Intertextuality and Resistance in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s A Grain of Wheat: Implications for Nigerian Postcolonial Studies

This study examines intertextuality and the politics of literary resistance in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's A Grain of Wheat, focusing on the novel's complex dialogue with biblical narrative, Joseph Conrad's Africa, and the Kenyan Mau Mau historical record, and drawing out implications for the teaching and practice of postcolonial literary studies in Nigerian universities. Although Ngugi is Kenyan, his work is central to postcolonial African literary studies courses across Nigerian universities, and a close analysis of his intertextual method offers productive resources for thinking about literary resistance and the politics of historical narration in the broader African context. The study employs an intertextual analysis methodology, tracing Ngugi's explicit and implicit engagements with source texts and examining how these engagements serve his decolonising literary project. Analysis focuses on the novel's multi-perspectival narration as a formal critique of colonial historiography's single authoritative voice, and on the biblical grain of wheat metaphor as a framework for rethinking sacrifice, betrayal, and national resurrection. Findings reveal that Ngugi's intertextuality operates as a strategic rewriting that appropriates and subverts colonialist textual authority. The study draws parallels with Nigerian postcolonial fiction's comparable intertextual strategies, particularly in Achebe, suggesting shared formal resources for resistance narrative across African literary traditions. Recommendations include strengthening pan-African comparative literature perspectives in North Central and North East Nigerian university English curricula. Keywords: intertextuality, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, postcolonial resistance, African literature, literary studies.