Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms (Studies in African Literature (Hardcover))

Ngugi Argues That 'culture Is The Product Of A People's History. But It Also Reflects That History, And Embodies A Whole Set Of Values By Which A People View Themselves And Their Place In Time And Space.' Developments In The Last Four Hundred Years Have Led To A Situation Where World Cultures Have Been Dominated By A Handful Of Western Nations. The West Came To See Itself As The Centre Of The Universe. Cultural Power, Just As Much As Political And Economic Power, Was Controlled At The Centre. In This Collection Ngugi Is Concerned With Moving The Centre In Two Senses - Between Nations And Within Nations - In Order To Contribute To The Freeing Of World Cultures From The Restrictive Walls Of Nationalism, Class, Race And Gender. Between Nations The Need Is To Move The Centre From Its Assumed Location In The West To A Multiplicity Of Spheres In All The Cultures Of The World. Within Nations The Move Should Be Away From All Minority Class Establishments To The Real Creative Centre Among Working People In Conditions Of Racial, Religious And Gender Equality. Ngugi Believes That Moving The Centre In These Ways Is A Crucial Step In The Struggle For True Cultural Freedoms Throughout The World, In Order To Correct The Imbalances Of The Last Four Hundred Years Of Eurocentric Domination.--book Jacket. Moving The Centre: Towards A Pluralism Of Cultures -- Creating Space For A Hundred Flowers To Bloom: The Wealth Of A Common Global Culture -- The Universality Of Local Knowledge -- Imperialism Of Language: English, A Language For The World? -- Cultural Dialogue For A New World -- The Cultural Factor In The Neo-colonial Era -- The Writer In A Neo-colonial State -- Resistance To Damnation: The Role Of Intellectual Workers -- The Role Of The Scholar In The Development Of African Liteatures -- Post-colonial Politics And Culture -- In Moi's Kenya, History Is Subversive -- From The Corridors Of Silence: The Exile Writes Back -- Imperialism And Revolution: Movements For Social Change -- The Ideology Of Racism: War On Peace Within And Among Nations -- Racism In Literature -- Her Cook, Her Dog: Karen Blixen's Africa -- Biggles, Mau Mau And I -- Black Power In Britain -- Many Years Walk To Freedom: Welcome Home Mandela! -- Life, Literature And A Longing For Home -- Matigari, And The Dreams Of One East Africa. Ngũgĩ Wa Thiongʾo. A Collection Of Talks And Essays, Created Between 1980 And 1992, And Translated From Kikuyu By The Author. Includes Index. Ngugi advocates a cultural shift to redress the last 400 years of domination by a handful of western nations. In this collection Ngugi is concerned with moving the centre in two senses - between nations and within nations - in order to contribute to the freeing of world cultures from the restrictive walls of nationalism, class, race and gender Between nations the need is to move the centre from its assumed location in the West to a multiplicity of spheres in all the cultures of the world. Within nations the move should be away from all minority class establishments to the real creative centre among working people in conditions of racial, religious and gender equality. Kenya: EAEP In this collection of essays and lectures Ngugi is concerned with "moving the center" in two sensesbetween nation and within nationsin order to free world cultures from the restrictive walls of nationalism, class, race, and gender.