Development Mania, Land Politics and Conflicts in the Selected Novels of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o

Abstract

The paper is going to discuss the links between the development mania, land politics and concomitant conflicts through a comparison of colonial and post-colonial periods in light of the two novels Weep Not, Child (1964) and Petals of Blood (1977), both of which are written by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o. Thiong’o is a post-colonial writer who showed through his novels that colonialism started from imperialism and through that neocolonialism evolved which is so far the last stage of imperialism where the colonial rule still dominates but keeping the gun on the shoulder of the capitalistic society in countries like Kenya. Both the above mentioned novelswere written in post-colonial period but still the former novel portrays colonial rule in Kenya while the latter features the picture of post-colonial Kenya. Different studies have been conducted analyzing both the colonial and neocolonial periods of these two novels. But there is no concrete paper that points out the evolution of domination from one period to another focusing on the crucial issues of land, development programs and ruler-ruled conflicts. Through qualitative analysis of the two novels under post-colonial criticism, the paper will show the dynamics of development craze, land politics, and persistent conflicts.