Study on Culture and Tradition of Kikuyu- myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theStudy on Culture and Tradition of Kikuyu Community. Answer: Overview of the community Kikuyu is the largest community of East-African country, Kenya. According to some school of thought, people belonging from Kikuyu tribe had migrated from North-East and East region. Presently Kikuyu community is largely seen in the central regions of Kenya and Nairobi. Mount Kenya based Kikuyu people speak in Gikuyu or Kikuyu language and literacy is mainly present among the people of rural area (Kibui 2014). Most Kikuyus worship God Ngai. Kikuyu people believe that God Ngai had sent a man, Kikuyu, and a woman, Mumbi. The couple got married and Kikuyu community was originated. Kikuyu people still believe Kikuyu and Mumbi as the first man and woman of Kikuyu tribe. However, according to Healey (2015), most Kikuyu nowadays belong from Christianity. Due to the location, agriculture is the main occupation of the Kikuyus. Cultivation of crops such as millet, beans, maize, sugarcane, and other vegetables including tea and coffee is common among them. Along with agriculture, Kikuyu people a re also interested in arts and crafts. Jewelry making and statue making are the noticed among artifacts. Some Kikuyus also have chosen business as their occupation. Kikuyu people being part of the underdeveloped country, are deprived of proper education (Kenyatta 2015). Getheri, mukimo, irio are some of the traditional dishes of Kikuyu culture. Besides, roasted beef and goat is also very common within the community. Dressing style of Kikuyu community is unique. Sukha and is skin are worn by most Kikuyu people along with jewelries made of beads. Issues within the community It has been noticed that Kikuyu culture is still under developed. Therefore, some issues are there that require immediate attention. One of the major drawbacks of Kikuyu culture is superstition. Inadequate education gave birth of many taboos in the culture. One such taboo is prohibition against whistling. As per Kenyatta (2015) most Kikuyu people think whistling welcomes evil spirits. Thus whistling is strictly prohibited within the community. Another belief regarding number 10 also deserves mention while discussing superstition. Number 10 considered very unlucky. They also avoid pronouncing 10. Instead of pronouncing 10, they call it full nine. According to traditional belief, announcing pregnancy is strongly regarded as bad luck. They think that the child in womb can be harmed by supernatural sprits. Sacrifices of animals are very common according to Kikuyu tradition. Ill practices in the name of religion like goat slaughtering, sheep slaughtering can be largely seen in Kikuyu comm unity. According to Lonsdale (2014), gender biasness in the community can be considered as one of the serious affecting factors that have major influence on the development of the community. Kikuyu women mostly perform household works. Child bearing is thought as their ultimate purpose of life. Women from villages hardly get the exposer to education. When a person in the community is diagnosed with mental illness, he or she is stigmatized. Instead of going to a professional doctor, traditional medicines such as herbs, plant stems and other elements are given to the person. In villages, patients with mental dieses face discrimination (Kenyatta 2015). They have a misconception of illness and often consider it as possession by evil spirits and in order to battle with the evil spirits, witchcraft and other ill practices are performed to the person. To ward off evil spirits Kikuyu people have a tradition of wearing necklaces made by beads. As a result patients of serious illness such as schizophrenia, hysteria are left without proper treatment. As per Kenyatta (2015), the Kikuyu community needs to change its negative approach towards globalization. Kikuyu people still think modern attributes as the betrayal of the traditional culture. They believe by accepting modernization they will lose their freedom and will come under the western influence. In such cases, ignorance and inadequate knowledge play a major role. These stereotypes also influence the negative perception of world towards the Kikuyu community. For instance, people tend to believe that Kikuyu people are generally uneducated. Kikuyu people are thought to perform black magic and of low societal status. Cultural improvement In order to develop the community, culture of Kikuyu community need to be improved. The best way of cultural improvement would be the educational development. In that case, rural area should be given priority first. The government as well as non-profit organizations needs to reach the grass root level to provide basic education (Clammer 2013). It is observed that most of the rural children do not get the opportunity to go to school. Governing authorities need to give attention to the development of schools so that the children of this community should receive education service. As already discussed, Kikuyu people are not free from superstitions. Therefore, the government should also run ant-superstation campaigns especially in the villages. Vomiting sins and other religious ill practices became the major obstacle in the path of the development of the community. The permanent solutions to the issue will be elimination of those ill practices by enforcing law and launching campaigns and raising awareness regarding the ills caused by such unscientific ways of thinking (Green and Nieman 2014). Gender inequality is one of the major issues that have been addressed. Awareness campaigning can be organized to overcome biasness towards the male members. Women empowerment in that case is more important because if the women of the community are empowered and they learn to value themselves, then only gender equality will be achieved (Midgley 2013). Kikuyu community has an unwelcoming approach towards the westernization, for which the community is still lagging behind. They perceive that one, who adopts modern attributes, betrays the traditional culture. The community has stereotypes within itself. People of lower strata within the community are thought as uneducated and ill mannered. Their negative approach towards modern science made the community left behind. Awareness regarding mental illness is essential in the community. Specialized experts of mental illness and other s ocial workers must take initiative to teach them about the concept of illness. In order to help them the patients with mental illness, health services should reach to remote area so that no patients are left without treatment (Midgley 2013). Kikuyu, the largest ethnic community of Kenya, need to overcome the stereotypes within their culture. Kikuyu people should encourage each other in educating themselves. Meanwhile, people across the world also need to change their attitude and cooperate with them to become a well-developed community. References Clammer, J., 2013.Culture, development and social theory: Towards an integrated social development. Zed Books Ltd.. Green, S. and Nieman, A., 2014. Social development: Good practice guidelines.Social Work/MaatskaplikeWerk,39(2). Healey, J.G., 2015. The Experience of Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in Eastern Africa. Kenyatta, J., 2015.Facing Mount Kenya: the traditional life of the Gikuyu(Vol. 219).East African Educational Publishers. Kibui, A.W., 2014. Language policy in Kenya and the New Constitution for Vision 2030.International Journal of Educational Science and Research,4(5), pp.89-98. Kibui, A.W., 2014. Language policy in Kenya and the New Constitution for Vision 2030.International Journal of Educational Science and Research,4(5), pp.89-98. Lonsdale, J., 2014. The political culture of Kenya.Occasional paper, (7), pp.87-108. Midgley, J., 2013.Social development: Theory and practice.Sage.