Friday, April 21, 2017

NGUGI wa THIONG'O at Penn State


Just back after dropping Ngugi wa Thiong'o at the airport for his trip back to Irvine.

His visit started off with a lunch time discussion centered in his book Globalectics: Theory and the Politics of Knowing, which brought together his Wellek lectures.

PSU has a history with Ngugi.  Back in '94, my poet/friend Charles Cantalupo organized a conference on Ngugi's work at our Berks campus. And you can find video of Charles's conversation with Ngugi in 2015 here: Cantalupo and Ngugi in conversation

This year's visit was under the auspices of the Migration Studies Project.  The central event was a public lecture, "Language, Literature and the Globalectic Imagination." Ngugi had worked last minute citations to Penn State people into his lecture, giving a sense of how much his thought is still in progress and evolving daily.


Things wound up today with a great lunch conversation with Professor Ngugi, grad students Derek Gideon and Brandon Erby, and recent PhDs Susan Weeber and Laura Vrana.

















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