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Indigenous Knowledge of the Samia, Samia County, Kenya

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Indigenous Knowledge of the Samia, Samia County, Kenya Indigenous Knowledge of the Samia, Samia County, Kenya Joyce Nabwire Majanja A Thesis submitted to the School of Information Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Information Sciences (Publishing) MOI UNIVERSITY NOVEMBER, 2012 ii iii To my Loving Father, The late Mwalimu Habil Majanja Gaunya and Sister, The late Anne Achieng Blessing, though gone, your inspiration lingers on. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am indebted to my research supervisors, Dr. E. J. Kogos and Dr. B. W. Githiora whose invaluable advice and comments saw this thesis to its successful completion. Mwalimu Victor Ogama my Research Assistant, you made me achieve my goal. Participants in the focus group discussion, you availed the much needed. To my colleagues in the Moi University Press for their continued support; Elisha for his editorial work, Mike for „stepping in‟ when my hands were tied with thesis work and Kiplimo for moral and academic support. You indeed challenged me. Thank you all. To my friends, „WildRose‟, Alice, Dr. Odero, „Musa‟, Musi, „Papa‟, Prof. Otiato, Joe Githenji and Dr. Ongondo. All those alive and those who have gone before me. Those, who, because of space cannot be enumerated, I am grateful. To my loving mother Mama Eserea; sister Jennipher; brothers, Festus, Gilbert and Amos; nephews, nieces, and cousins, aunties and uncles, thank you for believing in me. To my beautiful daughters, Lynda, Christabel and Julie. Thank you for the breathing space and inspiration. May God grant you your hearts‟ desires. To my loving husband, Bob; thanks for standing by me, more so, when I was not available. I love you. I give all honour and glory to God Most High; He has been my all in all. I praise His Name. v ABSTRACT Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is knowledge that is been held in peoples mind and it faces a danger of extinction as its holders die without having conserved it in formats that can be retrieved. This study sought to determine ways to conserve and access indigenous knowledge of the Samia people of Funyula Division, Samia District, Kenya. The specific objectives were to: identify the existing indigenous knowledge of the Samia people; ascertain the IK that is still in use among the Absamia; determine means and ways of access to Samia IK; Determine factors that impact on Samia IK; and determine ways of conservation of Samia IK. The study used symbolic interactionism for its theoretical framework. Data was gathered using face to face interviews and focus group discussions with persons aged eighteen years and above, sampled using purposive and snowball methods. Narrative analysis method was employed to analyse the data. Findings reveal there is IK currently held by the Samia, but not in retrievable formats. The IK used by an individual in influenced by their surrounding environment; Costly to document and conserve Samia IK; Few people within the community still use and value IK; there is need to document and conserve this knowledge. Super-ordinates included: family life; land ownership and use; knowledge acquisition, religion and health. With “modernization” the current Samia generation seems to water down their ways of life in favour current trends. The researcher recommends that the government put in place policies and allocate funds to enhance conservation of IK from grassroot up to district level. Educationists to come up with strategies to incorporate IK into formal school curriculum to increase awareness and support. It is hoped the findings of this study will benefit the Samia community understand their background, appreciate, and embrace some of their traditional practices. The collected Samia IK may also serve as references for scholars, researchers and the general public. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ...........................................................................................................ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................xii CHAPTER ONE .......................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Background to the study .......................................................................................... 1 1.3 Increased interest in Indigenous knowledge ............................................................ 4 1.4 Samia District........................................................................................................... 5 1.4.1 Funyula Division ......................................................................................... 6 1.4.2 Abasamia ..................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Statement of the Problem ......................................................................................... 7 1.6 Aim of the Study ...................................................................................................... 8 1.7 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................ 8 1.8 Research Questions .................................................................................................. 9 1.9 Assumptions of the Study ........................................................................................ 9 1.10 Significance of the Study ....................................................................................... 9 1.11 Scope of the Study ............................................................................................... 10 1.12 Limitations of the study ....................................................................................... 10 1.13 Summary .............................................................................................................. 11 CHAPTER TWO ....................................................................................................... 12 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 12 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 12 2.2 Types of Samia IK .............................................................................................. 13 2.3 Areas of IK Application ..................................................................................... 14 2.3.1 Child Development ................................................................................... 15 2.3.2 Education .................................................................................................. 16 2.3.3 Health ........................................................................................................ 23 2.3.4 Farming ..................................................................................................... 25 2.3.5 Religion ..................................................................................................... 26 2.3.6 Conflict Resolution ................................................................................... 27 2.3.7 Attire ......................................................................................................... 28 2.3.8 Disaster Management ................................................................................ 29 2.4 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................... 30 vii 2.5 Symbolic Interaction Theory ................................................................................. 31 2.5.1 Language, Meaning, and Messages .......................................................... 35 2.5.2 Communication in Organizations ............................................................. 36 2.6 Rationale for the Theory ........................................................................................ 37 2.7 Summary ................................................................................................................ 40 CHAPTER THREE……………………………………………………….………..41 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 41 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 41 3.2 Research Design..................................................................................................... 41 3.3 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 42 3.3.1 Rationale for qualitative
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