Essays on Africa and Caribbean Literature, Culture and Politisc

Abstract

II memory of the late CYRUS MWANGI KAMUNDIA Foreword hy IME IKIDDEH~. 'I am not a man of the Church. I am not even a Christian.' Those were the nrunning words with which James Ngugi opened his talk to the Fifth (;cneral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa in Nairobi in March 1970, reproduced in this collection as Church, Culture and Politics. He had hardly ended his address when a wiry old man visibly choking with anger leapt to the floor, and, shaking his walking-stick menacingly towards the front, warned the speaker to seek immediate I .pcntance in prayer. The old man did not forget to add as a reminder that in spite of his shameless denial and all his blasphemy, the speaker was a Christian, and the evidence was his first name. Ngugi had never given N-rious thought to this contradiction. Now it struck him that perhaps the old man had a point, and the name James, an unfortunate anomaly, had to po. This volume of essays is James Ngugi's first major publication under hi~new name. Those who might retort with 'What's in a name?' should ask Author's Note XIX poisonous and divisive flattery of our enemies. We must find for ourselves what are the most enduring links between us and all our brothers scattered over the world. We can then build on these links, build a socialist black power. I hope the running themes in the present collection will raise questions and promote debate about our present predicament. For we are all involved in a common problem: how best to build a true communal home for all Africans. Then all the black people, all the African masses can truthfully say : we have come home.