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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whose perceptions of Africa does the author described in Chapter 1, Part V as "comparable to a land of childhood still enveloped in the dark mantle of the night as far as the development of self-conscious history was concerned" (18)?
(a) Gabriel Okara.
(b) Sir H. Rider Haggard.
(c) Thomas Jefferson.
(d) Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

2. What were largely featured as the main characters in the stories that Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o grew up listening to as a child?
(a) Women.
(b) Animals.
(c) Goddesses.
(d) Gods.

3. What does the author describe as the second aspect of language as culture in Chapter 1, Part IV?
(a) Culture as a reflection of history.
(b) Language in the form of written signs.
(c) An image-forming agent in the mind of a child.
(d) Language as a means for production.

4. Who wrote The Palm-wine Drunkard?
(a) Birago Diop.
(b) Martin Carter.
(c) Gabriel Okara.
(d) Amos Tutuola.

5. Where did the capitalist powers of Europe carve up the continent of Africa into different colonies in the late 1800s?
(a) Paris.
(b) Berlin.
(c) London.
(d) Amsterdam.

6. What language did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o speak growing up?
(a) Ashanti.
(b) Gĩkũyũ.
(c) Hausa.
(d) Bantu.

7. Who was the first Kenyan African Drama and Literature officer that oversaw the Schools Drama Festival?
(a) Alan Paton.
(b) Wasambo Were.
(c) Léopold Sédar Senghor.
(d) Obi Wali.

8. What does "Ngaahika Ndeenda" translate to in English?
(a) Devil on the Cross.
(b) I Will Marry When I Want.
(c) A Meeting in the Dark.
(d) Mother Sing for Me.

9. What does the word "axiomatic" mean, as used in Chapter 1, Part I?
(a) Mean-spirited.
(b) Arbitrary.
(c) Self-evident.
(d) Subjugating.

10. What novel of the author's did he hope to give a transcript of to Chinua Achebe at the writers' conference described in Chapter 1, Part II?
(a) Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ.
(b) The River Between.
(c) A Grain of Wheat.
(d) Weep Not, Child.

11. In Ngaahika Ndeenda, Wangeci's monologue describes the Olengurueni women who were driven from their lands around where?
(a) Eskista.
(b) Aduma.
(c) Nakuru.
(d) Yatta.

12. In the Kamĩrĩĩthũ rehearsal and production for Ngaahika Ndeenda, the author says perfection was shown to be what?
(a) Expected.
(b) Inherent.
(c) Innate.
(d) A process.

13. On what date did the Kenya government ban any further performances of Ngaahika Ndeenda?
(a) March 30, 1977.
(b) November 16, 1977.
(c) October 2, 1977.
(d) September 12, 1976.

14. Where did David Diop get his primary education?
(a) Mauritania.
(b) Guinea.
(c) Senegal.
(d) The Ivory Coast.

15. In Chapter 1, Part I, the author asserts, "The choice of language and the use to which language is put is central to" what (4)?
(a) "A people's notions about literature."
(b) "A people's disenfranchisement."
(c) "A people's relationship to others."
(d) "A people's definition of themselves."

Short Answer Questions

1. What word from the text refers to something relating to the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope?

2. The author says in Chapter 1, Part IX, "A writer who tries to communicate the message of revolutionary unity and hope in the languages of the people becomes" what (30)?

3. What is the Kenya Land and Freedom Army otherwise known as?

4. What does the author describe as a constant theme in the stories that he grew up listening to?

5. When was the Bata shoe factory established?

(see the answer keys)

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