Book Review: Ngugi wa Thiongʼo, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature

In this book review I consider Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o’s work Decolonising the Mind, published in 1986. A particular focus for my account is to acknowledge the deeper impact of suppressing Indigenous languages, and particularly the results of holding back written forms. Looking to future applications within spatial theory, I consider how Ngũgĩ describes the role of theatre to activate memory and reacquaint people with narratives and cultures apprehended by colonisation. I start with a short biography of Ngũgĩ and the context of the book.