The critique of Gikuyu religion and culture in S.N. Ngubiah's A Curse from God
The relationship between missionary Christianity and traditional African cultures was a prominent theme in post-colonial literature during and for many years after the era of decolonisation. In contrast to the nostalgic defensiveness of many Kenyan and other post-colonial African writers, perhaps m...
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University of the Free State
2007-06-01
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| Series: | Acta Theologica |
| Online Access: | https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/2152 |
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| author | F. Hale |
| author_facet | F. Hale |
| author_sort | F. Hale |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The relationship between missionary Christianity and traditional African cultures was a prominent theme in post-colonial literature during and for many years after the era of decolonisation. In contrast to the nostalgic defensiveness of many Kenyan and other post-colonial African writers, perhaps most notably Ngugi wa Thiong’o, the Gikuyu novelist S.N. Ngubiah found not salvation but a burden in certain aspects of his precolonialist indigenous culture. In his novel A curse from God (1970) Ngubiah challenges obliquely but unmistakably the long-accepted position of his fellow Gikuyu (and first national leader of independent Kenya) Jomo Kenyatta, particularly as argued in Facing Mount Kenya, that a return to tribal folkways was a precondition to economic and social upliftment. This clash between a traditionalist and a modernist exemplifies the larger predicament facing African societies as they undergo rapid religio-cultural transformation.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f4a9f9f7a66345c595d8dd094a2d4a8a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1015-8758 2309-9089 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2007-06-01 |
| publisher | University of the Free State |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Theologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-f4a9f9f7a66345c595d8dd094a2d4a8a2025-02-11T10:08:49ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Theologica1015-87582309-90892007-06-0127110.38140/at.v27i1.2152The critique of Gikuyu religion and culture in S.N. Ngubiah's A Curse from GodF. Hale0University of Stellenbosch The relationship between missionary Christianity and traditional African cultures was a prominent theme in post-colonial literature during and for many years after the era of decolonisation. In contrast to the nostalgic defensiveness of many Kenyan and other post-colonial African writers, perhaps most notably Ngugi wa Thiong’o, the Gikuyu novelist S.N. Ngubiah found not salvation but a burden in certain aspects of his precolonialist indigenous culture. In his novel A curse from God (1970) Ngubiah challenges obliquely but unmistakably the long-accepted position of his fellow Gikuyu (and first national leader of independent Kenya) Jomo Kenyatta, particularly as argued in Facing Mount Kenya, that a return to tribal folkways was a precondition to economic and social upliftment. This clash between a traditionalist and a modernist exemplifies the larger predicament facing African societies as they undergo rapid religio-cultural transformation. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/2152 |
| spellingShingle | F. Hale The critique of Gikuyu religion and culture in S.N. Ngubiah's A Curse from God Acta Theologica |
| title | The critique of Gikuyu religion and culture in S.N. Ngubiah's A Curse from God |
| title_full | The critique of Gikuyu religion and culture in S.N. Ngubiah's A Curse from God |
| title_fullStr | The critique of Gikuyu religion and culture in S.N. Ngubiah's A Curse from God |
| title_full_unstemmed | The critique of Gikuyu religion and culture in S.N. Ngubiah's A Curse from God |
| title_short | The critique of Gikuyu religion and culture in S.N. Ngubiah's A Curse from God |
| title_sort | critique of gikuyu religion and culture in s n ngubiah s a curse from god |
| url | https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/2152 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fhale thecritiqueofgikuyureligionandcultureinsnngubiahsacursefromgod AT fhale critiqueofgikuyureligionandcultureinsnngubiahsacursefromgod |