Sembene Ousmane (1923-2007), also called Ousmane Sembène, was a Senegalese novelist and filmmaker. His novel
Les bouts de bois de Dieu (1960), translated into English as
God’s Bits of Wood, critiques French colonization of Senegal. That Joseph is reading an anti-colonial African novelist suggests that he has surpassed Karega in decolonizing his mind at a young age; while Karega wanted Siriana to teach African literature, Joseph seeks it out himself. Joseph, like Munira and Karega before him, is planning a student strike at Siriana, which shows that the struggle to decolonize Kenyan education isn’t over but is progressing; now, the students’ demands are growing more radical, and they want not only Afrocentric lessons, but lessons related to “liberation.”