Culture and Customs of Kenya

Culture and Customs of Kenya NEAL SOBANIA GREENWOOD PRESS Culture and Customs of Kenya Cities and towns of Kenya. Culture and Customs of Kenya 4 NEAL SOBANIA Culture and Customs of Africa Toyin Falola, Series Editor GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sobania, N. W. Culture and customs of Kenya / Neal Sobania. p. cm.––(Culture and customs of Africa, ISSN 1530–8367) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–313–31486–1 (alk. paper) 1. Ethnology––Kenya. 2. Kenya––Social life and customs. I. Title. II. Series. GN659.K4 .S63 2003 305.8´0096762––dc21 2002035219 British Library Cataloging in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2003 by Neal Sobania All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002035219 ISBN: 0–313–31486–1 ISSN: 1530–8367 First published in 2003 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10987654321 For Liz Contents Series Foreword ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Chronology xvii 1 Introduction 1 2 Religion and Worldview 33 3 Literature, Film, and Media 61 4 Art, Architecture, and Housing 85 5 Cuisine and Traditional Dress 113 6 Gender Roles, Marriage, and Family 135 7 Social Customs and Lifestyle 159 8 Music and Dance 187 Glossary 211 Bibliographic Essay 217 Index 227 Series Foreword AFRICA is a vast continent, the second largest, after Asia. It is four times the size of the United States, excluding Alaska. It is the cradle of human civilization. A diverse continent, Africa has more than fifty countries with a population of over 700 million people who speak over 1,000 languages. Ecological and cultural differences vary from one region to another. As an old continent, Africa is one of the richest in culture and customs, and its contributions to world civilization are impressive indeed. Africans regard culture as essential to their lives and future development. Culture embodies their philosophy, worldview, behavior patterns, arts, and institutions. The books in this series intend to capture the comprehensiveness of African culture and customs, dwelling on such important aspects as religion, worldview, literature, media, art, housing, architecture, cuisine, traditional dress, gender, marriage, family, lifestyles, social customs, music, and dance. The uses and definitions of “culture” vary, reflecting its prestigious associa- tion with civilization and social status, its restriction to attitude and behavior, its globalization, and the debates surrounding issues of tradition, modernity, and postmodernity. The participating authors have chosen a comprehensive meaning of culture while not ignoring the alternative uses of the term. Each volume in the series focuses on a single country, and the format is uniform. The first chapter presents a historical overview, in addition to information on geography, economy, and politics. Each volume then proceeds to examine the various aspects of culture and customs. The series highlights the mechanisms for the transmission of tradition and culture across generations: x SERIES FOREWORD the significance of orality, traditions, kinship rites, and family property distri- bution; the rise of print culture; and the impact of educational institutions. The series also explores the intersections between local, regional, national, and global bases for identity and social relations. While the volumes are orga- nized nationally, they pay attention to ethnicity and language groups and the links between Africa and the wider world. The books in the series capture the elements of continuity and change in culture and customs. Custom is not represented as static or as a museum artifact, but as a dynamic phenomenon. Furthermore, the authors recognize the current challenges to traditional wisdom, which include gender relations; the negoti- ation of local identities in relation to the state; the significance of struggles for power at national and local levels and their impact on cultural traditions and community-based forms of authority; and the tensions between agrarian and industrial/manufacturing/oil-based economic modes of production. Africa is a continent of great changes, instigated mainly by Africans but also through influences from other continents. The rise of youth culture, the penetration of the global media, and the challenges to generational stability are some of the components of modern changes explored in the series. The ways in which traditional (non-Western and nonimitative) African cultural forms continue to survive and thrive, that is, how they have taken advantage of the market system to enhance their influence and reproductions also receive attention. Through the books in this series, readers can see their own cultures in a different perspective, understand the habits of Africans, and educate themselves about the customs and cultures of other countries and people. The hope is that the readers will come to respect the cultures of others and see them not as inferior or superior to theirs, but merely as different. Africa has always been important to Europe and the United States, essentially as a source of labor, raw materials, and markets. Blacks are in Europe and the Americas as part of the African diaspora, a migration that took place primarily due to the slave trade. Recent African migrants increasingly swell their number and visibility. It is important to understand the history of the diaspora and the newer migrants, as well as the roots of the culture and customs of the places from where they come. It is equally important to understand others in order to be able to interact successfully in a world that keeps shrinking. The accessible nature of the books in this series will contribute to this understanding and enhance the quality of human interaction in a new millennium. Toyin Falola Frances Higginbothom, Nalle Centennial Professor in History The University of Texas at Austin Preface KENYA is what many people think of when they hear the word “Africa.” For others, Kenya is Africa—the land of safaris, wild animals, and Maasai war- riors. These are a few of the preconceptions we bring with us when we hear, see, or read about Africa, whether it is in the news, on the radio, or in the multiplex. The reality, however, is quite different. Kenya is a crossroads where peoples and cultures from Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia have been meeting for hundreds of years. As a result it is a land rich in cultural and ethnic diversity, with unique and dynamic cultural traditions. There is not one Kenya, but many Kenyas, and while this is a challenge to any writer, the much greater challenges are those faced by not just the Kenyan government but governments everywhere in Africa. For a number of reasons it is not possible to detail the culture and customs of each ethnic group in Kenya. One is the diversity of peoples. To try and detail the heritage of each one is not merely impractical; it would not make for very interesting reading. Those who want more detailed information will find the bibliographic essay at the end of this book useful. What it is possible to do here is to give a sense of the country’s rich diversity. It is also impractical to attempt in this volume to describe the cultures and customs of each group because these cultures and customs are ever changing, as they have been from time immemorial. No group ever stays exactly the same. The herding communities of northern Kenya among whom I con- ducted research and with whom I worked in the 1970s are both different and the same at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Like the Maasai, who xii PREFACE are also focused on the herding of cattle, these communities have for more than one hundred years been described as “disappearing.” Yet today they continue to endure, and sometimes even thrive, following customs that are old and traditional as well as some that are new and modern and that, more often than not, exist side by side. Even within societies, there are variations in cultural practice, a situation that leads some to seek what might be described as “real” or “authentic” cul- Location of major ethnic groups today. PREFACE xiii ture and customs. What one needs to understand, however, is that whatever practices or customs a community follows are all real and authentic, if only because they exist. When discussing marriage customs among the Kikuyu people, does one depict practices followed at the turn of the twentieth century, describe a service in the local Presbyterian church, or portray the inde- pendent Full Gospel Church? They are each real and authentic. What I have done in this work is describe the various customs that are still followed today and put them in the context of past practice, explaining why certain traditions have been retained. To take the issues of authenticity a little further, consider the Maasai. Among all Kenyan peoples, the Maasai stand out as probably the best known. As already mentioned, they are an example of a people who are regularly described as disappearing, but who are not. In addition, however, they are also regularly presented as the most authentic of pas- toralists or herding people. What makes them the most authentic other than the fact the international media and popular culture regularly depict their young men wrapped in red cloths with a spear or wooden club in one hand, a shield in the other, and wearing distinctive long hair covered in red ochre? Do some Maasai young men dress this way? Yes, they still do, but they also wear jeans and T-shirts to herd cattle, and those who work in cities and towns wear suits or uniforms depending on the nature of their job.

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