The Kamiriithu Community Education and Cultural Centre, in

Kamiriithu Kamirithu is a settlement in Kambu County, within Kenya's former Central Province. It was one of the colonial villages established during the scramble for the Kenyan "White Highlands" in the early 1900s. Kamirithu is the home of Chief Kamiri ...

, Kenya was a center and program formed in 1976 by efforts from

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Literature of Kenya, Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu language, Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English language, English. He has been described as having bee ...

, scholars from the

University of Nairobi , mottoeng = In unity and work , image = Uon emblem.gif , image_size = 210px , caption = Coat of Arms of the University , type = Public , endowment ...

, and locals from the Kamiriithu village community. The center was especially focused around theatre, through a multitude of self-contained programs geared towards different community groups. The participants came from a variety of different classes, but were predominantly made up of the local peasant class. The goal of the center was to reconnect to Kenyan traditions and African theatre. This was facilitated by the performance of shows in Gikuyu, as well as staging drama and musical productions that featured song, dance, and mimes. The center was most famous for its production of ''

Ngaahika Ndeenda ''Ngaahika Ndeenda'' (''I Will Marry When I Want'') is a controversial play that covers post-colonial themes of class struggle, poverty, gender, culture, religion, modernity vs. tradition, and marriage and family. The play was written by Ngũgĩ w ...

'' (''I Will Marry When I Want'') co-written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and

Ngugi wa Mirii Ngugi wa Mirii (1951 – 2/3 May 2008) was a Kenyan- Zimbabwean playwright, social worker and teacher, most known for his play '' Ngaahika Ndeenda'', which he co-authored with fellow Gikuyu writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.''The Times'', June 8, 2008 ...

in collaboration with community members of Kamiriithu and directed by Dr. Kimani Gecau. The production premiered on October 2, 1977, and took place in an open-air theater at

, housing an audience of at least 10,000 people. Due to the play's critique of justice for Kenyan people within society and the massive attendance of the production, the Kenyan government banned the center from holding any public gatherings. This made it impossible for the center to continue performing ''

''. Ngugi wa Thiong'o was later arrested on December 31, 1977, for being a potential political threat to the Kenyan government at the time. However, even after the government interventions, the Kamiriithu Community Center continued its trajectory by beginning on a production of ''Maitu Njugira'' (''Mother Sing for Me'') which was co-directed by Dr. Kimani Gecau and Waigwa Wachiira and set to premiere at the Kenyan National Theatre on February 19, 1982. The government withdrew the center's license for public performance in November 1977 and banned all theatre activities at the Kamiriithu Community Education and Cultural Centre (and neighboring areas) on March 11, 1982. On March 12, 1982, three truckloads of armed police arrived at the Kamiriithu Community Education and Cultural Centre and razed their open-aired theatre to the ground.

References

''Decolonising the Mind'' (Ch. 2), Ngugi Wa Thiong'o {{reflist Education in Central Province (Kenya)

See also

References