This PPT is based on Semester 4 presentation on African Literature on the topic 'A Postcolonial Critique of 'Petals of Blood' by Ngugi Wa Thiong'O', presented at the department of English, MKBU on 2nd April 2024.

2. Postcolonial Critique of ‘The
Petals of Blood’ by Ngugi Wa
‘Thiongo

3. Academic details
Roll no:- 19
Enrollment no:- 4069206420220011
Sem:- 4(M. A.) Batch:- 2022-24
Paper no. :- 206 Paper Code:- 22413
Paper name:- The African Literature
Submitted to:- Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, M.K.B.U.
Dated on:- 02/04/2024
Email:- trushalidodiya84@gmail.com

4. Questions to be addressed
● How does "Petals of Blood" reflect postcolonial themes such as
resistance, cultural identity, and the impact of colonial legacies on
Kenyan society?
● How do foreign powers, multinational corporations, and local elites
perpetuate exploitation and inequality in postcolonial Kenya, and what
role does economic dependency play in maintaining neocolonial
dominance?
● In what ways do characters navigate the tensions between different
strategies for liberation, such as political activism, labor strikes, and
acts of defiance, and what are the consequences of these choices?

5. ● Introduction
● Postcolonialism
● Historical Context of the Novel
● Colonial Legacies
● Language and Decolonisation
● Cultural Hybridity and Identity
● Resistance and Revolution
● Gender and Postcolonialism
● Environmental Justice
● Globalisation and Decolonisation
● Conclusion
Points to Ponder

6. ● Petals of Blood is a novel written by
Ngugi Wa Thiong’O
● Published in 1977
● Set in Kenya, 1960s and early 70s
● Narrated in the third person omniscient
point of view
● Kenyan Independence-1963 and Mau
Mau Rebellion- 1952-60(Mau Mau)
Introduction

7. Postcolonialism
● According to M. H. Abrams, Postcolonial study
refers to “The critical analysis of the history,
culture, literature, and modes of discourse that
are specific to the former colonies of England,
Spain, France, and other European imperial
powers. These studies have focused especially
on the Third World countries in Africa, Asia, the
Caribbean islands, and South
America.”(Abrams)
● A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a
History of the Vanishing Present by Gayatri
Spivak. (Spivak)

8. Historical Context of the Novel/Background
● Mau Mau Rebellion
● Independence of Kenya
● The "ideal" African novel, Ngugi told an interviewer in 1969, would
"embrace the pre-colonial past . . . the colonial past, and the post-
independence period with a pointer to the future…”
● According to Carol M. Sicherman, Petals of Blood looks at the present in
the light of the Past.
● "three different phases of social formations: a long period of precapitalist,
pre colonialist relations," then colonialism, and finally
neocolonialism.(Sicherman)
● ‘Our children must look at the things that deformed us yesterday, that are
deforming us today. They must also look at the things which formed us
yesterday, that will creatively form us into a new breed of men and
women who will . . . struggle against those things that dwarf us.’ - Karega
(Ngugi)

9. Colonial Legacies
● Economic Exploitation
● Political Corruption- Elite
● Naderi wa Riera’s private company, llmorog (KCO) Investment
and Holdings Ltd, to ‘develop’ the area- exploitation
● Trans-African Road
● Fake promises to people
● Aspirations and expectations of people from their own
government
● Cultural Alienation- Karega-The man dedicated to the struggle of
people of Kenya
● Munira- Doesn’t interested in Politics and the struggle of people

10. ● Licence to sell Thengeta was taken
away from Wanja from Nderi Wa
Riera
● Racial Hierarchies
● Mzigo, Chui, Kimeria and Nderi wa
Riera

11. Neocolonialism
● Land seizures - Nyakinyua’s land
● Issues of peasants and farmers
● Harvest problems and reactions of the local people in power
● Infrastructure is also the superstructure.(Fanon)
● Local Elites
● Foreign Collaborators
● Modernisation
● Mzigo, Chui, Kimeria and Nderi wa Riera
● The language Munira uses, that of owner, master lord, reveals
Munira's desire for power and control; it is the language of the
colonial master. (Loflin )

12. Resistance and Revolution
● People of Kenya had to fight back to the
government
● Political activism
● Labour strike
● Karega’s Union organisation for social justice and
land reform- educates his students to question the
authority
● Wanja’s Strike for wages
● Abdulla- Workers’ rights and against the exploitative
practices of multinational companies

13. Gender and Postcolonialism
● Wanja- female protagonist
● "If, in the context of colonial production, the subaltern has no history and
cannot speak, the subaltern as female is even more deeply in
shadow."(Spivak)
● Sexual exploitations - Kimeria
● Roos argues that while Wanja can be seen as an archetypal figure
representing Kenya and Africa, Ngugi also grounds her character in
the specific historical context of Kenyan women.
"In bringing to light the historical position of Kenyan women at the
time the book takes place, I hope to illuminate Wanja's character in
such a way that we can see her, like Munira, Karega, and Abdulla,
as a very real representative of the Kenyan nation."(Roos)

14. ● Gikuyu Tradition
● Turning into Prostitution
● Her rebellion
● Exploitation of Africa and African peoples
and resources.
● Roos argues that through Wanja's
contradictions and complexities, Ngugi
resists reducing her to simplistic
categorizations and presents her as an
integral part of defining and creating Kenya's
future.(Roos)

15. Environmental Concerns
● Rapid Westernisation
● Privatisation
● Trans-African Road
● Anthonia argues that the post-colonial nation of Kenya continued the
exploitative colonial system through its elite leaders' embrace of capitalism,
multinational corporations, and the dispossession of the masses from their
lands and livelihoods
● "Now we see the outcome. The god grows big and fat and shines even
brighter and whets the appetite of his priests, the monster has, through the
priesthood, decreed only one ethical code: greed and accumulation."-
Lawyer (Anthonia)
● Harvest problem
● Environment and women

16. ● Ania Loomba’s article ‘The Future of the
Postcolonial Studies’(3rd edition) focuses on
four major aspects
a. The Environment
b. The history and present of indigenous people and
societies
c. Premodern histories and culture
d. The ongoing colonisation of territories, labour and
people by global capitalism. (Loomba)

17. Globalisation and Decolonisation
● Economic dependency
● Spread of Western cultural values- Cultural
imperialism
● Environmental degradation- prioritizing short-term
profits over long term sustainability
● A satirical picture of the failure of the post-colonial nation to
achieve the masses' dreams of freedom, respect for human
rights and economic empowerment after independence from
colonial rule. (Addei et al. #)
● A replica of colonial oppression by the new African ruling
class.

18. Conclusion
● Draws attention towards the past,
present and somewhat the future of
independent Kenya
● Postcolonial aspects and Neocolonial
situation- Power dynamics
● Environmental Concerns
● Joseph as a hope

19. References
Abrams, M.H., and Geoffrey Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Cengage Learning, 2014.
Addei, Cecilia, et al. “Ngugi And Post Colonial Africa: History, Politics And Morality In Petals Of Blood And
Matigari.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, vol. 2, no.
9, 2013, https://www.ijstr.org/final-print/sep2013/Ngugi-And-Post-Colonial-Africa-History-Politics-
And-Morality-In-Petals-Of-Blood-And-Matigari.pdf.
Anthonia, Eguvwebere Adanma. “ECOLOGICAL IMPERIALISM IN YVONNE OWUOR DUST NGŨGĨ WA
THIONG'O’S PETALS OF BLOOD.” International Review of Humanities Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, 2023.
UI Scholars Hub, https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/irhs/vol8/iss1/18/. Accessed 2 April 2024.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Translated by Constance Farrington, Penguin, 2001. Accessed
2 April 2024.
Loflin, Christine. “Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's Visions of Africa.” Research in African Literatures,, vol. 26, no. 4,
1995. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3820228.

20. Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. 3 ed., Taylor & Francis, 2015.
“Mau Mau | Kenya, Colonialism, Rebellion.” Britannica, 22 February 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mau-
Mau. Accessed 2 April 2024.
Rao, Kesava. “NGUGI’S PETALS OF BLOOD: STRUGGLE AND SOCIALISM.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND TRANSLATION STUDIES (IJELR), vol. 2, no. 4, 2015. IJELR,
http://www.ijelr.in/. Accessed 1 April 2024.
Roos, Bonnie. “Re-Historicizing the Conflicted Figure of Woman in Ngugi's "Petals of Blood."” Research in African
Literatures, vol. 33, no. 2, 2002. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3820979 . Accessed 1 April 2024.
Sicherman, Carol M. “Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the Writing of Kenyan History.” Research in African Literatures, vol.
20, no. 3, 1989, pp. 347-370. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3819170.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. A critique of postcolonial reason : toward a history of the vanishing present. Harvard
University Press, 1999. Accessed 2 April 2024.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. Can the Subaltern Speak? Edited by Amber Husain, Afterall Books, 2020. Accessed 2
April 2024.
Thiong'o, Ngugi wa. Petals of Blood. Random House, 2018.