MILA: A Journal of the Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies

Culture and Gender in Kenya

2024-10-18T16:22:12+00:00

Culture is one of the most complex and dynamic phenomena in human society and one that gives its members their identity but is also shaped by its male and female bearers as they adapt to a constantly changing environment. The concept of culture is so broad and all-encompassing that some variations do exist in its precise definition. There is now an evolving consensus that the definition of culture, as that of gender, has been systematically politicized by individuals and groups who represent diverse social and political ideologies and development paradigms. Despite the diversity in its definition, there are, however, several common threads that run through the various strands of culture and constitute its defining features. At a general level, culture may be defined as a set of learned beliefs, attitudes, values, norms, customs, behavior patterns, symbols, myths, language usages, principles, experiences, and skills that members of a society or community share as a framework for interpreting the social world, including patterns of gender roles and relationships (Robertson, 1981; Ember and Ember, 1990; Rosman and Rubel, 1992 ). Culture also consists of all the physical objects and shared products that women and men create, give meaning to, incorporate into their environments, and use in their everyday lives. In essence, therefore, culture is an entire and distinctive way of life that is learned, shared, and shaped by women and men and forms the basis for understanding the diversity in gender systems. These systems are constantly transformed and redefined to reflect new and emerging socio-economic and cultural situations. During the past three decades of active gender debate, there have been major shifts in conceptual language which have led to a growing practice of using the term gender as a substitution for the word woman. Gender does not refer to women or men as is usually misconceived. On the contrary, the concept of gender refers to the relationship between men and women, to how the roles of men and women are socially constructed, and to the cultural interpretations of the biological differences between men and women (Wood, 1999). Gender roles, relations, and identity are therefore socially constructed through the process of socialization. During the socialization process, society's ideas and ideals about what is considered appropriate gender roles and relations in a given cultural context are defined, demarcated, and transformed in different cultural situations. Thus, gender relations are power relations that are socially distinct and culturally defined but constantly adapting to changing circumstances.

Reproductive Mortality and its Significance to Health Planning in Kisii District, Kenya

2024-09-06T12:10:30+00:00

The research in this study was carried out between 1991 and 1995. Research investigated the phenomenon of reproductive health in Kisii district, Kenya. The broad objectives were to estimate the levels, portray any trends, and identify the determinants of maternal mortality and its significance to health planning. The conceptual hypothesis was that maternal mortality was a function of a complex web of phenomena incorporating demographic, biomedical, socioeconomic, cultural, political, and environmental factors. Hospital records from a random sample of the two major hospitals in the district, namely Kisii District Hospital and Tabaka Mission Hospital were examined and a total of 159 maternal deaths recorded by the two hospitals during the study period were analyzed. Details on socioeconomic, demographic, biomedical conditions, and health-seeking behavior of the deceased women as reflected in their hospital records were then examined. These data were also supplemented with primary data collected from health personnel, community leaders, and women focus group discussions from different parts of the district. Demographic and statistical techniques, especially regression, correlation, and factor analysis from the hospital data were used to establish the nature and magnitude of the relationship between maternal mortality and its major determinants. The research revealed that the Kisii district has a high maternal mortality ratio, which has been rising steadily. In 1991 maternal mortality ratio was 397.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. This increased to 530 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1993 and 663 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1995. Factor analysis identified five major determinants of maternal mortality to be poor health-seeking behavior, demographic events, mode of delivery, birth interval, and occupation. Based on these findings, the study recommends intensified reproductive health education to target all young and old women. There is also an urgent need to improve the provision of maternal and child health programs in the district.

The Position of Traditional Medicine in Healthcare Delivery

2024-09-06T12:10:30+00:00

This paper discusses the role of traditional medicine in the healthcare delivery system. Major emphasis will be on the Kenyan scene concerning the role and legal position of ethnomedicine. Owing to the present population pressure, and the monopolistic structuring of biomedicine in Kenya, dual usage of both biomedicine and ethnomedicine becomes inevitable. The availability, affordability, efficacy, and cultural compatibility of ethnomedicine make it the first option and line of treatment in all households.

Basic Studies for National Development

2024-09-06T12:10:30+00:00

When Ruth Benedict first published her book, "Patterns of Culture" in 1934, she may not have envisaged that her psychological orientation would permeate Western mentality towards the peoples of the world, as has happened. A casual observation of how people from the West and more recently, from the East interact with others, will reveal that such interaction is based on some assumptions about their own and the other people's national character. If this assumption is largely true, it may justify the curiosity shown by American, European, and Asian nationals in studying people from other countries to interact with them in all spheres of life from a point of knowledge and thus, advantage. This paper seeks to review the nature and purpose of national character studies in the early part of the last century and the use to which such studies have been put. Using Kenya as a case study, the paper attempts to indicate how national character studies can be deployed for national integration and development, as Jomo Kenyatta, the first President of Kenya, tried to do early in his long political career. It is assumed that Americans, Europeans, and Asians such as Japanese, interact with the rest of the world advantageously because of self-awareness of their own identity and awareness of other people's national character.

Socio-Economic and Cultural Implications of Alcoholic Beverages among the Abagusi of Nyanza Province in Kenya

2024-09-06T12:10:30+00:00

Alcohol drinking has been part and parcel of the Abagusii culture since time immemorial. Indeed, it ought to be noted that alcohol consumption is a practice in almost all parts of the world. All societies have their form of alcohol. Douglas (1987) and Gefou-Madianou (1992) observe that the uses of alcohol, and the meanings attached to it, vary widely, while the act of drinking is present in every society. Alcohol has been used to change one's mood and as a socializing agent, especially during times of ceremonies. Among the traditional Abagusii, their alcoholic drink is called busaa. This drink is made from fermented sorghum grains that are ground to produce flour mixed with fermented maize flour; smoked and then dried using sunlight for one to two days. The drink made from combining the two types of flour is called busaa in Ekegusii, the language spoken by the Abagusii community. Its alcoholic content is estimated to be between 3%-5% (Silberschmidt 1991:63). Chang'aa is a much more purified form of busaa. It is mixed with balls of sugar and then heated and its moisture is passed through traditional filters before it comes out as a colorless liquid that is then called chang'aa. This drink has a much higher alcoholic content than Busaa estimated at 6O%-70% pure alcohol (Silberschmidt 1991:63). On rare occasions some brewers mix the alcohol, that is Busaa and chang'aa with opiates such as methanol. pethine and fentanyl. It is believed that alcohol with these opiates acquires some therapeutic properties such as that of being a pain killer, suppressing coughs, preventing diarrhea, and reducing anxiety. During the traditional period (pre-colonial time) alcohol drinking was reserved for the elderly and the respectable members of the community. Other members of the community could only be allowed to drink alcohol during special occasions such as weddings, circumcision, and funeral ceremonies. However, in the recent past alcoholic drinking has been transformed into an economic and social activity. Beer brewing and selling has resulted in a booming business out of which many parents have earned money for the education of their children. Despite this positive aspect, the beer business carries with it several negative aspects, emanating from processing and selling procedures observed by the people who participate in it. This paper intends to examine critically the socio-economic and cultural implications of alcoholic beverages among the Abagusii, a Bantu community living in Nyanza Province in Kenya. It would also make recommendations on the future of this beverage among the people.

An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Burial Practices Among the Pokot People of West Pokot District

2024-09-06T12:10:30+00:00

The origin of death, which consequently leads to the burial ceremony, is still a mystery in many African communities. The beliefs about death and burial rituals are, therefore, diverse and variable. Death itself is full of emotion, and speculation, and thus the study of it is dynamic. Death is not only a common enemy among the Pokot but is also considered a cruel punishment from the supreme being "Tororot". According to oral tradition among the Pokot, death is the last and greatest evil of all and nothing can soften its sting (see also Beech 1911). Although the importance attached to it varies from country to country, the burial system is still an important phenomenon the world over. In Kenya for instance, most communities regard the burial of the dead as being a very important and respected institution. Among the Pokot community, burial is considered as a journey to the next world and the act of burying an individual is taken as an act of escorting the deceased to the next world. Like in many African communities, burying is said to be the saddest moment that the bereaved family relatives, and friends undergo in the Pokot community. It is against this background, that this paper presents an overview of an ethnoarchaeological study of the mortuary practices among the Pokot people. This paper is based on a study that was carried out amongst the Pokot people of West Pokot District, between November 1990 and January 1991, entitled An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Mortuary Practices among the Pokot People The main concern was the documentation of the community's burial ceremonies. The concern arose from a preliminary observation that burial ceremonies varied for individuals, mainly due to their socio-economic backgrounds.

A Neo-Participant Observation of Social Gathering

2024-09-06T12:10:31+00:00

This paper discusses the behavior patterns of men and women in a social gathering. It is based on research conducted in Kenya ( Monte Carlo, Nairobi) and the U.K. (Devonshire Arms, Cambridge). Although the title of the research is "A non-participant observation of a social gathering", the very concept of "non-participant" can be deceptive since the author attended the sessions and participated in the proceedings. In studies of gender, according to Sterling (1994), it is inherently impossible for any individual to do unbiased research. In this regard, the author takes full responsibility for any bias or lack of scientific presentation in this report. Commenting about studies on gender, the psychologist Julian Sherman (1977) wrote: "It would be difficult to find a research area more characterized by shoddy works, over-generalizations, hasty conclusions, and unsupported speculations". In line with this observation, the author found a lot of difficulties in trying to be an unbiased "researcher" clearly differentiated from a "participant", more particularly on the days he has labeled "Campus nights" in Nairobi and "African nights" in Devonshire Arms. At the beginning of his research, he happened to be part and parcel of the most common conception of the psychology of gender which stipulates that women and men as groups have different traits; different temperaments, characters, outlooks and opinions, abilities: and even whole structures of personality. Some researchers such as Connell (1987) have called these differences "sexual characters". Talcott Parsons (1942) has distinguished this as "instrumental" versus "expressive" traits which are supposed to mark the two sexual characters that correspond to the male and female roles. In theorizing gender, the role theory is the approach to social structure that locates its basic constraints in the stereotyped interpersonal expectations. The basic idea in role theory is that being a man or a woman means enacting a general role definitive of one's sex— the "sex role". There are, accordingly, always two sex roles in a given context, the "male role" and the "female role". Connell (1987) reports that the insertion of individuals into social relations occurs through the process of "role learning", "socialization" or "internalization". The feminine character is produced by socialization into the female role, the masculine character by socialization into the male role, and the deviant character by some kind of failure in socialization (p49). Connell's observation implies that the concept of biology as the character determinant is not sustainable. The author confesses that his orientation in his "gender studies" class was more of "women studies" than it was gender. It is also true that most of the books on gender see things from a feminine perspective rather than from a dualistic standpoint. In case his work falls in this category, he blames his past rather than his intention.