Postcolonialism in the Wake of the Nairobi Revolution: Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the Idea of African Literature

This work examines both the emergence of African literature and its institutionalization within nationalist African academies. Amoko analyzes the relationship between such institutions of literature and the processes of nationalist legitimization and between colonial and postcolonial school cultures and national cultures. Of particular interest is Ngugi wa Thiong'o, a paradigmatic postcolonial intellectual who was instrumental in shaping both the African literary tradition and its place in the university. Amoko revises the critical consensus for a new age, suggesting that Ngugi's conflicted work belongs to an exclusionary school culture.