POLITICS AND CLASS DIALECTICS IN NGUGI WA THIONG’O’S WIZARD OF THE CROW

Abstract

This article explored politics and class dialectics in the work of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o. To achieve this, the study used chapters one and four of Frantz Fanon’s postcolonial theoretical paradigm using textual analysis and the historicocritical method. In the narratives, the writer vividly portrayed neglect, political corruption, unequal relationships, power, politics of resistance, neocolonialism, and globalisation in East African nations, which are occasioned by political leaders who have metamorphosed into colonial masters. The evidence from the primary text showed that the native ruler of Aburiria and his cabinet, who had inherited power since the departure of their colonial masters, became irresponsible and insensitive to their duties, but rather preoccupied with looting the public treasury. The writer explored the various struggles within Kenyan and African societies, particularly by the oppressed, through his activists, Nyawira and Kamiti, to expose and ridicule the carefree attitude of African leaders towards African culture and to create a society that recognises all. The findings showed that the writer succeeded and used his novel Wizard of the Crow to explore the challenges left behind by Western imperialists. The study therefore recommended people-orientated leadership and raising consciousness about the masses to rise above the complacent acceptance of misrule in their respective African nations.