We’re in Uganda, a small but
agriculturally-blessed country in Eastern Africa. Dambya, a student at John
Speke High School, is caught by the headmaster - Mr. Full Stop – speaking in
his mother tongue. In a bid to enforce the 'No vernacular speaking' school
regulation, Mr. Full Stop goes to great lengths to humiliate Dambya in order to
deter other students from speaking their indigenous languages…
What you have read above is a scene from
Ugandan poet Kagayi Ngobi’s forthcoming theatrical production, No Speaking Vernacular. A fusion of
poetry, dance and song, the show explores the themes of language and identity
in African schools today. It pulls back the smiling mask of education to reveal
the frowning face of colonialism and its effects on African culture. There is
no corner of the continent (apart from Ethiopia) that can’t relate to the issue
of cultural domination by historical colonial powers. It is still not uncommon
to hear various parts of the continent being referred to as ‘Anglophone
Africa’, ‘Francophone Africa’, ‘Lusophone Africa’, and so on. In fact, there
are more French and English speakers in Africa today than there are in France
and England respectively! And it’s no coincidence. As Kagayi’s play
demonstrates, ‘children who speak their mother tongues in schools’ are
subjected to ‘physical and psychological violence and humiliation…in a bid to
make them “more civilized”.’ But what does this do to indigenous languages and
the collective self-esteem of the Africans? Many artistes, thinkers and
educators have voiced concern about the privileging of foreign languages over
indigenous ones but most learning institutions and the power elite don’t seem
overly concerned about the cultural decline.
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| The publicity poster for “No Speaking Vernacular” |
Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, a Kenyan novelist and
academic, is probably the continent’s best-known ‘language warrior’ and has
fought for vernaculars on many fronts. He has repeatedly said:
‘If you learn to speak the languages of the
world and cannot speak the language from your culture, that's enslavement; but
if you learn the language of your culture and then learn the languages of the
world, then that's empowerment.’
Along the
same lines, speaking at the AMKA writing forum in Kenya, Ugandan intellectual Prof. Austin Bukenya urged upcoming scribes to embrace indigenous languages:
‘If you write in your own language, you are giving it an image.
Experiment. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to be ground breakers...Write in
your mother tongue – or father tongue...Every language is storehouse of
knowledge. With every language that dies, a culture dies.’
In the
same vein, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop - a Senegalese historian, linguist and physicist – once
said:
‘European languages must not be considered diamonds displayed under a
glass ball, dazzling us with their brilliance.’
No Speaking Vernacular is slated
for 13th September 2019 at the Ugandan National theatre. Kagayi
Ngobi’s previous theatre experience includes the shows Footprints of Memory, which was perfomed
at the 2019 Writivism Festival, and For
My Negativity, which was staged in June 2019 at the Uganda National
Theatre.
 |
Ugandan poets Harriet Anena and
Kagayi Ngobi in
“Footprints of Memory” (Photo:
Courtesy)
|
Footprints of Memory was written by poet
Harriet Anena and directed by Deborah Asiimwe. A fast-rising literary luminary,
Harriet Anena is the author of the poetry collection A Nation in Labour which won her the Wole Soyinka Literature Prize
in 2018. The Footprints of Memory show
was divided into 4 parts that depicted love at cultural crossroads, the
memories of the Lord's Resistance Army war in Northern Uganda, the plight of
love of a courageous man, and the state of politics in modern Uganda. The poems
were entwined with song and percussion and the overall performance received a
standing ovation from the audience.
For My Negativity was a one-hander: written, performed and directed by Kagayi
Ngobi himself! In it, there’s a State Research Bureau Television show whereby
the TV host interviews a Lawyer and a Poet.
All roles were played by Kagayi Ngobi.
 |
A scene from “For My Negativity”
(Photo: Courtesy)
|
No
Speaking Vernacular is a timely piece of theatre and Kagayi Ngobi
is one of the most relevant
poetson African soil.
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