Multilingualism, language policy and creative writing in Kenya
Tóm tắt
Language use and creative writing go hand in hand. In the process of exploring language, we also engage in the study of literature. An engagement with literature is, indeed, a continuing process of improving our capacity to use language and refining our sensibility to good language use. In Kenya, there are clearly discernible patterns of creative writing which may be linked to language policies. In this article we trace language policies in Kenya's formal education sector since 1963, drawing parallels between the prevailing policies and the patterns of creative writing. In the first instance it is an overview of literary output in Kenya since 1963. In the process, however, we shall engage in literary appreciation of selected pieces. Our discussion includes creative writing produced locally in English by writers for whom English would not be considered their mother tongue, as well as creative writing in the local languages. The issue of multilingualism and translation is central to our literary appreciation; whether translation is a subconscious activity during the writing process, or is formally undertaken by a different person after the work has been published, or is in the minds of those reading the work.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Bakhtin M: Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics. In Edited by: Caryl E. 1929. First published in Russia in 1929
Kariara J: The Coming of Power. In The Winner and other Stories. Kenya Institute of Education, Nairobi; 1994.
Kariara J, Kitonga E: An Introduction to East African Poetry. Oxford University Press, Nairobi; 1976.
Lindfors B: Folklore in Nigerian Literature. African Publishing Company, New York; 1973.
Lodge D: After Bakhtin: Essays on Fiction and Criticism. Routledge, London and New York; 1990.
Mbaabu I: Facilitating the Adoption of African Languages and Educational Instruments in the African Countries: The Case of Kenya. UNESCO/KU, Nairobi; 1987.
Ngugiwa T: Decolonising the Mind. James Currey, London; 1981.
Njoroge MC: Teachers' education level and linguistic variability: Implications for Language-in-education policy in Kenya. Chemchemi 2008, 5-1: 1–26.
A Modern History of Kenya. Evans Brothers, Ibadan; 1989.
BIL Publication 6. Inter Africa Bureau of Languages, Kampala; 1985.
Ricard A: The Languages and Literatures of Africa. David Philip Publishers, Cape Town; 2004.
Sander R, Munro I: Tolstoy in Africa: An Interview with NgugiwaThiong'o. Critical perspectives on NgugiwaThiong'opp. 46-57. Three Continents Press, Washington; 1984.
Soyinka W: Ethics, Ideology and The Critic. Uppsala, SIAS; 1988.
Williams K: Decolonising the word: Language, culture and self in the works of NgugiwaThiong"o and Gabriel Okara. Research in African Literatures 1991, 22(4):53–61.