Theatre as Decolonization: Ngugi’s Kamiriithu and its Afterlives

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Join Dr. Makau Kitata (University of Nairobi), Prof. Kenny Cupers (University of Basel), Ngaahika Ndeenda original cast, Brian Mathenge (Traveling Theater for Social Justice), Joy Mboya (GoDown Arts Center), alongside Mutanu Kyany’a (African Digital Heritage), at the University of Nairobi, MLT 405 on 24th March 2023, as they explore Ngaahika Ndeenda and Kamĩrĩĩthũ Theatre through a literary, architectural and political lens.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the celebrated and influential thinker of African decolonization, authored the play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want), with fellow playwright and social worker Ngũgĩ wa Mirii. It was part and parcel of the collaborative creation in 1976 of a cultural and educational center and open-air theatre in Kamĩrĩĩthũ, a village in the semi-rural district of Limuru close to Nairobi, Kenya. The presentation focuses on how the playwrights and the villagers designed and built the center, the spatial context in which it was performed, the demolition of the center, and subsequent building interventions on the site as well as the life stories of the original actors and the wider Kamirithu community. The discussion explores the importance of this inheritance for contemporary social and environmental justice and decolonization. 

The event is hosted by the Department of Literature – UoN, together with the Department of Urban Studies – Basel University.

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