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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who declared in an article in Transition in 1963 that the acceptance of English and French as having no chance of advancing African literature and culture?
(a) Birago Diop.
(b) Obi Wali.
(c) Martin Carter.
(d) Amos Tutuola.

2. In the repeated chorus in the scene from Ngaahika Ndeenda that is presented in the text, the lyrics state that problems can be settled in what?
(a) Love.
(b) Blood.
(c) War.
(d) Jokes.

3. When was Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o arrested as a result of the production of Ngaahika Ndeenda?
(a) December 31, 1977.
(b) October 2, 1977.
(c) September 12, 1976.
(d) March 30, 1977.

4. The author states in Chapter 1, Part IX that "to the comprador-ruling regimes, their real enemy is" what (30)?
(a) "Themselves."
(b) "A socialist unity derived from commonality of purpose."
(c) "A democracy for and of the people."
(d) "An awakened peasantry and working class."

5. Who wrote King Solomon's Mines?
(a) Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
(b) Gabriel Okara.
(c) Martin Carter.
(d) Sir H. Rider Haggard.

6. In his Introduction, the author states that the theme of this book is taken from a poem by what Guyanese poet?
(a) Alan Paton.
(b) Gakaara wa Wanjaũ.
(c) Martin Carter.
(d) Wole Soyinka.

7. Who wrote Betrayal in the City?
(a) Alan Paton.
(b) Léopold Sédar Senghor.
(c) Obi Wali.
(d) Francis Imbuga.

8. 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 disenfranchisement."
(b) "A people's definition of themselves."
(c) "A people's relationship to others."
(d) "A people's notions about literature."

9. When was The Black Hermit first produced?
(a) 1969.
(b) 1959.
(c) 1962.
(d) 1944.

10. Hausa is the first language of approximately how many people?
(a) 10 million.
(b) 44 million.
(c) 20 million.
(d) 36 million.

11. When did the Kamĩrĩĩthũ Community Education and Culture Center begin functioning?
(a) 1976.
(b) 1978.
(c) 1982.
(d) 1979.

12. What was the elitist institution for Africans in colonial Kenya where Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o attended high school?
(a) The Alliance High School.
(b) The Oxford High School.
(c) The Ndebele High School.
(d) The Niflheim High School.

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. In Chapter 1, Part IV the author states that language as communication has three aspects. The first of these is the language of real life, which he attributes to having been coined by whom?
(a) Karl Marx.
(b) Alan Paton.
(c) Frantz Fanon.
(d) Vladimir Lenin.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote Facing Mount Kenya?

2. What language did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o speak growing up?

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

4. The author states in Chapter 2, Part II that drama has origins in human struggles with what?

5. What statement largely sums up the author's central theme in Chapter 1, Part IV?

(see the answer keys)

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