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Decolonising the mind : (Record no. 6698)

MARC details
000 -LEADER
fixed length control field	02654pam a2200205 4500
001 - CONTROL NUMBER
control field	7800
005 - DATE AND TIME OF LATEST TRANSACTION
control field	20181127184410.0
010 ## - LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER
LC control number	86004683
020 ## - INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER
International Standard Book Number	0435080164 (pbk.) :
Terms of availability	$7.50 (est.)
082 00 - DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION NUMBER
Classification number	809/.889/6
Edition number	19
100 0# - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name	Thiongʾo, Ngugi wa
Dates associated with a name	1938-
245 10 - TITLE STATEMENT
Title	Decolonising the mind :
Remainder of title	the politics of language in African literature /
Statement of responsibility, etc.	Ngugi wa Thiongʾo.
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Place of publication, distribution, etc.	London :
Name of publisher, distributor, etc.	J. Currey ;
Place of publication, distribution, etc.	Portsmouth, N.H. :
Name of publisher, distributor, etc.	Heinemann,
Date of publication, distribution, etc.	1986.
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Extent	xiv, 114 p. ;
Dimensions	22 cm.
504 ## - BIBLIOGRAPHY, ETC. NOTE
Bibliography, etc. note	Includes bibliographies and index.
505 ## - FORMATTED CONTENTS NOTE
Formatted contents note	Contents: Towards the universal language of struggle -- The language of African literature -- The language of African theatre -- The language of African fiction -- The quest for relevance -- Index.
Miscellaneous information
Statement of responsibility
Title
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc.	Ngugi wa Thiong'o famously began his writing career writing in English (publishing under the name "James Ngugi"). He had considerable success, but eventually turned to writing in his mother tongue, Gikuyu (though he did translate and publish these later works in English too). Ngugi is among a handful of authors who have written successfully in more than one language -- Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov are among the few others -- but his reasons for doing so differ somewhat from those of other bilingual authors. Decolonising the Mind is both an explanation of how he came to write in Gikuyu, as well as an exhortation for African writers to embrace their native tongues in their art. The foreign languages most African authors write in are the languages of the imperialists -- English, French, and Portuguese -- that were relatively recently imposed on them. (Ngugi doesn't consider Arabic in the same light, nor Swahili.) Ngugi makes a good case for the obvious point: that the relation of Africans to those imposed languages is a very different one from that which the same Africans have to the native languages they speak at home. Speaking and writing in the language of the colonisers will naturally be different than in the language one speaks while at play or with one's family. In addition, the language of the coloniser is often a truly foreign one: segments of society understand it badly, if at all, and so certain audiences can not be reached by works in these imposed languages. (The validity of some of these points has, however, diminished over the past decades, as literacy has spread and French, Portuguese, and especially English have established themselves as linguae francae across much of the continent.)
650 #0 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name entry element	African literature
General subdivision	History and criticism.
651 #0 - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--GEOGRAPHIC NAME
Geographic name	Africa
General subdivision	Languages
--	Political aspects.

Holdings
Source of classification or shelving scheme	Collection code	Home library	Current library	Shelving location	Inventory number	Total Checkouts	Full call number	Barcode	Date last seen	Copy number	Price effective from	Koha item type	Date acquired	Total Renewals	Date last checked out
Dewey Decimal Classification	Main TEST	RTC Library	RTC Library	Main opac	11766		809 THI	30012279	27/11/2018	1	27/11/2018	Main
Dewey Decimal Classification	Main TEST	RTC Library	RTC Library	Main opac	11767		809 THI	30012725	27/11/2018	2	27/11/2018	Main
Dewey Decimal Classification	Main TEST	RTC Library	RTC Library	Main opac	11768	1	809 THI	30011966	24/10/2025	3	27/11/2018	Main	04/06/2025	1	04/06/2025
Dewey Decimal Classification	Main TEST	RTC Library	RTC Library	Main opac	11769	2	809 THI	30012184	02/12/2019	4	27/11/2018	Main		2	14/11/2019