Vol.11, No 2, 2013 pp. 107 - 118
UDC 821.11(676.2)-2.09
SLOGANEERING CHRISTIANITY IN SONG: METATHEATRICALIZING COMMUNAL EXPLOITATION IN NGUGI WA THIONG'O AND NGUGI WA MIRIIS' I WILL MARRY WHEN I WANT
Niyi Akingbe
Ondo State University of Science & Technology, Okitipupa, Ondo State, Nigeria
E-mail: deniakingbe@yahoo.com
Metatheatre is a long established theatrical tradition which has been sufficiently calibrated in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, put into a utilitarian proclivity in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, and fully aestheticized in Jean Genet's The Balcony and The Blacks. It is also a tradition which has been successfully exploited in Wole Soyinka's Madmen and Specialists; Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi is Dead; Femi Osofisan's The Chattering and the Song, and skilfully grounded in Segun Oyekunle's Katakata for Sofahead. In I Will Marry When I Want, metatheatre is utilised by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Ngugi wa Mirii to satirize the duplicitous sloganeering of Christian salvation by the Kenyan Christian elite, in its iniquitous attempt to pauperise and dehumanize the peasants. This paper deals with how Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Ngugi wa Mirii have steeped a metatheatre into the interface of politics and religion in I Will Marry When I Want, in order to foreground the hypocrisy of Christianity as underscored by the exploitation of the downtrodden masses, by the land grabbing Christian elite of the Kenyan society.
Key words: Sloganeering Christianity, metatheatre, hypocrisy, communal exploitation, song, commentary, I Will Marry When I Want
HRIŠĆANSKI SLOGANI U PESMI: METATEATRALIZACIJA DRUŠTVENE EKSPLOATACIJE U NGUGI VA TIONGOVOM I NGUGI VA MIRIJEVOM DELU UDAĆU SE KAD JA HOĆU
Metateatar je pozorišna tehnika sa dugom tradicijom, koju je usavršio još Šekspir u svom delu San letnje noći, stavio u kontekst utilitarizma Anton Čekov u drami Galeb, i koja je konačno dostigla svoju punu estetsku vrednost u Žan Geneovim dramama Balkon i Crnci. Ova tehnika je uspešno korišćena i u mnogim drugim delima, između ostalih i u drami Udaću se kad ja hoću. U ovom delu, pesme se koriste sa ciljem da satirično prikažu licemerje slogana o hrišćanskom spasenju, koje koristi kenijska hrišćanska elita u nameri da seljake degradira i otme im zemlju.Ovaj rad bavi se načinom na koji su Ngugi Va Tiong i Ngugi Va Miri u drami Udaću se kad ja hoću uveli metateatar u domen politike i religije kako bi istakli licemerje hrišćanstva, iza koga se zapravo krije želja za eksploatacijom potlačenog naroda Kenije.
Ključne reči: hrišćanski slogani, metateatar, licemerje, kolektivna eksploatacija, pesma, Udaću se kad ja hoću