A; History Refusing to be Enclosed: Mau Mau Historiography, Ngugi wa Thiong'o's A Grain of Wheat, and M.G. Vassanji's The In-Between World of Vikram Lall

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Title:	A;History Refusing to be Enclosed: Mau Mau Historiography, Ngugi wa Thiong'o's A Grain of Wheat, and M.G. Vassanji's The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
Authors:	吳純嫻;Chun-hsien Wu
Contributors:	英美語文學研究所
Keywords:	Mau Mau;抵抗;歷史編纂;後殖民;historiography;resistance;Mau Mau;postcolonialism
Date:	2007-07-03
Issue Date:	2009-09-22 09:19:28 (UTC+8)
Publisher:	國立中央大學圖書館
Abstract:	本論文探討發生在1950年代肯亞殖民末期的反殖民運動Mau Mau (1952-1960)。長久以來，對於Mau Mau的爭論素來圍繞於它在肯亞獨立建國中扮演的腳色。在這篇論文中，我試圖藉由探究三個據點—Mau Mau historiography，Ngugi wa Thiong’o的小說A Grain of Wheat (1967)，以及M.G. Vassanji的小說The In-Between World of Vikram Lall (2003)—來回顧此重要的反殖民運動。本論文的第一章首先整理過去五十年內歷史學家對於Mau Mau的一系列爭論。在本章的歷史文獻回顧中，我探討Mau Mau 的歷史定位如何在過去半個世紀不停的被歷史學家建構、解構、與再建構。在第二章中，我接著探討當代肯亞最具代表性的作家Ngugi在肯亞獨立四年後出版的小說A Grain of Wheat。在肯亞全國仍陷於一片歡欣鼓舞的獨立氛圍中，Ngugi 出版這部描寫理想幻滅的小說來呈現去殖民的危機。有鑒於肯亞獨立政府對於Mau Mau這段歷史的極力壓抑與禁制造成了去殖民的危機，Ngugi 提出回溯探究肯亞殖民時期的創傷的必要性。在第三章中，我探討加拿大作家M.G. Vassanji 獲得2003年加拿大Giller獎的小說The In-Between World of Vikram Lall。Vassanji 的獲獎小說書寫肯亞印度裔移民的非正典殖民者或是被殖民者的兩難 (in-between)位置。著重於描寫肯亞的印度裔移民與東非近百年來的歷史糾結，Vassanji點出此一非正典位置如何再現另一種Mau Mau 歷史的面向。第四章的結論指出在台灣探究Mau Mau 歷史的相關性。討論加拿大學者 Roger I. Simon 近期的重要著作 The Touch of the Past: Remembrance, Learning, and Ethics (2005) 提出對於歷史回憶的嶄新理論概念，本論文強調探究他人的歷史事件有助於我們反思台灣的自身歷史經驗。 This thesis investigates the contested memory of the Mau Mau rebellion in late-colonial Kenya (1952 to 1960). A critical anti-colonial resistance movement led by Kenya’s largest ethnic group, the Gikuyu, the Mau Mau rebellion is controversial for its role in Kenya’s independence. In this thesis, I focus upon three different representations of the Mau Mau rebellion—Mau Mau historiography, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s novel A Grain of Wheat (1967), and M.G. Vassanji’s novel The In-Between World of Vikram Lall (2003)—to explore the ways of memorializing this critical resistance movement. Chapter One of this thesis first puts forward a review of Mau Mau historiography in the past fifty years. By attending to the debates and points of agreement within Mau Mau historians’ discussions, this chapter investigates how Mau Mau historiography in the past fifty years is characterized by a series of myth-constructions in interpreting the rebellion. Chapter Two investigates the exilic Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s classic postcolonial novel A Grain of Wheat. Presenting a disillusioning narrative to problematize the meaning of “freedom,” Ngugi represents the crisis of decolonization faced by a newly-independent nation like Kenya. Through a series of disillusionments to reveal the danger of suppressing the memory of the Mau Mau rebellion, Ngugi suggests the urgency of confronting the past. Chapter Three then explores an updated reconsideration of the Mau Mau rebellion in M.G. Vassanji’s novel The In-Between World of Vikram Lall. Re-narrating the Mau Mau rebellion based on the experience of East African Asians, Vassanji represents how East African Asians’ “in-between” position complicates the dominant way of memorializing the rebellion as a binarist white-black racial clash. With a restitution of the circumscribed role of East African Asians back into the memory of the Mau Mau rebellion, Vassanji suggests the necessity of opening up the memory of the rebellion for a wider reconsideration. Chapter Four concludes this thesis by addressing the relevance of doing this project in Taiwan. Drawing upon Roger I. Simon’s recent work on what he calls “the touch of the past,” this thesis would like to highlight how an investigation of others’ historical memory can help us to reflect our own cultural assumptions in Taiwan.
Appears in Collections:	[Graduate Program in English and American Language and Literature] Electronic Thesis & Dissertation

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