2025-10-10
30 分钟This is The Guardian.
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Take away our language and we will forget who we are.
In the 1930s,
it was common for British missionaries to change the names of African school pupils to biblical names.
The change wasn't just for school.
It was intended to be forever.
So, Ngugi became James, and my father, Mohammed, became Moses.
While many students retained their new names throughout their lives,
Ngugi and my father changed theirs back.
Though you can still find early editions of Ngugi's first book, Weep Not Child.
under the name of James Ngugi.
With the novel Ngugi established himself as a writer,
and later, by reclaiming his Kikuyu identity as an activist,
began a process of decolonisation that he would explore in one of his most famous non-fiction works,
Decolonising the Mind, published in 1986.
which challenged the dominance of European languages in African education and literature.
Ngugi worked throughout his life to promote the decolonisation of language,