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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. When did Professor Micere Mũgo give a speech in Nairobi entitled "Written Literature and Black Images"?
(a) 1975.
(b) 1973.
(c) 1981.
(d) 1969.

3. What does the Ituĩka ceremony mark?
(a) The onset of war.
(b) The marriage of an elder's son to a colonial daughter.
(c) The birth of the first son in a family.
(d) The handing over of power from one generation to another.

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

5. The author poses the question in Chapter 1, Part VIII, "What is the difference between a politician who says Africa cannot do without imperialism and the writer who says Africa cannot do without" what (26)?
(a) "European languages."
(b) "Western philosophies."
(c) "European culture."
(d) "Western ideologies."

Short Answer Questions

1. For how long was Gakaara wa Wanjaũ imprisoned for his writings in Gĩkũyũ?

2. When was This Time Tomorrow written?

3. What does the author describe as the second aspect of language as culture in Chapter 1, Part IV?

4. Hausa is the first language of approximately how many people?

5. What does the word "Maitũ" translate to in English?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Chinua Achebe's stance on language?

2. What role did drama play in pre-colonial Kenyan life?

3. In his Introduction, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o states that the study of African realities has been too long seen in terms of tribes. What does he mean by this?

4. Who were the Mau Mau?

5. What does the author mean when he refers to the domination of the mental universe of the colonized?

6. What were Léopold Sédar Senghor's views on language?

7. What dramas was the author exposed to during his education?

8. What are the three aspects of language as means of communication?

9. Describe the theater that was erected at the Kamĩrĩĩthũ Community Education and Cultural Centre. Where was it located?

10. When did Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o cease writing in English? What were his first works in Gĩkũyũ?

(see the answer keys)

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