الفهرس 
CHAPTER ONE RESISTANCE LITERATURE AND POSTCOLONIAL READINGSOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
SUMMARY
Similar to many other African countries, Kenya suffered from western colonialism starting at the end of the nineteenth century. All along the colonial era, the natives suffered from oppression, exploitation, and slavery. They engaged in anticolonial resistance movements which started in the form of cultural and political organizations, and turned after World War II into an armed resistance movement (Mau Mau Revolt). In December 1963, Kenya got its independence and fell into neocolonialism, where the ruling elite continued to exploit the nation to the benefit of the former colonist.
This thesis explores the ongoing political and cultural resistance against the colonial powers and their neocolonial agents as reflected in the prison narratives of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s and Gakaara wa Wanjau’s works written during their detention by both the colonial and the neocolonial regimes in Kenya. The thesis shows how the imprisoned writers perceive and portray their ongoing struggle for political and cultural freedom through both fictional and non-fictional narratives. The thesis is divided into an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion.
The introductory chapter provides a brief historical and political background of colonial Kenya, the Mau Mau Revolution and the transition from the colonial state to the neocolonial one. The chapter presents the tools of analysis selected from the body of postcolonial theories which deal with the effects of colonization on cultures and societies, as introduced in the works of Bill Ashcroft, Edward said, Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, and Diana Haag. Special emphasis is given to specific areas of the postcolonial theories which are related to the research topic. The chapter explores elements of the colonial discourse which have great influence in shaping what is referred to as the resistance discourse such as: moral superiority, hybridity, subversion, and ambivalence. The emergence of neocolonialism is also presented with elaboration on the national bourgeoisie’s attempted subversion of the nationalist discourse. The concept of resistance, as introduced in the works of Barbra Harlow and Stephen Slemon, is discussed from the point of view of its anti-colonial nature. We also see how the resistance movements develop into a call for a national culture to help in awakening the masses and dismantling the colonial control. The chapter sheds lights on the battle of languages in the postcolonial societies, where an active struggle takes place against the dominance of English. Finally, the chapter presents the common themes and characteristics of resistance/postcolonial literature in general and the prison narratives in specific.
Chapter two presents the colonial repressive culture as described in Gakaara’s Mau Mau Author in Detention. The diary, written during Gakaara’s detention for nine years, provides an objective account of the colonial detention camps. The chapter traces the harsh resistance offered by the Mau Mau movement to the colonial rule, and how the latter perceives the movement as a threat to its survival and existence. Secondly, it presents reasons behind the colonial regime’s resorting to detention. The colonial prison system is further presented with elaboration on its design, objectives and torment techniques. Special focus is laid on the emergence of the collaborators’ class, with elaboration on the conditions and circumstances behind its emergence. Finally, the chapter discusses how the colonial prison system paves the road to neocolonialism by hosting the emergence of the collaborators’ class.
Chapter three discusses Ngugi’s Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary which provides a critical account of the inequalities and injustices that the Kenyan people underwent during the colonial and the neocolonial eras. Ngugi wrote Detained to reflect upon his detention for one year without trial by the neocolonial regime. The chapter explores the creation of resistance culture and the message it carries. Special focus is laid on how Ngugi perceives its different forms as a source of energy for political resistance and armed struggle. The colonial repressive culture, which was later inherited by the neocolonial regime, is presented as a reaction to the national resistance culture. The chapter discusses the prison system as a political tool of subjugation in the hand of the neocolonial regime with elaboration on its design, objectives and torturing techniques. Then, the chapter dwells on the details and significance of the confrontation between the neocolonial prison system and Ngugi as a political detainee with the sensibility of a creative writer. Finally, the chapter examines whether or not the prison system as a symbol of repressive culture has succeeded to suppress Ngugi’s revolutionary spirit as a symbol of the collective Kenyan resistance of the neocolonial system.
Chapter four presents Ngugi’s novel Devil on the Cross. In an allegorical form, the novel explores the neocolonial conditions through the tragic life of a poor Kenyan woman. It is a remarkable narrative in the way it depicts the contemptuous alliance between the ruling elite and the imperial powers. Ngugi escorts the reader smoothly along the revolutionary road, depicting the real exploitative nature of neocolonialism, and leaving the reader right in front of his options and his responsibility for leading the change. The chapter presents how Ngugi evokes the Mau Mau revolt memories so as to honor its objectives and means for the purpose of reviving the revolutionary impulses in the reader’s mind. Finally, the chapter demonstrates that, for Ngugi, an armed resistance might be the only effective means to beat neocolonialism and achieve the Kenyan dream of true independence.
Finally, the conclusion is summing up the final assessment of the main explorations examined in the thesis. It weaves the previous three chapters together and compares between the different literary forms of the works under study.