The impacts of cultural colonialism in Ngugi wa thiong'o's weep not, child

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Sajjad, Mizan Ghulam (2023) The impacts of cultural colonialism in Ngugi wa thiong'o's weep not, child. Undergraduate thesis, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

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Abstract

The research investigates the impact of cultural colonialism in Weep Not, Child novel, which significantly impacts the main character. There are three problems to be solved in this research, namely: (1) how does cultural colonialism influence the main character through mimicry and hybridity; (2) how does cultural colonialism give positive impacts on the main character; (3) how does cultural colonialism give negative impacts towards the main character. This research uses a qualitative approach by applying systematic and clear descriptions of the events under research. The researcher uses postcolonialism theory, which can examine the impacts of cultural colonialism, including mimicry and hybridity on the main character, and the positive and negative impacts of cultural colonialism. The result of this research indicates (1) the impacts of cultural colonialism mimicry and hybridity; the main character mimicry in his cloth, education, religion, and value like a colonialist, and hybridity in the story; the main character mimics cloth when Njoroge imitated the context of clothing because he felt he wanted to be equal or even considered as a balance to western cultural values, so he imitated what the colonialists wore, one of which was their clothes. Njoroge also mimics education when he likes school and how he experiences the system and culture created by the colonialists through education and it appears when Njoroge experiences learning arithmetic, speaking English, and writing. The main character's mimicry in religion, he had hopes, prayers, and the ways in which Njoroge worshiped his god, although on the other hand what Njoroge did was the same as what his colonizers did in his belief. The last, mimicry of value appears when Njoroge sees school as the most important thing for a man because, as he sees, Mr. Howland (a white person) also sees education as very important, so Njoroge also does well. He even wants to study in England, where the country is colonizers to his country. Hybridity appears when Njoroge mixes the value of Christianity with traditional Kenyan belief when he looks at the holy place. (2) the positive impacts of cultural colonialism are fashion and clothing and being more educated; (3) meanwhile, the negative impact of cultural colonialism on the main character is he is ashamed of his original culture.