“THE RIVER BETWEEN:” A DISCOURSE ON NGUGI WA THIONG’O’S ETHNOGRAPHIC IMAGINATION OF AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY

This paper gives a twist to the understanding of Ngugi as just a literary writer, and plausibly qualifies him as an ethnographic writer and the novel as an ethnographic novel. To achieve this, the paper will seek to respond to the questions: does Ngugi qualify as an ethnographic writer? Does the novel, qualify as an ethnographic novel? The paper argues that, by considering both historical function – symptom of the discontent generated by colonization – and imaginative function – future beyond which European conquest can be imagined or be revealed – the novel sets a good framework for analyzing imagination of indigenous puberty rites through Christian history. As a work of ethnographic imagination, Ngugi wa Thiong’o gives a creative account of his embodied experiences similar to other literary works of Chinua Achebe, Mongo Beti among others in the study of religion and literature.