Places: A Grain of Wheat

*Kenya. Grain of Wheat, AEast African nation that became independent from the British Empire in 1963. While the novel embraces the whole nation of Kenya, from its “one horizon” touching the Indian Ocean to its “other,” touching the shores of the great Lake Victoria, it focuses on central Kenya’s Gikuyu (also known as Kikuyu) people, from whom British settlers took large tracts of the country’s best land for their own use. Indeed, land was central to the colonial conflict–to both the settler farmers and the agricultural Gikuyu. As a result, place in this novel is the object of struggle but also symbolic of the various betrayals that occur in the course of that struggle.

Rung’ei (roong-AY). Fictional town in which most of the novel’s action takes place that is modeled on Limuru, an important settlement twenty miles northwest of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Rung’ei stands on the edge of the so-called White Highlands, where European settlement was most dense. The Mombasa-Uganda railway line runs through the town, on its way from the coast to the interior. The railroad itself is at once an item of fascination for the villagers and an unavoidable symbol of the colonial presence. During Kenya’s independence day celebrations, a highly symbolic footrace–essentially a contest to win the heart of the new nation–takes place on Rung’ei’s main sports field.

Thabai (thah-BI). Gikuyu village near Rung’ei that is home to most of novel’s main characters. It is a fictional version of the author’s own home village of Kamiriithu. Because of the village’s proximity to Nairobi and the White Highlands, and consequently to the most intense conflict during the Mau Mau fight for independence during the 1950’s, its residents are profoundly affected by the stresses that colonialism has placed on their way of life.

*Nairobi (ni-ROH-bee). Kenya’s capital city and the seat of colonial power until independence. Entirely a colonial creation, Nairobi, as the young carpenter Gikonyo notes, “was never an African city.” It was, however, the site of important early resistance to colonial rule, and in this regard the novel highlights the work of such historical Kenyan leaders as Harry Thuku and Jomo Kenyatta. At independence, Nairobi’s street names are changed, but the actions of a newly installed Kenyan member of parliament suggest that Kenya’s new leaders will continue to exploit the people in the same way that the colonial rulers have been doing.

*Kinenie Forest (kee-neh-NEE-eh). Also known as the Kikuyu Escarpment Forest, a small wooded area near Limuru in which Mau Mau fighters took refuge.

Githima Forestry Research Station (gee-THEE-mah). Fictional name for Muguga, a research station northwest of Nairobi established by the colonial administration. Like Rung’ei, its location at the edge of the Kinenie Forest makes it a crucial meeting point for the colonial enterprise and the Gikuyu resistance.

Rira Detention Camp (REE-rah). Government holding center for captured Mau Mau fighters in a remote and inhospitable area near the coast of northeastern Kenya. During the Mau Mau uprising, the colonial administration demolished Gikuyu villages and relocated and consolidated villagers and put suspected Mau Mau collaborators in detention camps. Rira, where the protagonist Mugo and others are detained, is modeled on a real-life detention camp at Hola.

Green Hill Farm. Prime agricultural land in the White Highlands that Thabai villagers hope to purchase and return to Gikuyu use at independence. It is a profound betrayal of the hopes of independent Kenya when the villagers’ own member of parliament uses his position to grab the choice farm land for himself.