ABSTRACT

The Second World War marked a turning point in the growth of nationalism in the continent of Africa. The war stimulated the younger African generation which had been through the government schools and had acquired some idea in modern methods of administration by working in the government offices. Those who participated in the war learnt some organizational and fighting skills and the result of the war made them realize that decolonization was possible. This research therefore examines the impacts of Second World War on African Nationalism that existed immediately after the First World War. The second part looks at the level of African nationalism in the inter war period with a concentration in the 1930’s. The third and the last part analyzes the general impacts of the second world was to African Nationalism.

OUTLINE

I. INTRODUCTION

II. AFRICAN NATIONALISM IN POST WORLD WAR I

III. AFRICAN NATIONALISM DURING THE INTER WAR PERIOD

IV. NATIONALISM DURING AND AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR

V. GENERAL IMPACTS AND EFFECTS

VI. CONCLUSION

BIOGRAPHY

I. Introduction

African nationalism like the European nationalism is the desire for independence and self determination as an individual and among a group of people that form a nation. It’s the feeling of national pride, patriotism and belonging towards one’s country. It can also refer to those movements and ideologies which demand that basic political boundaries and identities of a people be continued within the frame work of a sovereign state.[1] While others tend to believe that African nationalism is identified with the period of 1945 – 60.[2] Others believe that demands for political autonomy (as opposed to sovereignty) started at the period prior to the organization of African Nationalist movements and this occurred immediately after the establishment of the colonial rule in the continent of Africa. This was characterized by the active rejection of the establishment and legitimacy of the alien rule. It manifested in resistance movements of both Nandi resistance in Kenya, samori Toure in Mali, Maji Maji rebellion in Tanganyika, the Anglo-Asante war in Ghana, the Lobengula and the Ndebele war in Zimbabwe, and those of mzilikazi king of Ndebele land in South Africa. This is a clear testimony that the African people organized in their kingdoms and leadership did not welcome the alien administrator. Thus the sovereignty concept was live in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This concept of international system wherein states are accorded complete autonomy on internal matters, legal equality and inviolability within the external or international context and some precise delimitation of territoriality. This is the reality that made both Samoei of Nandi in Kenya, Mzilikazi of Ndebele and Samori Toure of Mandika to fight off colonial establishments in their area to continue asserting their authority.[3] Despite the fact that Nationalism of the period was marred by ethnicity which was communal loyalty or identity and normally accompanied by the claim of kinship or common origin.[4] Sometimes it forced the African communities to unite against the same enemy, intruder. Thus the idea of nation hood and belonging came into being, people came to learn that they share common values and goals and shared common history and a common future.

Nationalism like any other historical phenomenon is that tool a long period to mature in the continent of Africa. Both the colonizers or the colonial administration and the Africans participated towards its maturity. As A. Mazrui puts that “The western impact is shallow because African culture is deep. But the shallowness of the western impact is also due to its own contradictory unevenness; elections in the colonial period co-existed with preventive detention, Christian charity co-existed with capitalist greed. The language of freedom co-existed with practice of repression and equality co-existed with racism.[5]

Africa unlike Europe, nationalism was a gradual process that grew out of the determination of different African leaders who were educated in the languages and ideas of their colonial masters[6] who were formulating political objectives for their countrymen and were devising new methods of pursuing them within the colonial structures. Even though this was not possible during the early years of colonialism, but by the onset of the Second World War in 1939 things had started changing. Therefore African nationalism proper can be clearly identified in the period 1945 to 1960. It is the time that urban organizations begun to emerge often drawing on the new western education, professional and skilled classes. These organizations raised pertinent issues of increasing African participation in the civil service, administration, government and in the modern economic sector. Therefore the theoretical weapons with which African nationalists make the revolutions have been largely borrowed from the armories of the metropolitan countries. African leaders are themselves the product of European schools and Universities. They were asserting claims of a kind that had already been asserted by Europeans, around which a European sacred literature has been built and they stated their case in a language that was intelligible to their European rulers can understand.[7]

Then the nationalists represented the self assertion of the interests of a given community whose politico-geographical limits are those of the colonial territory against those of the foreign colonial oligarchy.[8] Then the ultimate goal of this self-assertion was the establishment of a modern African community along the lines of the nation state as in the western world. From this perspective, the Second World War created a form of external pressure on European colonialism in Africa as it enhanced political consciousness in the continent and made inevitable increasing anti-colonial militancy.[9] This consciousness replaced the disillusionment of the war as many Africans became realistic and determined to win political freedom.

II. African nationalism in post world war I

The events that led to nationalism in Africa go back into history hence they can not be explained fully in their present circumstance. African nationalism as said earlier above its and was a gradual change of African consciousness towards leadership. It cannot be explained only in terms of the post-world war II conditions, nor can it be explained only in terms of the conditions after world war I.[10] Whatever theory that can be advanced about the origin of African Nationalism, it must eventually go back to a set of historical circumstances, that gave rise to the phenomenon of “consciousness” of kind without which African nationalism would have been impossible. It is inconceivable how pan-Africanism, which sired African nationalism, could have so successfully appealed to the west Indians and the American Negroes as well as people of Africa living under widely divergent political, economic, cultural, historical and geographical circumstances unless their common denominator, their only reconciling, fundamental basis-was this ‘consciousness of kind’.[11] This common denominator was the real reason why African Nationalism could spring up from the Cape Town coast the south to the Alexanderia in the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. From the Eastern African coast of Mombassa to Monrovia of Liberia. Yes, what was this common denominator?

III. African nationalism during the inter war period

Europeans had ruled Africa since 1415 when Ceuta coast of Morocco was occupied by the Portuguese. Slave trade was rendered obsolete in the mid of nineteenth century by the rapid development of technology and industrial production and this made the imperial powers to turn their greed desire to the land of Africa.

But at no time, the colonial agenda was accepted by the African leaders without protests, counter proposals intended to enhance the African autonomy, power and security of indigenous African people.[12] Therefore, like G.W.F Hegel who elevated the spirit of German nationalism to the plane of philosophy of history with far reaching implications for adverse national and other social movement, the Second World War did the same miracle for Africa.

Like an American Negro, Africans did not chose to be born black, but they longed to attain self consciousness, to merge his double self into a better and truer self” They wished to make it possible for a man to live the divergent world without being cursed and spat upon by his fellow white men and without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face.[13] True, colonialism in Africa went hand in hand with racial segregation. In most parts of the continent, social amenities such

Like an American Negro, Africans did not chose to be born black, but they longed to attain self consciousness, to merge his double self into a better and truer self” They wished to make it possible for a man to live the divergent world without being cursed and spat upon by his fellow white men and without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face.[14] True, colonialism in Africa went hand in hand with racial segregation. In most parts of the continent, social amenities such schools, hospitals were provided along racial lines. Infact the European had created two separate environments in Africa. Like in South Africa apartheid i.e. racial apartness created a special environment for Africans by denying them full citizenship in their own country.[15] Also after the First World War, the African populace felt exploited in the sense that they were thrown out of their land as the colonial government resettled the white soldiers who returned from the war and the African soldiers were left to suffer. For example in Kenya, settlements were alienated to settle such soldiers while Kenyans were further pushed to the African reserves.

It is a fact that during the First World War, the continent experiences a large-scale exodus of whites from the colonies and this created job opportunities for the Africans to serve in positions that were once seen as areas only worked by the whites.[16] This was due to the fact that even the whites were conscripted into the army to protect the name of their countries. Whites feared death and the eminent end of colonialism. Immediately after the war, African soldiers who had returned from the war, of course, a war that was fought on the African soil, Middle East and also in Europe, they had sighted white people fighting each other, a thing they had never done during the colonial occupation. Also during the war process, white commanders encouraged the subject ‘African’ in uniform to kill the ‘enemy’ white men who the Africans held to be sacrosanct and discretions of a white person had been severely punished.[17] This made the African soldiers to realize that even the white people can die and much more he can be killed by an African. Remember during the war, Africans were conscripted by force, others decided to join the war willingly in order to get salaries, as others felt that what they were going through was intolerable hence as another alternative to live. But in returning from the war, they were faced by heavy losses, failure to be given farms, the abrupt currency change and hiking of taxes and fall of wages.[18] This were the people who had served in the war as soldiers, commanders of platens, as driving machineries and much more they had seen and killed the white soldiers in the war. Hence on returning home they were faced some problems as before the war. Therefore, they demanded improved and reformed colonies administration for those countries south of Sahara while in the Magreb, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt demanded their independence. This is the reason as to why Kenya by 1920 the Kikuyu chiefs had started the Kikuyu Association and later in 1921, Harry Thuku founded the Young Kikuyu Association.[19]

The first world war, according to Macharia is that it was a capitalist war designed to enhance imperialist greed at the expense of the colonial subjects and therefore Lenin, Russia represented a new world order which catered to human rather than to capitalist greed[20] and in reaction to this the United States president Woodrow Wilson brought in his fourteen point plan, made in reaction to Russian proposal.[21] This is an evident that the first world ushered in the major powers to the concern of emancipation of the black Africa. Yes Wilsonian points called for free trade, open seas, disarmament, no secret treaties and the return of Russian territories captured by German, adjustment of colonial claims based on the interest of the native population and it offered a general association of nations to guarantee political independence and integrity to big and small nations alike.[22] These points extended the right to self determination and therefore a lot of uprisings were seen across the continent of Africa. Both Tunisia and Egypt demanded independence, west Africa nations called to be included in the government, In Sudan, Wilson’s fourteen points brought about pan-Islamic revolts, while in Algeria economic and political improvements in the status of Algerians was done. In the tip of Africa, modern African nationalism was conceived in the Boer war.[23] From this perspective therefore it’s quite that the second phase of nationalism was already prepared by the First World War even before the onset of the Second World War. Communism had already denounced imperialism and colonialism, supporting African Nationals in their undertakings for independence in North Africa. Russia was making a contracted effort to widen the scope of its ideology, an ideology in support of the weak and the underdogs in society hence the world has already started to be divided into two.

IV. The Second World Wars Contribution to African Nationalism.

The Second World War is the great turning point in the history of modern Africa. Before it broke out, the pace of change in Africa since the establishment of colonial and the end of the first world war, colonization had been steady even though disrupted again with the world depression of 1929 but still the colonial government were going on with business as usual and even had started introducing some policies that were harsh to the Africans. But the war increased momentum more than as the First World War did.

At the onset of the Second World War the whole of Africa was under European rule. The Italians had occupied Ethiopia. British troops were in the Suez Canal zone and had imposed a puppet king as Pharaoh of Egypt. Even Liberia was in practice dominated by the American Firestone Company. The union of South Africa was an independent dominion within the British common wealth, but the African population there had less freedom than the inhabitants of the colonial territories.[24] The development of communication technology and availability of enough colonial soldiers in Africa, meant that any uprising against the establishment was to be dealt with effectively in the shortest time possible and this had resulted into firm colonial rule during the 1930’s. But the Second World War overturned them and within a quarter a century, more than thirty four countries had their independence.[25]

V. General Effects and Impacts

The coming of the Second World War in 1939 did not hit Africans with the same force as it did the first world war of 1914 – 1918, which brought about a deep and fundamental change in the African-Europe relationship where the Africans insisted that they must become part of the establishment. Infact it was the Africans who served with European forces, in Africa and overseas[26], who had called this changes , but with the second world war, the challenges towards the colonial establishment and imperialist tendency, was faced by the hunger of the whole world, from the freed slaves in black Americans to the Arabs in the middle east and the Asian continent at large.

First the war brought about a revolution in world global politics, and this in turn had a profound effect on Africa. Secondly, the war, unlike the first war, structured African Nationalism in the colonial territories themselves to a point where, almost everywhere, its demands were eventually met[27]. In the global politics, the war changed the world balance of power, Britain and France, the major colonial powers in Africa were reduced from the first to the second rank of world power and the united states of America and the Soviet Union were raised to the first rank and both those new superpowers had an anti-colonial tradition and actively encouraged the colonial powers to decolonize.[28] They did by dominating the new United Nations Organization (UNO) and ensured it applied to pressure on the colonial powers to prepare their subjects for self Government. Even though European historians, like to say that the transfer of power was a process whereby European granted Africans independence, its better to be factual and believe that the world war two acted as a catalyst to quicken the whole process. The war was an occasion for declarations of loyalty coupled with the hope of reward in the form of a quickening of the pace of constitutional reform.[29] This was a promise that was given as the Africans were being recruited to the war, the war which they did not why it was fought.

The million African Youths who participated in the war returned to their homes with very much widened horizons having in many cases learnt trade and other skills, in particular how to read and write. They returned with heightened expectations and its vital to note here that the Accra riots of 1948, that lead inexorably to the independence of Ghana (Gold Coast) were triggered by an ex-service men’s demonstration against living conditions.[30]

The war led to a considerable Asian impact on Africa, in two major ways, first there was the contribution of Japan ended military factory and technological achievement to African nationalist thinking. Secondly, soon after the war, the European empires in Asia crumbled down as houses built by papers, before victorious Asian nationalism, and Asian especially Indian nationalism came to constitute another form of external pressure on the colonial regimes in Africa both in the United Nations, and by mere force of an example to African nationalists.[31] Example the attainment of India’s independence in the year 1947 accelerated the call for independence in the maghreb and the west Africa. All this were external pressure on European colonialism. But fundamentally, to war enhanced political consciousness in Africa, and made inevitable increasing anti-colonial militancy.

The second world war matured nationalism as it exposed it’s pioneers to a range of influences much broader than those that had been able to penetrate the enclosed colonial world of the 1930’s or those of after the first world war. The war created new social and economic conditions in Africa which the nationalists were able to exploit in order to persuade the colonial governments that they had been growing support for their cause. In turn, this conditions put a lot of pressure on the nationalists to radicalize their programs and make more urgent their demands for social reform and constitutional advance.[32] This can be well explained by the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, that was a reaction due to the delayed constitutional reforms and need for self government to follow the foot-steps of both India and Ghana.

During the war the young men belonging to the same age and federation, came into contact with practically all people of the earth. They heard about education, cooperation and political actions going on around the globe. They met the whites on life and death struggle basis. They saw civilized and peaceful and orderly white people mercilessly butchering one another, just as their so-called ancestors had done in the tribal wars. They saw no difference between primitive and civilized man. They saw through European pretensions that only Africans were sausages, This revolutionized their thinking.[33] Yes the Europeans became equals and were now prone to African challenges. They had fought for the British or the French against facist tyranny and imperialism in Europe and Africa or for the British against Japanesse imperialism in Asia. They now demanded the same rights of self-determination and political liberty that their white colonial masters enjoyed in the metropolitan countries.[34] This is because when they were fighting in the war, they were told that they were fighting to preserve freedom and democracy, but in India, they witnessed fellow colonial subjects protesting against Britain’s own restrictions of their political freedom. Many soldiers received rudimentary literacy or technical education that played a significant factor in the post war situation.[35]

Another area where the war contributed so much to the nationalism areas in Africa is from the economic perspective. Both the imperial powers who dominated Africa, infact they were there to reap much as they can and eventually benefit their mother country. It was a policy that it was only Europe that was to be industrialized and their colonies were to serve as raw material center or as feared zones. The French in west tried to hide this fact by calling the colonies the French overseas provinces and by adopting assimilation, buy the process was the same as that of both Portugal and Britain. But the war dealt a blow to this policies. During the war a substantial number of factories were established in major cities to process locally produced materials that earlier had been imported in their finished state from Europe. This factories marked the beginning of Industrialization in Africa, that nationalists after the war became so anxious to develop as a way of lessening dependence on the metropolitan countries. In turn, the industrial development led to the formation in many African cities of a significant wage-labor class which was to be a fertile support for the rising nationalist parties and by funding their operations including providing expertise in organizations.[36]

During the war, the labor party of Britain supported decolonization and though Fabian Colonization Bureau, they made their hostility clear towards colonialism and called for the freedom of African continent. This made the African nationalists to count on them for support for their ideas from the labor members of the war time British government[37]. Now that the anti-colonial purges have started throwing in the parliament of the imperial powers, it was easier for the African in the other end to start growing stringer in their nationalistic demands of self government and higher participation in decision making that directly affects the African people.

The second world war brought Europeans and Americans out of Africa in greater numbers than ever before. Missionaries soldiers and technicians came as traders also arrived. Many of this whites were much less educated than the members of the growing African middle class lawyers, doctors, teachers and clerical officers. More important this whites did not identify with colonial authorities but saw them as part of a class structure against which they voted overwhelmingly in the post-war elections in both Britain and France[38]. Instead of supporting the whites, this group supported the African nationalists and this was a direct boost towards to Africans fight against colonialism. This class difference of the whites is largely attributed to imperialistic tendency of domination and its capitalistic ideology.

Yes, the world war shattered the myth of white superiority of the separation of African and Europeans either informally, as in the case of British west Africa and French colonies. How that the poor whites were in their midst and supporting their nationalistic cause, there were no color bar as in Rhodesia and Kenya, as they were broken with this white immigrants[39]. Africans even those in local pubs shared a drinks with the whites, talked fluent English and had organizational skills than those group of whites. In the other hand African soldiers who served in France during the first world war had as a result of coming into contact with the local population, quickly come to have doubts about the superiority of the colonizer, and while in East Africa, African troops who had fought alongside white soldiers had experienced similar doubts, this reaction was much more widely spread during the second world war because of sheer numbers of working class whites who passed through the colonies. The educated Africans, particularly Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Nkrumah Kwame of Ghana, Gained very different perception of their European rulers as a result of this war time contact. This leaders as they returned from their study abroad , they spread the message about the kind of life the white people lived, class division in the white society and how the hatred had divided the unity of Europe.

Back into African soil, in the French controlled areas, Africans were subjected to two rival sets of propaganda during the war, directed not so much at serving the loyalty of the African subjects to France but pushing the claims of one view of France against another, For the British controlled areas, a colonial film unit was established whose purpose, was to explain the war to unsophisticated colonial audiences; to tell them why Britain was fighting in suite colonial support. This tool of propaganda in both Britain and French dominion proved to be a precedent, for thereafter both colonial powers continued to their colonial subjects about their policies and plans through printed word, the radio and cinema. This automatically needed African elites to do it better in the vernacular languages but the result was the nationalistic used this loophole to press for their demands which of course were granted and therefore were allowed to work in administrative involvement in their colonial governments. Britain made this concessions in the Gold coast during the war by appointing Africans to execute councils of administration.[40]

In winding up this part, it is quite prudent to look at the America, Russia and the United Nations contributions towards Nationalism in Africa. First, both the United States and the soviet union used the United Nations platform to air the indifferences towards colonial imperialism. For one America traditionally hate political imperialism tendencies of both France and Britain. In the other side, the Americans featured the spread of the soviet union influence in the third world countries in both the middle east and Africa, and regarded preparations of these territories for independence as one way of countering potential Soviet influence[41]. Therefore America used the UNO charter that called for the rights of all peoples to freedom and justice to pass her message.

In the other hand the soviet union’s influence on post war Africa was important in three aspects: First, in the field of ideology, the Russians provided a theoretical attack on economic imperialism e.g. Lenistic theory of imperialism i.e. imperialists were motivated by considerations of educating the Africans and spreading civilization or transmitting the gospel, but in turn, Lenin stressed on economic motivation as the ultimate mainspring of imperials expansion. Secondly, they had provided like the Japanesse example of actual achievement in raising an economically backward country to an industrial power and illiteracy. This was what the dark African continent needed to get light to emancipate her people from illiteracy and abject poverty externally caused. Thirdly, the soviet union like the United States used the UNO platform to oppose colonialism. This was what the African traditionalists wanted, the support across the globe and much more from the superpowers, their call for independence was unstoppable.

Also after the second world war in 1945, The league of nations was disbanded because of its inefficiency to stop the occurrence of another great war in the world. Therefore the United Nations was born in 1945 with its origins based on the Atlantic charter of 1941, when the American president Franklin Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill met on a battleship off the Canadian coast and issued a statement of their hopes for the future of mankind. They both declared that, “They respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they want to live and they wish to see sovereign rights and self governance restored to those who have been forcibly deprived them.[42] This Atlantic charter triggered and increased nationalistic momentum in Africa. As the united nations charter was ushered in 1945, it called for application of natural law and global bill of rights. This are the loopholes that the African Nationalists used as they addressed the world from the United Nations platforms.

VI. CONCLUSIONS

Like a Tsunami sweeping along the coasted towns, the second world war was a real turning point in the history of modern Africa. It broke out the phase of change in Africa since the establishment of colonial rule. It made men to think critically as man come back to their human mind. Humanity at long last prevailed as African countries attained their independence. The war changes the pace of Africa and its people, industrialization and self determination became the essential feature of the struggle. Yes it brought nearer the light in the turner. It tool African lives with it but was not in vain. Imperial powers were shattered and in place came the nationalistic friendly superpowers that injected new fuel to finish the course of colonialism. All people in the earth became the Biblically accepted Adam and Eve. African henceforth will be and remain for Africans only. This is an issue to be proofed by real nationalism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boahen, A. ADU, and Currey, James; General History of Africa. Heinemann Kenya, Nairobi, 1990

Carter, M. Gwendolyn, and O’mesa, Patrick; African Independence, Indiana University press, U.S.A, 1986

Crowder Michael; The Cambridge History of Africa, v18, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1984

Hag Reaves, J.D; Decolonization in Africa, Longman Publishers L.t.d, London, 1988.

John, N. Pardon, and Edward, W. Soja, The African Experience, Heinemann educational publishers, London, 1970.

Mazrui, A. Ali; and Tidy Michael, Nationalism and new states in Africa, Heinemann educational books, New Hampshire 1984

Munene, Macharia; The Truman administration and the Decolonization of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nairobi University Press, Nairobi, 1995.

Ochieng, W.R, A History of Kenya, Macmillan Publishers ltd, London 1985

Oliver, Rohand and Atmore, Anthony; Africa since 1800, 2 ed, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1972.

Okoth, Assa; A History of Africa, v12, 1915 – 1995; East African educational publishers, Nairobi, 2006

Rupert, Emerson and Martin, Kilson: The Political Awakening of Africa, Prentice –Hall inc. np, 1965.

Sithole, Ndabaningi, African Nationalism; 2 ed, oxford University Press, New York, 1970.

Ward, E.W.F, Emergent Africa, and George Allen and unwind ltd, London, 1967.

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[1] Paden, N. John; and Soja W. Edward; The African Experience ( London;1970) p. 403

[2] Ibid (p.405)

[3] Okoth, Assa; A History of Africa, v11, 1915 – 1995; East African educational publishers,( Nairobi, 2006) p. 157

[4] Paden, N. John; and Soja W. Edward; The African Experience (London; 1970) p. 403

[5] Mazrui, A. Ali; and Tidy Michael; Nationalism and new states in Africa, (Nairobi 1984) p.1

[6] Hagreaves, J.D; Decolonization in Africa, ,( London, 1988) p. 71

[7] Paden, N. John; and Soja W. Edward; The African Experience ( London; 1970) p. 406

[8] Emerson,Rupert, and Martin, Kilson: The Political Awakening of Africa, ( np, 1965) p.42

[9] Mazrui, and Michael; Nationalism and new states in Africa, (Nairobi 1984) p.11

[10]Sithole, Ndabaningi, African Nationalism; 2 ed, (Newyork, 1970).

[11] Ibid, p. 69

[12] Carter, M. Gwendolon and O’mesa, Patrick; African Independence, Indiana University press, U.S.A, 1986

[13] Ndabangi (1970) p. 69

[14] Ndabangi (1970) p. 69

[15] Ibid p. 69

[16] Boahen, A. ADU and Currey, James; General History of Africa. Heinemann Kenya, Nairobi, 1990 p.133

[17] Ibid

[18] Ochieng, W.R, A History of Kenya, Macmillan Publishers ltd, London 1985 p. 118

[19] A. Adu, Boahen & James Curren (Nairobi 1990) p. 140

[20] Munene, Macharia; The Truman administration and the Decolonization of Sub-Saharann Africa, Nairobi University Press, Nairobi, 1995 p. 29

[21] A. Adu, Boahen & James Curren (Nairobi 1990) p. 139

[22] Munene, Macharia; The Truman administration and the Decolonization of Sub-Saharann Africa, (Nairobi, 1995)p. 30

[23] A. Adu, Boahen & James Curren (Nairobi 1990) p. 139

[24] Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore (Newyork, 1972) p. 200

[25] Ali; and Michael; (Nairobi 1984) p.10

[26] Assa, (Nairobi, 19206) p.3

[27]. Ali; and Michael; (Nairobi 1984) p.10

[28] Ibid p.11

[29] Michael, Crowder (Newyork 1984) P.30

[30] Ibid p.32

[31] Ali; and Michael; (Nairobi 1984) p.10

[32] Michael (Newyork 1984) P.31

[33]Ibid, P.32

[34] Ali; and Michael; (Nairobi 1984) p.11

[35] Michael, (Newyork 1984) P.33

[36] Michael, (Newyork 1984) P.35

[37] Ibid p.37

[38] Ibid p.39

[39] Michael,(New York) pp,41-42

[40] Ibid p.37

[41] Ali, and Tidy (1984) p.12

[42] Ibid p.37

SOCIALIZATION IN KIKUYU CULTURE

FOREWORD

Having migrated to their current location about four centuries ago, the Kikuyu now make up Kenya’s largest ethnic group. The Kikuyu people spread rapidly throughout the Central Province and Kenya. The Kikuyu usually identify their land by the surrounding mountain ranges which they call Kirinyaga-the shining mountain. The Kikuyu are Bantu and actually came into Kenya during the Bantu migration. They include some families from all the surrounding people and can be identified with the Kamba, the Meru, the Embu and the Chuka. The Kikuyu tribe was originally founded by a man named Gikuyu. Kikuyu history says that the Kikuyu God, Ngai, took Gikuyu to the top of Kirinyaga and told him to stay and build his home there. He was also given his wife, Mumbi. Together, Mumbi and Gikuyu had nine daughters. There was actually a tenth daughter but the Kikuyu considered it to be bad luck to say the number ten. When counting they used to say “full nine” instead of ten. It was from the nine daughters that the nine (occasionally a tenth) Kikuyu clans -Achera, Agachiku, Airimu, Ambui, Angare, Anjiru, Angui, Aithaga, and Aitherandu- were formed. The Kikuyu rely heavily on agriculture. They grow bananas, sugarcane, arum lily, yams, beans, millet, maize, black beans and a variety of other vegetables. They also raise cattle, sheep, and goats. They use the hides from the cattle to make bedding, sandals, and carrying straps and they raise the goats and sheep to use for religious sacrifices and purification. In the Kikuyu culture boys and girls are raised very differently. The girls are raised to work in the farm and the boys usually work with the animals. The girls also have the responsibility of taking care of a baby brother or sister and also helping the mother out with household chores.In the Kikuyu culture family identity is carried on by naming the first boy after the father’s father and the second after the mother’s father. The same goes for the girls; the first is named after the father’s mother and the second after the mother’s mother. Following children are named after the brothers and sisters of the grandparents, starting with the oldest and working to the youngest. Along with the naming of the children was the belief that the deceased grandparent’s spirit, that the child was named after, would come in to the new child. This belief was lost with the increase in life-span because generally the grandparents are now still alive when the children are born. Though they are traditionally agricultural people and have a reputation as hard-working people, a lot of them are now involved in business. Most of the Kikuyu still live on small family plots but many of them have also seen the opportunities in business and have moved to cities and different areas to work. They have a desire for knowledge and it is believed that all children should receive a full education.




INTRODUCTION

The study of the Gikuyu system of education reveals how the character of individuals is formed within the family circle and then within the whole tribal organization through a course of initiation ceremonies. The process of character formation and socialization is based on the various age-groups or levels of development i.e. infancy, girl/boyhood and initiation (circumcision). Each step in the ladder is marked by a corresponding standard of manners of behavior

IINFANCY

The education of small children is entirely in the hands of the mother and nurse. It is carried on through the medium of lullabies. In these the whole history and tradition of the family and clan are embodied and by hearing these lullabies daily, it is easy for thee children to assimilate this early teaching without strain.

At the time when the child begins to learn how to speak, care is taken by the mother to teach the child correct manner of speech and to acquaint him with all important names in the family past and present. These are given in songs when he likes. If the mother notices that he does not like certain songs, she at once introduces others with different phrases and melody embodying the same teaching.

When the child is able to speak, he can answer many questions which are asked gently and naturally to test how much he has learnt. Such question as these might be asked: What is your name? Who is your father? What is his age-group? What is the name of your grandfather? What is the name of your grandmother? What are their age-groups? This type of question goes back for several generations, and children are able to answer freely without any effort or strain on their part. These questions are never asked seriously, they are always taken in the form of amusement or conversationally. In this way the history and traditions of the child’s family become a stimulating influence in his life and form a lifting background to his environment.

GIRL/BOYHOOD

When the child has grown beyond babyhood the father takes charge of the boy’s education, while the mother takes the whole responsibility of the girl’s education and a part of the boy’s education. After passing the stage of infancy the education of the child takes a different shape, the child is taught how to sit and walk properly to avoid having bow legs, for a straight figure is admired by the Gikuyu, especially amongst the warriors it is one of the qualities of handsomeness.

As soon as the child can walk the sphere of his education is extended. The lullabies and other songs are continued to soothe children, especially when they are in a bad mood; but this age is considered the best time to teach the children how to use their hands in the various spheres of tribal activities. At this juncture the parents take an almost equal responsibility, and a system of co-education is introduced in the form of children’s games.

The parents do not particularly choose the kind of games their children play; they are free to indulge in any games that appeal to them, providing of course that the game is not injurious to their health. The children do most things in imitation of their elders and illustrate in striking the theory that play is anticipatory of adult life. Their games are, in fact, nothing more or less than a rehearsal prior to the performance of the serious business of all the members of the Gikuyu tribe. The little boys indulge in fighting like big boys. Running and wrestling are very common, and the best performer is marked for leadership. They play with small wooden spears and shields made of banana tree bark, bows and arrows, sling stones, and acquire no less proficiency in hitting the mark. They play, too, the games of husbands and wives, and build models of houses and cattle-pens with the material lying nearest to their hands. The little girls plait baskets of grass and grind corn, like their mothers and make little pots of the local clay and cook imaginary dishes of the same material. The boys play the role of husbands and behave in the same way as they see their fathers do in their respective homesteads.

Of course, not all their games have this aspect of preparation for the serious business of life. Recreation is an essential part of adult activities and those of children.

The father has to teach his boy various things. As an agriculturalist he has to take him in the garden for practical training. He makes a digging-stick, moro, for his boy to play with while the father is doing the actual work of weeding or turning the soil. Through watching his father in these activities, the boy gradually learns how to handle his digging-stick, and thus becomes a practical agriculturist.

While this training is going on, special attention is paid to acquainting the child with the names of various plants and roots and their uses especially those which are used as antidotes for insect or snake-bites. If the father is a woodcarver, smith, hunter or beekeeper he will teach the boy by example in the same way. Through moving in the forests and jungles with his father the boy learns about numerous wild fruits and flowers, and comes to know those which are poisonous and those which are edible. Along with these special tasks goes a very important general training. The boy is taught family, clan and tribal lands and their boundaries are carefully pointed out to him.

Care is taken to teach the boy how to be good observer and to reckon things by observation without counting them as counting especially of sheep, goats, cattle or people is considered as one of the Gikuyu taboos, mogiro, and one which would bring bad luck to the people or animals counted. For example a man with a hundred head of cattle, sheep and goats trains his son to know them by their colors only or by their size and type of horns, while every one of them has a special name.

The mother also takes the same responsibility in teaching her daughter all things concerning the domestic duties of a wife in managing and harmonizing the affairs of a homestead. The girl’s training in agriculture is the same as that of the boy. The mother is in charge of the co-education of her children. In the evening she teaches both boy and the girl the laws and customs, especially those governing the moral code and general rules of etiquette in the community. The teaching is carried on in the form of folklore and tribal legends. At the same time the children are given mental exercises through amusing riddles and puzzles which are told only in the evenings after meals, or while food is being cooked.

There are children’s dances held occasionally at which praise songs are sung. Special care is devoted to physical development, and many of these dances are the means of providing healthy and bodily exercise. In his respect boys have more facility than the girls. For apart from these dances, the boys have their games of wrestling, running and jumping and spurring with sticks and shields, lifting weights and stones and club-throwing.

It can be said that through work and play both sexes get their physical training. The girls have their share in housework, nursing the babies, cutting and gathering firewood and fetching water. The boys are sent out to herd the sheep and goats and cattle. They help their fathers in stumping the gardens, cutting trees and building.

There is health teaching for both boys and girls; they learn that certain things are not safe and regard them as taboos. Children are trained not to go into house where there is small-pox, not to touch clothes of a leper, nor touch a dead animal, or the bones of a dead man. These and countless other prohibitions are part of the instruction in health and bodily hygiene.

In all tribal education the emphasis lies on a particular act of behavior in a concrete situation. While the emphasis lies in the sphere of behavior, it is none the less true that the growing child is acquiring a mass of knowledge all the time. The very freedom which marks the period or child-hood gives unrivalled opportunity for picking up all sorts of information about the environment. As he roams the country-side he learns to distinguish a great variety of birds, animals, insects, trees, grasses, fruits and flowers. His interests bring him in contact with these things, since they constitute the furnishings of his play activities. He does not observe or understand them as lessons in natural history, but knows their names and as much about their habits and life-history as he needs for his purpose

When the boy is with his father or the girl with her mother in the garden, as they constantly are, they learn about the birds they see, the birds that are harmful to the crops, how they can they can be dealt with, and what birds can be eaten. In the same way they learn the trees that are good for firewood or building, for supporting the yams or propping the bananas, those that resist white ants or make the best bee-hives, stools or grain mortars and pestles. But here again the knowledge is so practical, so much preconditioned by behavior, that it can be taught and is taught mainly by doing what they are told to do on particular occasions and by not being allowed to do or to touch certain things that are always within their experience.
It is with personal relations, rather than with natural phenomena, that the Gikuyu education is concerned right from the beginning. Growing boys and girls learn that they have one thing to learn which sums up all the others, and that is the manners and deportment proper to their station in the community. They see that their happiness in the homestead, their popularity with their playmates, their present comforts and their future prospects depend on knowing their place, giving respect and obedience where it is due. Presumption, conceit and disobedience to those above them are grave offences. The whole Gikuyu society is graded by age and the prestige which accompanies a status in age-grouping, and this is done in such a way that even small children are aware of it.

INITIATION

The biggest and most drastic step is circumcision, which admits a boy or girl into full membership of the community. This used to be done when the youth could be expected to prove himself as a warrior. The customary age was thus 18 or 20. But nowadays a boy goes through this ceremony between 12 and 16.

The education given at initiation does not concern only sex, but the youth is taught with equal vividness and dramatic power the great lesson of respect for elders, manners to superiors of different grades and how to help his country. The trials of initiation teach the youth how a man must bear pain, meet with misfortune and bear himself like a warrior. He is taught to think matters over carefully and not to act on the impulse of the moment. It is borne in on him that he must work hard in the garden so that he may get the wherewithal to marry. He is taught to obey parents and older people, to help men and women who are and enfeebled and destitute, and to obey the leader by the people. He learns in particular how to behave to certain people of his wife’s family; he must use a special salutation to his mother and sister-in-law.

Boys are taught to look forward to marriage as a duty to themselves to the clan and tribe. They have to provide for wife or wives and children by working hard and multiplying sheep, goats and cattle. The breeding of children and cattle, sheep and goats are regarded in the same moral scheme as natural activities to be encouraged for the public good.

At marriage the husband is taught his duties towards a wife; to treat her well, to establish good relation with his parents-in-law and to receive their blessing before he takes their daughter to his home.

The same parallelism of grade privileges and knowledge is seen in the training of girls. When a girl is ready to be circumcised she is taught manners such as how to behave when married. It is understood that she will be married and bring wealth to her family so that a poor brother can find the guarantee necessary for marriage. She will bear many children, bring honor to her family and to the tribe, and she will provide food for the poor relation. She is taught to be gentlewoman, not to raise her eyes or voice talking to men in public, not to bathe in the open, not to eat in the presence of men other than those of her own age or kinsfolk. This teaching is given by her mother and the older women who are in the women’s advisory council, ndundu ya atumia. The women of this rank deal with all matters concerning circumcision of girls, births and other religious duties.

The girl is taught to treat strangers with the proper mixture of courtesy and suspicion. Respect for her husband’s people is inculcated and obedience to him; she is warned against hasty and impetus behavior. She is taught her husband’s right in sexual matters and her rights over against his.

CONCLUSION

The Gikuyu socialization system is emphasized by the classification of age-groups. It starts from infancy through to girl/boyhood and culminates in initiation. Further instructions may be given at marriage. The parents take charge of the responsibility of educating their children all through their lives. In fact they maybe described as custodians of tradition representing the public teaching on life and duty.








REFERENCES
Kenyatta Jomo, Facing Mount Kenya, (6th Kenyan Edition), Heinemann Kenya
Ltd. Nairobi, 1989.
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