with biting wit and pragmatism, and stands as quite an effective writer because of this willingness to reveal a complete deterioration of the protagonist. Ngugi couples this act of realism with a few key moments of poignant symbolism to craft the masterpiece of Weep Not, Child. One instance of this occurs in a description of the children born of African mothers and Italian prisoners of World War I: “They were ugly and grew and some grew up to have small wounds all over their body and especially around their mouth so that flies followed them all the time and at all places. Some people said it was punishment…[for sleeping] with white men who ruled them and treated them badly” (Ngugi 24). Ngugi here imparts a grotesque image to symbolize the manifested evils of colonization. Interestingly, he ties this instance of interbreeding with the African tribal mythology prevalent throughout the novel. The people view this as a curse, or punishment, from their ancient Gods for allowing the oppression to occur. Another symbol of white oppression exists in Njoroge’s description of the road built by the Italian war prisoners that runs through Kenya. Njoroge describes it as so long that you see no end or beginning to it, much in the manner that Njoroge cannot recall the beginning of colonization nor imagine an end to it. Also he describes puddles of water on the road, which makes you thirsty until you realize they were only illusions and not real water. Njoroge understands this phenomenon keenly when he states at the novels ends, “My tomorrow was just an illusion” (Ngugi 175). Disillusionment and disappointment prevails in this novel and a young boy’s journey into manhood. Sadly, Njoroge is forced to accept that there is no hope for his generation. Sweet promises of prosperity from the hands of modernization collide with the Mau Mau’s passionate battle cries. Idealistic like Njoroge who say, “weep not” are buried in the rift between these powers because they cannot choose a side. Ngugi points the oppressive power of colonialism to erase, alter, divide and destroy an entire race of people.

Post colonial literature / colonial literature

Colonial African literature

The African works best known in the West from the period of colonization and the slave trade are primarily slave narratives, such as Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789).

In the colonial period, Africans exposed to Western languages began to write in those tongues. In 1911, Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford (also known as Ekra-Agiman) of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) published what is probably the first African novel written in English, Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation.[9] Although the work moves between fiction and political advocacy, its publication and positive reviews in the Western press mark a watershed moment in African literature.

During this period, African plays began to emerge. Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo of South Africa published the first English-language African play, The Girl Who Killed to Save: Nongqawuse the Liberator in 1935. In 1962, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o of Kenya wrote the first East African drama, The Black Hermit, a cautionary tale about "tribalism" (racism between African tribes).

African literature in the late colonial period (between the end of World War I and independence) increasingly showed themes of liberation, independence, and (among Africans in French-controlled territories) négritude. One of the leaders of the négritude movement, the poet and eventual President of Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor, published in 1948 the first anthology of French-language poetry written by Africans, Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française (Anthology of the New Black and Malagasy Poetry in the French Language), featuring a preface by the French existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre.[10]

Nor was the African literary clerisy of this time relatively divorced from the issues that it tackled. Many, indeed, suffered deeply and directly: censured for casting aside his artistic responsibilities in order to participate actively in warfare, Christopher Okigbo was killed in battle for Biafra against the Nigerian movement of the 1960s' civil war; Mongane Wally Serote was detained under South Africa's Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 between 1969 and 1970, and subsequently released without ever having stood trial; in London in 1970, his countryman Arthur Norje committed suicide; Malawi's Jack Mapanje was incarcerated with neither charge nor trial because of an off-hand remark at a university pub; and, in 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa died by the gallows of the Nigerian junta.

Postcolonial African literature

With liberation and increased literacy since most African nations gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s, African literature has grown dramatically in quantity and in recognition, with numerous African works appearing in Western academic curricula and on "best of" lists compiled at the end of the 20th century. African writers in this period wrote both in Western languages (notably English, French, and Portuguese) and in traditional African languages.

Ali A. Mazrui and others mention seven conflicts as themes: the clash between Africa's past and present, between tradition and modernity, between indigenous and foreign, between individualism and community, between socialism and capitalism, between development and self-reliance and between Africanity and humanity.[11] Other themes in this period include social problems such as corruption, the economic disparities in newly independent countries, and the rights and roles of women. Female writers are today far better represented in published African literature than they were prior to independence.

In 1986, Wole Soyinka became the first post-independence African writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Algerian-born Albert Camus had been awarded the 1957 prize.

references
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_literature#Colonial_African_literature, cited on 16/04/12

TRANSLATION MEANS TRANSLATING MEANING

TRANSLATION MEANS TRANSLATING MEANING

Lye (1996) says that meaning is a difficult issue. What is said here only scratches the surface of a complex and contested area. How do we know what a work of literature is 'supposed' to mean, or what its 'real' meaning is? There are several ways to approach this:

1) that meaning is what is intended by the author ;

2) that meaning is created by and contained in the text itself ;

3) that meaning is created by the reader.

The author

Does a work of literature mean what the author 'intended' it to mean, and if so, how can we tell? If all the evidence we have is the text itself, we can only speculate on what the priorities and ideas of the author were from our set of interpretive practices and values (how we read literature and how we see the world). We can expand this:

1) by reading other works by the same author,

2) by knowing more and more about what sort of meanings seem to be common to works in that particular tradition, time and genre,

3) by knowing how the author and other writers and readers of that time read texts -- what their interpretive practices were (as reading and writing must be part of the same set of activities), and

4) by knowing what the cultural values and symbols of the time were.

Any person or text can only 'mean' within a set of preexisting, socially supported ideas, symbols, images, ways of thinking and values. In a sense there is no such thing as a 'personal' meaning; although we have different experiences in our lives and different temperaments and interests, we will interpret the world according to social norms and cultural meanings -- there's no other way to do it.

We may have as evidence for meaning what the author says or writes about the work, but this is not always reliable. Authorial intention is complicated not only by the fact that an author's ways of meaning and of using literary conventions are cultural, but by the facts that

1) the author's work may very well have taken her in directions she did not originally foresee and have developed meanings which she did not intend and indeed may not recognize (our historical records are full of authors attesting to this),

2) the works may embody cultural or symbolic meanings which are not fully clear to the author herself and may emerge only through historical or other cultural pespectives, and

3) persons may not be conscious of all of the motives that attend their work.

The Text

Does the meaning exist 'in' the text? There is an argument that the formal properties of the text--the grammar, the language, the uses of image and so forth--contain and produce the meaning, so that any educated (competent) reader will inevitably come to essentially the same interpretation as any other. Of course, it becomes almost impossible to know whether the same interpretations are arrived at because the formal properties securely encode the meaning, or because all of the 'competent' readers were taught to read the formal properties of texts in roughly the same way. As a text is in a sense only ink-marks on a page, and as all meanings are culturally created and transferred, the argument that the meaning is 'in' the text is not a particularly persuasive one.

The meaning might be more likely to be in the conventions of meaning, traditions, and cultural codes which have been handed down, so that insofar as we and other readers (and the author) might be said to agree on the meaning of the text, that agreement would be created by common traditions and conventions of usage, practice and interpretation. In different time periods, with different cultural perspectives (including class, gender, ethnicity, belief and world-view), or with different purposes for reading no matter what the distance in time or cultural situation, competent readers can arrive at different readings of texts. As on the one hand a text is a historical document, a material fact, and as on the other meaning is inevitably cultural and contextual, the question of whether the text 'really means' what it means to a particular reader, group or tradition can be a difficult and complex one.

The Reader

Does the meaning then exist in the reader's response, her processing or reception of the text? In a sense this is inescapable: meaning exists only insofar as it means to someone, and art is composed in order to evoke sets of responses in the reader (there is no other reason for it to exist, or for it to have patterns or aesthetic qualities, or for it to use symbols or have cultural codes). But this leads us to three essential issues.

Meaning is 'social', that is, language and conventions work only as shared meaning, and our way of viewing the world can exist only as shared or sharable. When we read a text, we are participating in social, or cultural, meaning. Response is not merely an individual thing, but is part of culture and history.

Meaning is contextual; change the context, you often change the meaning.

Texts constructed as literature, or 'art', have their own codes and practices, and the more we know of them, the more we can 'decode' the text, that is, understand it - consequently, there is in regard to the question of meaning the matter of reader competency, as it is called, the experience and knowledge of decoding literary texts.

You might have been nudged to insist on your having and practicing competency in reading by insisting that any interpretation you have (a) be rooted in (authorized by) the text itself and (b) be responsible to everything in the text -- that is, that your interpretation of any line or action be in the context of the whole of the work. But you may have to learn other competencies too. For instance in reading Mulk Raj Anand's The Untouchables you might have to learn what the social structure of India was like, what traditions of writing about and/or by Untouchables were in effect in India in the early 1930's, what political, cultural, and personal influences Mulk Raj Anand was guided by in constructing the imaginative world of this short novel; you might have to learn, in reading John Donne's poems, about, for instance, the 'platonic' (really, Florentine Neo-Plotinian) theory of love. As another kind of competency, you might have to practice reading certain kinds of literature, whose methods seem alien to you or particularly difficult for you, so that you can understand how that kind of literature works.

You may see that this idea that meaning requires competency in reading can bring us back, as meanings are cultural and as art is artifact, to different conventions and ways of reading and writing, and to the historically situated understandings of the section on the Author, above; at the least, 'meaning' requires a negotiation between cultural meanings across time, culture, gender, class. As readers you have in fact acquired a good deal of competency already; you are about to acquire more. (cited from http://www.brocku.ca/english/jlye/meaning.html)

The point herein is that 'meaning' is a phenomenon that is not easily ascribed or located, that it is historical, social, and derived from the traditions of reading and thinking and understanding the world that you are educated about and socialized in.

Complete list of run commands in windows XP

Complete list of run commands in windows XP

Run Commands In Windows XP
You can access all these programs by going through START-->RUN or Simply Click Windows Key+R

SQL Client Configuration - cliconfg
System Configuration Editor - sysedit
System Configuration Utility - msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)- sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)- sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot) - sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)- sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)- sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)-sfc/cachesize=x
System Information - msinfo32.
Task Manager – taskmgr
System Properties - sysdm.cpl
Task Manager – taskmgr
TCP Tester - tcptest
Telnet Client - telnet
Tweak UI (if installed) - tweakui
User Account Management- nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager - utilman
Windows Address Book - wab
Windows Address Book Import Utility - wabmig
Windows Backup Utility (if installed)- ntbackup
Windows Explorer - explorer
Windows Firewall- firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier- magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure - wmimgmt.msc
Windows Media Player - wmplayer
Windows Messenger - msmsgs
Windows Picture Import Wizard (need camera connected)- wiaacmgr
Windows System Security Tool – syskey
Windows Update Launches - wupdmgr
Windows Version (to show which version of windows)- winver
Windows XP Tour Wizard - tourstart
Wordpad - write
Password Properties - password.cpl
Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
Phone and Modem Options - telephon.cpl
Phone Dialer - dialer
Pinball Game - pinball
Power Configuration - powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes - control printers
Printers Folder – printers
Private Character Editor - eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed)- QuickTime.cpl
Real Player (if installed)- realplay
Regional Settings - intl.cpl
Registry Editor - regedit
Registry Editor - regedit32
Remote Access Phonebook - rasphone
Remote Desktop - mstsc
Removable Storage - ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests - ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) - rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras - sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks - control schedtasks
Security Center - wscui.cpl
Services - services.msc
Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows - shutdown
Sounds and Audio - mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game - spider
Malicious Software Removal Tool - mrt
Microsoft Access (if installed) - access.cpl
Microsoft Chat - winchat
Microsoft Excel (if installed) - excel
Microsoft Frontpage (if installed)- frontpg
Microsoft Movie Maker - moviemk
Microsoft Paint - mspaint
Microsoft Powerpoint (if installed)- powerpnt
Microsoft Word (if installed)- winword
Microsoft Syncronization Tool - mobsync
Minesweeper Game - winmine
Mouse Properties - control mouse
Mouse Properties - main.cpl
Nero (if installed)- nero
Netmeeting - conf
Network Connections - control netconnections
Network Connections - ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard - netsetup.cpl
Notepad - notepad
Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)- nvtuicpl.cpl
Object Packager - packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator- odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard - osk
Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed) - ac3filter.cpl
Outlook Express - msimn
Paint – pbrush
Keyboard Properties - control keyboard
IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration) - ipconfi/all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)- ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)- ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections)- ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)- ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration(RefreshesDHCP&Re-RegistersDNS)-ipconfig/registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)- ipconfig/showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)- ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (If Installed)- jpicpl32.cpl
Java Control Panel (If Installed)- javaws
Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows - logoff.....
Accessibility Controls - access.cpl
Accessibility Wizard - accwiz
Add Hardware - Wizardhdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs - appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools control - admintools
Adobe Acrobat (if installed) - acrobat
Adobe Designer (if installed)- acrodist
Adobe Distiller (if installed)- acrodist
Adobe ImageReady (if installed)- imageready
Adobe Photoshop (if installed)- photoshop
Automatic Updates - wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard – fsquirt
Calculator - calc
Certificate Manager - certmgr.msc
Character Map - charmap
Check Disk Utility - chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer - clipbrd
Command Prompt - cmd
Component Services - dcomcnfg
Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
Control Panel - control
Date and Time Properties - timedate.cpl
DDE Shares - ddeshare
Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)- directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter- dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility- cleanmgr
Disk Defragment- dfrg.msc
Disk Management- diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager- diskpart
Display Properties- control desktop
Display Properties- desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)- control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility- drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility- verifier
Event Viewer- eventvwr.msc
Files and Settings Transfer Tool- migwiz
File Signature Verification Tool- sigverif
Findfast- findfast.cpl
Firefox (if installed)- firefox
Folders Properties- control folders
Fonts- control fonts
Fonts Folder- fonts
Free Cell Card Game- freecell
Game Controllers- joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)- gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game- mshearts
Help and Support- helpctr
HyperTerminal- hypertrm
Iexpress Wizard- iexpress
Indexing Service- ciadv.msc
Internet Connection Wizard- icwconn1
Internet Explorer- iexplore
Internet Setup Wizard- inetwiz
Internet Properties- inetcpl.cpl