Young, Urban, Professional, and Kenyan?: Conversations Surrounding Tribal Identity and Nationhood
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Chapman University Chapman University Digital Commons Educational Studies Dissertations 5-2016 Young, Urban, Professional, and Kenyan?: Conversations Surrounding Tribal Identity and Nationhood Charlotte Achieng-Evensen Chapman University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/ces_dissertations Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, African Studies Commons, Community-Based Learning Commons, Community-Based Research Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons, Other Education Commons, Other Sociology Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, and the Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons Recommended Citation Achieng-Evensen, C. (2016). Young, urban, professional, and Kenyan?: Conversations surrounding tribal identity and nationhood (Doctoral dissertation). https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000015 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Chapman University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Studies Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Chapman University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Young, Urban, Professional, and Kenyan?: Conversations Surrounding Tribal Identity and Nationhood A Dissertation by Charlotte Achieng-Evensen Chapman University Orange, CA College of Educational Studies Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education Culture and Curricular Studies April, 2016 Committee in Charge Suzanne SooHoo, Ph.D., Chair Peter McLaren, Ph.D. Lilia Monzò, Ph.D. Ndindi Kitonga, Ph.D. Young, Urban, Professional, and Kenyan?: Conversations Surrounding Tribal Identity and Nationhood Copyright © 2016 by Charlotte Achieng-Evensen iii DEDICATION For Kaki I am, sometimes, homesick. Red roads and ochre dust washed by constant rains. Green foliage, verdant with color rich with hints of light and life. A cacophony of women calling, or chiding, or singing, rhythmic. In cadence and out, always rhythmic. The sight of men sitting, talking, pondering, questioning motives and agreeing to disparage, to note, to celebrate. I miss home. The quiet acceptance of Community poised to embrace. The echoing weight of tropical air full of elusive scents: earth, spice, promise of better. What is better? I miss the wisdom of age and He who harbored it. Gentle, He explained to me truths and untruths. He spoke of circumstances I could never grasp. There, on his lap, he taught me to see. and when I could not, He taught me to listen. He molded me to care for his sake. For God’s sake. Old Man, Mzee, Kaki I miss you. Age, I have arrived I am of age now iv But, what of it? my innocence is lost, my wisdom is not yet gained I fall in solitude a drop of rain unaccompanied. Torrential downpours where have you gone? Call me back to my roots of knowledge. Wrap me in kindness Shroud me with Love. I am, indeed, homesick. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I acknowledge and honor my parents for their wisdom and faith throughout this process. Dad, thank you for cultivating my perpetual curiosity. Mom, thank you for lessons in perseverance. I acknowledge and thank my brothers, Amani and Baraka, for unwavering support and unending patience. Kevin, my spiritual brother and fellow sojourner, thank you for allowing me to stand on your shoulders. I acknowledge and thank my family in Kenya for your support and nurture. I acknowledge my researcher guide and community of participants in Kenya. You have shared your knowledge openly and joyfully. Thank you for bringing your knowing to the world and for inviting me to join in your conversations. I acknowledge and thank my chair, Dr. Suzanne SooHoo. I deeply appreciate the ways in which you have taught and mentored me as a scholar. I appreciate your authenticity and continual call to action. I thank, too, my committee. Dr. Peter McLaren, thank you for a revolutionary and global perspective. Dr. Lilia Mónzo, thank for unraveling the processes of qualitative research. Dr. Ndindi Kitonga, thank you for your meaningful and authentic questions. I acknowledge and thank Dr. MacMillan Kiiuru and Daystar University, Kenya, for hosting this work. Without your hospitality, I would not have had the privilege of conducting research in Kenya. I acknowledge and thank Mr. John Harris. Your continual encouragement and blessing in this endeavor reminded me of the importance and meaning of the word work. Thank you, as well, to my professional community for your relentless care. vi I acknowledge my familial community who have walked with me these four years. Thank you for your listening ears and your words of sustenance. Thank you to my CES teachers and peers. Meredith, I truly appreciate your friendship and for being my scholarly companion through this process. On this parchment, Words, like dust, fall in methodical slope. If only to create, for one encapsulated moment, The fragmented reflection of a world as it was. And like dust… these pages will turn, flowing into the hope of something new. vii ABSTRACT Young, Urban, Professional, and Kenyan? Conversations Surrounding Identity and Nationhood by Charlotte Achieng-Evensen By asking the question “How do young, urban, professional Kenyans make connections between tribal identity, colonialism, and the lived experience of nationhood?,” the researcher engages with eight participants in exploring their relationships with their tribal groups. From this juncture the researcher, through a co-constructed process with participants, interrogates the idea of nationhood by querying their interpretations of the concepts of power and resistance within their multi-ethnic societies. The utility of KuPiga Hadithi as a cultural responsive methodology for data collection along with poetic analysis as part of the qualitative tools of examination allowed the researcher to identify five emergent and iterative themes: (1) colonial wounds, (2) power inequities, (3) tensions, (4) intersection, and (5) hope. Participant discussion of these themes suggests an impenetrable link between tribal identity and nationhood. Schooling, as first a colonial and then national construct, works to mediate that link. Therefore, there is the need for a re-conceptualization of the term ‘nation’ in the post-Independence era. Keywords: colonial wounds, indigenous knowing, indigeneity, researcher positionality, KuPiga Hadithi, Sage Philosophy, Kenya, Anticolonial theory, Decolonization, nationhood, poetic analysis, culturally responsive methodologies viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................1 Background ..............................................................................................................2 Research Questions ..................................................................................................6 Terms .......................................................................................................................7 Content .....................................................................................................................9 Conclusion .............................................................................................................11 Chapter 2: Literature: Theoretical Framework ......................................................12 Theory as an Imperative.........................................................................................12 Theory and Indigeneity ..........................................................................................14 Anticolonial Theory as a Framework ....................................................................19 The Anticolonial Context .......................................................................................19 Decolonization as an Anti-Colonial Agenda .........................................................21 Anticolonial Theory ...............................................................................................25 Sage Philosophy as a Contributory Framework: ...................................................27 Contextualizaing Sage Philosophy ........................................................................27 Tenets of Sage Philosophy .....................................................................................30 Criticism of Sage Philosophy.................................................................................31 Sage Philosophy, a Relevant Choice .....................................................................32 Conclusion .............................................................................................................34 Chapter 3: On Significance: A Review of Literature.............................................35 Literature Inclusion Criteria ...................................................................................35 Engaging the Literature..........................................................................................36 Culture and a Sense of Nationhood .......................................................................38 Predating the Colonizer..........................................................................................38