Global Connections on a Local Scale: A Writer’s Vision

Abstract

The immediate connection between imperialism and globalization inevitably presupposes a detailed examination of the power relations that governed the twentieth century. Literature from the former colonies often provides a clearer picture of various manifestations of such power dynamics in local practices. The cultural or economic exchanges involved in the process are dismantled through local mini-narratives which challenge and reconceptualise the notion of the (formerly) colonized subject and its role and position within a global framework. The prominent Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is well-known as a politically and socially active writer who strongly emphasizes the responsibility of the writer to react to historical, political, or economic reality that s/he is a part of. As an advocate of a socially committed writing that exercises the power of literature to contribute to social transformation, he posits the writer right into the centre of action. This chapter seeks to explore Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s fiction in terms of the connections between local practices and larger global forces that shape the character of the postcolonial world in the post-independence period. Ngũgĩ’s preference of a socialist vision of the world clearly shapes his understanding and portrayal of the neo-colonial influence and the consequences of imperial policy in his native Kenya. The paper addresses the issue of globalization and neo-colonialism in Ngũgĩ’s later fiction, i.e. his novels Petals of Blood and Devil on the Cross, and reads it critically against his preferred ideological framework. By doing so, the paper seeks to demonstrate the rootedness of his considerations in the ‘glocal’ context of the postcolonial world.