ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY ON DIRECTED CHANGE AND REGIONAL ADAPTATIONS IN KENYA

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The Project carried out an anthropological research in six ethnic groups in Kenya (the Gusii, Isukha, Kipsigis, Kuria, Luo, and Mbere), regarding how these societies had been making themselves adjusted to the exogenous socio-cultural changes induced through various sorts of Government-initiated nation building policies. A part of the Project's findings is summarized as follows :1. Women's self-help groups that started in farming societies in 1980s have since tended more and more to function as positive recipients and campaigners of government policies. Their number is steadily increasing and they have become more and more diverse in their objectives and internal managements.2. Traditional gender relationships are still preserved intact, as seen in the labor organization of new local industries, the management of local self-help groups, and people's reactions towards modern family planning methods. Legal and judicial reform remains insufficient for eradicating the fixed, discriminatory … More gender relationships.3. Women's voluntary groups are generally more democratic in decision making process and they are far more open to outsiders in membership than men's or male dominated voluntary groups.4. Recently introduced multi-party system has brought a hightened political interest among Kenyan people, but at the same time it is instrumental for activating people's tribalistic sentiment, which would obstruct development of their national consciousness.5. Various Christian denominations have become an integral part of local culture since their introduction into colonial Kenya and more conspicuously so after Independence. Both the church administration and the interpretation of Christian dogmas and rituals are unique in each region, reflecting its indigenous culture and society.6. Village courts, or barazas, are formally outside of the national judicial system, but they are playing an important part as a subsidiary judicial apparatus particularly in terms of their arbitration by customary laws.The above findings are challenging to the future anthropological research in Africa. These findings urge that we rethink definitions of such key concepts as nation state, national culture and Africanization, as well as the relationship obtaining between the state and ethnicity. We shall continue our comparative research, expanding our horizons by delving into cultural changes that have occurred in connection with development projects and NGO's activities. Less