Abolishing the English Department

When I spent a semester abroad at Uganda Christian University (UCU), most of the Ugandan students who I met were at University studying law, journalism, or social work. Whenever anyone asked me what I studied, I felt a bit odd telling them that I studied "English." They had certainly studied English growing up, and when I said I studied English as my major, it sounded too much to me like I was saying that I went to college to study my own language. So, I began to respond to inquiries by informing Ugandan students that I studied literature (saying li-tra-ture to make myself more understandable through my thick American accent). But even when I said something like that, it made me question the value of what I was studying. It seemed like most of the Ugandan students I talked with were studying something that had a more apparent practical application than literature, and even with those studies it's not the easiest task to obtain a job in Uganda even with a degree. And people still seemed a little confused when I told them I studied literature. I eventually resorted to telling people that I studied journalism.

After reading Ngugi's essay "On the Abolition of the English Department," I was interested in exploring more of the courses at Uganda Christian University to see if they actually have something like an "English" department. Ngugi proposes, "

A. That the English Department be abolished;
B. That a Department of African Literature and Languages be set up its place.

I went to UCU's website to discover that they do have a Department of Language and Literature. The mission states that the department wants students to develop appreciation for "all languages, particularly English and the languages of Uganda, as well as French and other regional languages." I wonder how an educatin can encourage students to appreciate all languages. The primary language used in the educational environment in Uganda is English--and it's considered the official national language of the country--which is something that has stemmed out of colonialism, but it is nevertheless an important part of the culture. Besides that, there are 45 languages spoken in Uganda, and some of the students at Uganda Christian University are acutually from other African countries like Kenya or Tanzania. However, the department offers, "We have access to experts in many of the Ugandan languages, and can organise individual instruction or design courses for groups." This type of approach allows for students to guide their approach to language based on what they desire to learn more fully.

Within the long mission list of the department, which hits on several poignant points, one of the mission statements that I find most relevant to the discussion of Ngugi is UCU's goal to "promote language and literary study, so as to increase understanding across ethnic and linguistic barriers, and across historical periods." This makes the department something of a cultural studies department. It also includes the goal rooted in the Christian purposes of the college to "provide Christian believers, lay, ordained, missionary and local, with the linguistic means to spread the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and to communicate effectively in English and other languages." This aligns it with a Christian culture as well as an African and English cultural studies department. This follows Ngug's recommendation that "The primary duty of any literature department is to illuminate the spirit animating a people, to show how it meets new challenges, and to investigate possible areas of development and involvement" (2094).

I also looked at the course listing for the MA in Literature degree at UCU. It includes courses in Ugandan, African, and oral literature, as well as American literature. It seems to include a diverse number of approaches to literature in several cultural and historical contexts, and I wonder if Ngugi had influence on such a course offering. It certainly isn't an "English department." I would suspect that the UCU literature department is not one of the most popular in the university, but it has very specific goals that seem to centralize both African culture and literary tradition with other literary contexts and Christian service.