Ethnicity is harmless until it degenerates into myth
Jul 08, 2009
Very rarely do you easily encounter a well-thought and fact-based pro-ethnicity argument in or about Africa. Not even by Africans themselves. That is why a recent view by a regular columnist in one of Kenya’s dailies underpinning the relevance of a pos
By Ngari Gituku
Very rarely do you easily encounter a well-thought and fact-based pro-ethnicity argument in or about Africa. Not even by Africans themselves. That is why a recent view by a regular columnist in one of Kenya’s dailies underpinning the relevance of a positive view to tribe and ethnicity deserves serious attention.
From columnists in the dailies, to political sloganeers, to pulpit sermons, one gets the impression that national healing can only happen if Kenyans, first, shed off their sense of tribe.
Another related but equally awkward sentiment bandied carelessly by busybodies is that for national cohesion to take root in Kenya, ethnicity must first disappear. The irony, however, is, in our never-ending constitution-making struggle, the so-called minorities and the marginalised have always—and rightfully so— demanded to be guaranteed an equal share of the national cake based purely on ethnic identity.
Why this selective regard for ethnicity and place of tribe in our society? Is it that Kenyans have mistaken ethnocentrism with ethnicity or is it that we genuinely believe ethnicity is a wretched burden portending every evil but no value whatsoever?
All too often, ethnicity, itself an innocuous appointment with destiny, is lumped together, or confused with, ethnocentrism. While ethnicity is essentially innocent, ethnocentrism is not and cannot be. The latter refers to and is constructed on a bigoted view of tribes.
An ethnocentric view to life tends to arrange the so-called tribes in a hierarchy of illusory importance and superiority. Almost always, this is done to perpetuate selfish political scheming. In certain cases, the myths mutate to sophistry and are articulated by spokespersons of communities that believe their ethnic genes are cut for greater things than in the case of others. Ethnic jingoism feeds off fallacies propped on the same reasoning that breeds prejudice, xenophobia and racism.
Instead of throwing mud at race, tribe or ethnicity it is a peoples’ worldview—and mindsets—that should be reconstituted to appreciate the promise of fresh and desirable possibilities held within the fabric of tribe. Tribe per se, I am persuaded, cannot possibly portend a curse, let alone be one. People in pursuit of power and dominion over others, as history reveals, readily sell their souls to the devil, their shield and excuse being tribe or race.
However, once their excuse outgrows any form of domestication, develops horns, demands blood and turns against erstwhile beneficiaries, the selfsame condemn ethnicity as a monster.
Indeed Dr Maya Angelou the African-American poet and “most visible black autobiographer†touched the right nerve when she observed that, “prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessibleâ€.
Do not forget that the most extreme forms of prejudice are forged, practised then formalised for onward transmission to generations by human beings. Indeed, as intimated by Angelou, it is human manipulation that is awfully guilty where bigotry in matters tribe and ethnicity are concerned. Ironically too it is human beings who bear the worst brunt of blind myths based on ethnic prejudice when such myths change form; develop strange appetites and light fires that consume everything, including their authors.
Instead of weaving a new world order of human relations based on an innovative admixture of traits drawn from human diversity, it seems mankind is more inclined towards constructing case after case of irreconcilable divergence, even when justified solely on absurd myths. Yet, ensconced in the makeup of every tribe and race are deliberate gems that define the distinctiveness in, and ultimately, ascertain the unique character as well as the potential place to which each world community belongs in a vast mosaic. What from close range therefore may come through as unacceptable colour clash, if viewed differently, could be the most astounding case of colour contour ever.
The livewire embedded in tribe, especially in the African context, remains the only bargaining chip in this process of reconstructing a serious sense of belonging and self-awareness. This is especially critical for a people long buried in the rubble of forced ‘otherness’. Remember the systematic view by the West to paint Africa as a haven of nothingness and the land of the indeterminate goes back to the Darwinian era.
That decades-old ploy, complete with a proverbial script and dedicated modern-day high priests out to portray Africa as the continent of terra incognito seems to be part of our undoing. But we must now ignore baseless myths and embark on fresh constructions of ethnicity and tribe for our own benefit.
The writer is Associate Fellow Biographical Research Programme Kenya Leadership Institute
Very rarely do you easily encounter a well-thought and fact-based pro-ethnicity argument in or about Africa. Not even by Africans themselves. That is why a recent view by a regular columnist in one of Kenya’s dailies underpinning the relevance of a positive view to tribe and ethnicity deserves serious attention.
From columnists in the dailies, to political sloganeers, to pulpit sermons, one gets the impression that national healing can only happen if Kenyans, first, shed off their sense of tribe.
Another related but equally awkward sentiment bandied carelessly by busybodies is that for national cohesion to take root in Kenya, ethnicity must first disappear. The irony, however, is, in our never-ending constitution-making struggle, the so-called minorities and the marginalised have always—and rightfully so— demanded to be guaranteed an equal share of the national cake based purely on ethnic identity.
Why this selective regard for ethnicity and place of tribe in our society? Is it that Kenyans have mistaken ethnocentrism with ethnicity or is it that we genuinely believe ethnicity is a wretched burden portending every evil but no value whatsoever?
All too often, ethnicity, itself an innocuous appointment with destiny, is lumped together, or confused with, ethnocentrism. While ethnicity is essentially innocent, ethnocentrism is not and cannot be. The latter refers to and is constructed on a bigoted view of tribes.
An ethnocentric view to life tends to arrange the so-called tribes in a hierarchy of illusory importance and superiority. Almost always, this is done to perpetuate selfish political scheming. In certain cases, the myths mutate to sophistry and are articulated by spokespersons of communities that believe their ethnic genes are cut for greater things than in the case of others. Ethnic jingoism feeds off fallacies propped on the same reasoning that breeds prejudice, xenophobia and racism.
Instead of throwing mud at race, tribe or ethnicity it is a peoples’ worldview—and mindsets—that should be reconstituted to appreciate the promise of fresh and desirable possibilities held within the fabric of tribe. Tribe per se, I am persuaded, cannot possibly portend a curse, let alone be one. People in pursuit of power and dominion over others, as history reveals, readily sell their souls to the devil, their shield and excuse being tribe or race.
However, once their excuse outgrows any form of domestication, develops horns, demands blood and turns against erstwhile beneficiaries, the selfsame condemn ethnicity as a monster.
Indeed Dr Maya Angelou the African-American poet and “most visible black autobiographer†touched the right nerve when she observed that, “prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessibleâ€.
Do not forget that the most extreme forms of prejudice are forged, practised then formalised for onward transmission to generations by human beings. Indeed, as intimated by Angelou, it is human manipulation that is awfully guilty where bigotry in matters tribe and ethnicity are concerned. Ironically too it is human beings who bear the worst brunt of blind myths based on ethnic prejudice when such myths change form; develop strange appetites and light fires that consume everything, including their authors.
Instead of weaving a new world order of human relations based on an innovative admixture of traits drawn from human diversity, it seems mankind is more inclined towards constructing case after case of irreconcilable divergence, even when justified solely on absurd myths. Yet, ensconced in the makeup of every tribe and race are deliberate gems that define the distinctiveness in, and ultimately, ascertain the unique character as well as the potential place to which each world community belongs in a vast mosaic. What from close range therefore may come through as unacceptable colour clash, if viewed differently, could be the most astounding case of colour contour ever.
The livewire embedded in tribe, especially in the African context, remains the only bargaining chip in this process of reconstructing a serious sense of belonging and self-awareness. This is especially critical for a people long buried in the rubble of forced ‘otherness’. Remember the systematic view by the West to paint Africa as a haven of nothingness and the land of the indeterminate goes back to the Darwinian era.
That decades-old ploy, complete with a proverbial script and dedicated modern-day high priests out to portray Africa as the continent of terra incognito seems to be part of our undoing. But we must now ignore baseless myths and embark on fresh constructions of ethnicity and tribe for our own benefit.
The writer is Associate Fellow Biographical Research Programme Kenya Leadership Institute