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.
www.africaguide.com
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
BEHAVIORAL LEARNING THEORIES
BEHAVIORAL LEARNING THEORIES
INTRODUCTION
According to behaviorist learning is defined as relatively permanent change in behavior brought about as a result of experience or practice. (Note an internal event displayed by overt behavior; contrasted with biological maturation or genetics as an explanation for relatively permanent change.) The term learning theory is often associated with the behavioral view. Researchers who affiliate with this position do not generally look with favor the term “Behavior potential” that is capable of performing but not for some reason including illness. The focus on behavioral approach is on how the environment impacts overt behavior. When writing instructional objectives Tunia (2005) provides an excellent overview of the behavior approach applied to learning. Behavior analysis is the term used to describe the scientific study of behavior and behavior modification is the term used to describe the application of behavior analysis concepts and principles for the systematic or programmatic changing of behavior.
General assumptions of behaviorist theories
Principles of learning apply equally to different behaviors and to different species of animal. (Equipotentiallity)
Learning process cab be studied most objectively when focus of study is on stimuli and response,
Internal cognitive processes are largely excluded from scientific study .
learning involves behavior change,
Organisms are born as blank slates.
Learning is largely the result of environmental events.
The most useful theories tend to be parsimonious ones.
Educational implications of Behavior
1. Emphasis on behavior.
Students should be encouraged to be active respondents. People learn to learn when they have change in behavior. Students learning must be evaluated because measurable behavior change can confirm that learning has taken place.
2. Drill and practice.
Repetition of stimulus and response habits strengthens the learning process.
3. Breaking habits
Teaching and learning are seen as stimulus and response, and one way to break a response-stimulus habit is to continue to present the stimulus until the individual is too tired to respond in the habitual way or the exhaustion method. Also the stimuli can be presented faintly so that the individual learns over time to respond in the habitual manner or the threshold method. Lastly the incompatible stimulus method would replace the habit with another where eventually the individual adopts the new behavior to respond to the stimulus.
4. Rewards
Many people have emphasized the importance of rewards for motivation and reinforcement for learning to take place effectively.
Types of behavioral learning theories
1. Contiguous conditioning
It was formulated by the psychologists Guthrie who said that any stimulus and response connected or paired in time and/or space will tend to be associated ( a baseball player wearing a certain pair of socks on the day he hits three home runs; a student making good grade after trying several study techniques) He termed this as associative learning. The basic concept in this type of conditioning is connectionism which is linking of stimulus or associative strength.
He also believed that rewards are not necessary for learning to take place; the key mechanism is contiguity (close pairing in time) between stimuli and response. It does not matter whether the response is satisfying or not just a simple pairing without consequences could lead to learning.
Terminology
Stimulus- Environmental event
Response- Action/behavior/overt behavior
2. Classical (respondent) conditioning
It was advanced by Ivan Pavlov. Association of stimuli can antecedent stimulus will reflexively elicit an innate emotional or psychological response; another stimulus will elicit an orienting response. It involves presenting an unconditioned stimulus to elicit unconditioned response. This type of conditioning was the first type of learning to be discovered and studied within the behaviorist tradition. Pavlov gave a very good example of a dog that salivates after seeing an attendant with food and when it is done repeatedly it will salivate only when it sees the attendant even if without food.
Terminology
Extinction: the disappearance of a conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.Spontaneous Recovery: the reappearance of a conditioned response after extinction has occurred.Stimulus Generalization: when individuals respond to other stimuli in the same way that they respond to conditioned stimuli.Stimulus Discrimination: the ability to differentiate between to similar stimulus and respond accordingly.Higher-Order Conditioning: where a conditioned stimulus is paired with another neutral stimulus, which then takes on the same response.Sensory Preconditioning: where a response occurs to a stimulus due to an unrelated association to another stimulus
3. Operant (instrumental) conditioning
It was advanced by B.F Skinner. Learning is about increased probability on behavior based on reinforcements which has taken place in the past so that the antecedent of the new behavior includes the consequences of the previous behavior.
Observational (social) learning, learning through observing and modeling is sometimes considered a behavioral theory. According to this type of conditioning there are four types of reinforcements
negative reinforcements
positive reinforcements
punishments
extinction
Terminology
Free Operant Level (Baseline): the frequency of an operant in the absence of reinforcement. Terminal Behavior: the form and frequency of a desired response at the end of a planned reinforcement program.Extinction: when a response in no longer followed by a rein forcer, and it eventually returns to its baseline rate.Superstitious Behavior: the behavior that occurs in response to randomly reinforced behavior.Shaping: the teaching of a behavior when the free operant level for that behavior is very low or when the desired terminal behavior is different in form from any responses that the organism exhibits.Chaining: the process of teaching a chain of responses by first reinforcing just one response, then reinforcing two responses in a row, then reinforcing a sequence of three.
. History of theorists
Ivan Pavlov
Russian Physiologist
Research throughout 1890's and early 1900's included the physiology of conditioning reflexes
His ideas played a large role in the behaviorist theory of psychology, introduced by John Watson around 1913.
Edward Thorndike
American Psychologist
Learning theory applied to animals and human beings relating to success, pleasure, and satisfaction.
Law of effect: Responses to a situation that are followed by satisfaction are strengthened; responses that are followed by discomfort are weakened.
Law of exercise: Stimulus-response connections
Invented the puzzle box to investigate how animals such as cats and dogs solve problems.
John B. Watson
American Psychology
Law of frequency: The more frequently a stimulus and response occur in association with each other, the stronger that S-R habit will become.
Law of recency: The response that has most recently occurred after a particular stimulus is the response most likely to be associated with that stimulus.
Edwin R. Guthrie
Law of contiguity: A stimulus that is followed by a particular response will, upon its recurrence, tend to be followed by the same response again. This S-R connection gains its full strength on one trial.
Guthrie had the notion of one-trial learning - that an S-R connection is fully formed on one pairing.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner
American Psychologist
Introduced the theory of operant conditioning: a behavior followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that behavior occurring in the future.
Followed in the footsteps of Pavlov and Watson.
Conclusion
The behaviorist theory of instruction and learning is based solely on a change in behavior. Behaviorists do not measure understanding because they do not feel that mental capacity can be measured. They agree that behavior can be learned through a series of stimuli and responses. The Classical Conditioning Theorists lean towards a stimulus first, followed by a response. This pattern is repeated as often as necessary to achieve the desired behavior change. The Operant Conditioning Theorists believe that a desired behavior can be achieved by a use of rein forcers. There are different types of rein forcers and schedules of reinforcement, which can affect a change in behavior.
I believe that the Operant Conditioning theory is more plausible from an instructional standpoint. The Classical Conditioning theory is, in my opinion, too basic. It can be easily shown how a program of rein forcers can, in fact, change behavior. Parents will often use these techniques in teaching their children how to behave. We can also observe the reinforcing motivation of classroom rewards and grades.
Reference:
1. Bugelski B.R (1964) The psychology of learning applied to teaching. Bobs Merric Association
2. Theodore L.H & Wilson E.S (1960) The learning process. Oxford University Press.
3. Houston J.P (1954) Fundamentals of learning. Academic press.
4. Cronbach L.J (1954) Educational Psychology. 3rd Edition Harcot Brace.
INTRODUCTION
According to behaviorist learning is defined as relatively permanent change in behavior brought about as a result of experience or practice. (Note an internal event displayed by overt behavior; contrasted with biological maturation or genetics as an explanation for relatively permanent change.) The term learning theory is often associated with the behavioral view. Researchers who affiliate with this position do not generally look with favor the term “Behavior potential” that is capable of performing but not for some reason including illness. The focus on behavioral approach is on how the environment impacts overt behavior. When writing instructional objectives Tunia (2005) provides an excellent overview of the behavior approach applied to learning. Behavior analysis is the term used to describe the scientific study of behavior and behavior modification is the term used to describe the application of behavior analysis concepts and principles for the systematic or programmatic changing of behavior.
General assumptions of behaviorist theories
Principles of learning apply equally to different behaviors and to different species of animal. (Equipotentiallity)
Learning process cab be studied most objectively when focus of study is on stimuli and response,
Internal cognitive processes are largely excluded from scientific study .
learning involves behavior change,
Organisms are born as blank slates.
Learning is largely the result of environmental events.
The most useful theories tend to be parsimonious ones.
Educational implications of Behavior
1. Emphasis on behavior.
Students should be encouraged to be active respondents. People learn to learn when they have change in behavior. Students learning must be evaluated because measurable behavior change can confirm that learning has taken place.
2. Drill and practice.
Repetition of stimulus and response habits strengthens the learning process.
3. Breaking habits
Teaching and learning are seen as stimulus and response, and one way to break a response-stimulus habit is to continue to present the stimulus until the individual is too tired to respond in the habitual way or the exhaustion method. Also the stimuli can be presented faintly so that the individual learns over time to respond in the habitual manner or the threshold method. Lastly the incompatible stimulus method would replace the habit with another where eventually the individual adopts the new behavior to respond to the stimulus.
4. Rewards
Many people have emphasized the importance of rewards for motivation and reinforcement for learning to take place effectively.
Types of behavioral learning theories
1. Contiguous conditioning
It was formulated by the psychologists Guthrie who said that any stimulus and response connected or paired in time and/or space will tend to be associated ( a baseball player wearing a certain pair of socks on the day he hits three home runs; a student making good grade after trying several study techniques) He termed this as associative learning. The basic concept in this type of conditioning is connectionism which is linking of stimulus or associative strength.
He also believed that rewards are not necessary for learning to take place; the key mechanism is contiguity (close pairing in time) between stimuli and response. It does not matter whether the response is satisfying or not just a simple pairing without consequences could lead to learning.
Terminology
Stimulus- Environmental event
Response- Action/behavior/overt behavior
2. Classical (respondent) conditioning
It was advanced by Ivan Pavlov. Association of stimuli can antecedent stimulus will reflexively elicit an innate emotional or psychological response; another stimulus will elicit an orienting response. It involves presenting an unconditioned stimulus to elicit unconditioned response. This type of conditioning was the first type of learning to be discovered and studied within the behaviorist tradition. Pavlov gave a very good example of a dog that salivates after seeing an attendant with food and when it is done repeatedly it will salivate only when it sees the attendant even if without food.
Terminology
Extinction: the disappearance of a conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.Spontaneous Recovery: the reappearance of a conditioned response after extinction has occurred.Stimulus Generalization: when individuals respond to other stimuli in the same way that they respond to conditioned stimuli.Stimulus Discrimination: the ability to differentiate between to similar stimulus and respond accordingly.Higher-Order Conditioning: where a conditioned stimulus is paired with another neutral stimulus, which then takes on the same response.Sensory Preconditioning: where a response occurs to a stimulus due to an unrelated association to another stimulus
3. Operant (instrumental) conditioning
It was advanced by B.F Skinner. Learning is about increased probability on behavior based on reinforcements which has taken place in the past so that the antecedent of the new behavior includes the consequences of the previous behavior.
Observational (social) learning, learning through observing and modeling is sometimes considered a behavioral theory. According to this type of conditioning there are four types of reinforcements
negative reinforcements
positive reinforcements
punishments
extinction
Terminology
Free Operant Level (Baseline): the frequency of an operant in the absence of reinforcement. Terminal Behavior: the form and frequency of a desired response at the end of a planned reinforcement program.Extinction: when a response in no longer followed by a rein forcer, and it eventually returns to its baseline rate.Superstitious Behavior: the behavior that occurs in response to randomly reinforced behavior.Shaping: the teaching of a behavior when the free operant level for that behavior is very low or when the desired terminal behavior is different in form from any responses that the organism exhibits.Chaining: the process of teaching a chain of responses by first reinforcing just one response, then reinforcing two responses in a row, then reinforcing a sequence of three.
. History of theorists
Ivan Pavlov
Russian Physiologist
Research throughout 1890's and early 1900's included the physiology of conditioning reflexes
His ideas played a large role in the behaviorist theory of psychology, introduced by John Watson around 1913.
Edward Thorndike
American Psychologist
Learning theory applied to animals and human beings relating to success, pleasure, and satisfaction.
Law of effect: Responses to a situation that are followed by satisfaction are strengthened; responses that are followed by discomfort are weakened.
Law of exercise: Stimulus-response connections
Invented the puzzle box to investigate how animals such as cats and dogs solve problems.
John B. Watson
American Psychology
Law of frequency: The more frequently a stimulus and response occur in association with each other, the stronger that S-R habit will become.
Law of recency: The response that has most recently occurred after a particular stimulus is the response most likely to be associated with that stimulus.
Edwin R. Guthrie
Law of contiguity: A stimulus that is followed by a particular response will, upon its recurrence, tend to be followed by the same response again. This S-R connection gains its full strength on one trial.
Guthrie had the notion of one-trial learning - that an S-R connection is fully formed on one pairing.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner
American Psychologist
Introduced the theory of operant conditioning: a behavior followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that behavior occurring in the future.
Followed in the footsteps of Pavlov and Watson.
Conclusion
The behaviorist theory of instruction and learning is based solely on a change in behavior. Behaviorists do not measure understanding because they do not feel that mental capacity can be measured. They agree that behavior can be learned through a series of stimuli and responses. The Classical Conditioning Theorists lean towards a stimulus first, followed by a response. This pattern is repeated as often as necessary to achieve the desired behavior change. The Operant Conditioning Theorists believe that a desired behavior can be achieved by a use of rein forcers. There are different types of rein forcers and schedules of reinforcement, which can affect a change in behavior.
I believe that the Operant Conditioning theory is more plausible from an instructional standpoint. The Classical Conditioning theory is, in my opinion, too basic. It can be easily shown how a program of rein forcers can, in fact, change behavior. Parents will often use these techniques in teaching their children how to behave. We can also observe the reinforcing motivation of classroom rewards and grades.
Reference:
1. Bugelski B.R (1964) The psychology of learning applied to teaching. Bobs Merric Association
2. Theodore L.H & Wilson E.S (1960) The learning process. Oxford University Press.
3. Houston J.P (1954) Fundamentals of learning. Academic press.
4. Cronbach L.J (1954) Educational Psychology. 3rd Edition Harcot Brace.
Monday, December 10, 2007
WRITTEN SOURCES OF AFRICAN HERITAGE
INTRODUCTION.
This is the presentation of the findings of what scholars have written about history. Although the Europeans are looking down upon Africans of being backward it is not the reality of the matter it is just speculations and they are trying to consolidate everything to their own hands as if they are the only ones who are superior. But all of the resources of the Africans they have taken them to their museums which is not good, because we the Africans were among the first people to undergore civilization before they were civilized.
The notion of written source is so broad as to be ambiguous if we take written to mean all that transmits the voice and sound. The written evidence includes inscriptions carved on stone, gramophone records, and coins in short any message that preserves language and thoughts regardless of its medium.
The common sources of history of to-day are the written records of the past. These sort of records stretch as far as the period of the Greeks and Romans and became more popular with the European penetration of Africa.
General problems
No comprehensive study study of the written sources of African history has so far been made because of chronological or regional specialization; the rare studies made have always been associated with compartmentalized fields of scholarly research.
Black Africa made a later appearance both in written history and as a field of modern research.
ETHNO-CULTURAL AREAS AND TYPES OF SOURCES
We have to consider Africa’s articulation into ethno cultural zones characterized by a variety of forces and above and beyond historical periods and spatial difference the actual neology of the source available
Ethno-cultural areas
In reality without denying the importance of such specific qualities a more searching historical examination shows lines of cleavage that are more complex and less sharp.
An objective historian has no right to make value judgments on the basis of his documentary material. But later has he the right to neglect what it has to offer on the grounds that it might be possibly be misleading.
While the general history covering the entire historical era and using the whole mass available documentation may accord as much importance to the Zaire basin as to the Niger basin or o Egypt, a study confined to pre-fifteen century written sources cannot.
To make a detailed inventory therefore we must review our texts by period and by region but we must recognize at the outset that through the regions and to a lesser degree through the historical periods what we have comes out to sources in a few languages on four of certain limited types and that they do not always originate in the area they tent of and not always contemporary with what they describe.
Typology of written sources
a) Languages in which documents have come down have come down to us are many but they do not all have the same importance. The African languages most used the ones conveying the greatest mass of information is: ancient Egyptian, Berber.Ethiopian languages. The most prolific languages are those of non-African origin.Greek.Latin, Arabic.
Chronologically our first written sources are hieratis Egyptian papyrs dating from the new Kingdom but giving texts that were probably first written as far back as the early middle Kingdom(beginning of the second millennium)in particular the papyrus known as instruction for king Merikers.
b) Generally, the material we have can be divided into narrative sources and achieved sources; the other part of the ordinary course of human existence. For Africa-excepting Egypt but including the maghrib-written documentary materials is almost entirely represented by narrative sources until the 12th century.
From the 12th century the archival document makes it’s appearance-rarely, however in the Maghrib.In Egypt archival documents become more plentiful under the Arybida and the Mantus 12th -15th centuries while the manuscripts of Ethiopian monasteries contain official documents by way of appendices. Other types can be enumerated as follows;
Narrative Sources
Ø Chronicles and annals
Ø Geographical works, accounts of travels, works by naturalists.
Ø Legal works religious works
Ø Literary works in the strict sense.
Archival Sources
Ø Private documents; family letters, business correspondence e.t.c
Ø Official documents enameting from the state or representatives of the state official correspondence, decrees, and letter patent, legislative and fiscal texts, juridico-religious documents
HISTORIOGRAPHY OF CLASSICAL AUTHORS
The writing of history (or historiography) by Greek authors such Herodotus and Pliny and traveler’s records from the Mediterranean world are useful to the African historian. Such writers and travelers described in details their journeys and adventures. They throw light on trade. The periplus of the Erythrean Sea has been useful in the reconstruction of the items of trade and the participants in the Indian and Red seas.
The second major sources of African history are deprived from Arab authors. The Arab authors appear to have been better informed than their classical predecessors. The introduction and the wide use of the Camel across the Sahara desert had not only facilitated the establishment of regular commerce but actually encouraged the creation of urban settlement and permanent trade routes between the North Africa and the Western Sudan. During the same period the Arab merchants had also founded colonial settlement along the coast of East Africa. The following are some of the Arab whose records are used in the writing of the African history.
El Bakri wrote a book around AD 1062. He described the wealth and trade of the kingdom of Ghana from accounts provided by the Spanish merchants. El Bakri lived in Spain.
El Idris wrote an account of East Africa about AD1154 in which he showed how trade and prosperity had increased. The coastal people were then doing business with people of Northern China. Some of the coastal traders visited Indonesia and Malaysia and the coast of India.
El Masudi wrote the meadows of Gold and views of Genres in about AD912. He described the people of coastal Africa.
During the reign of Mansa Musa, the famous king of Mali, a lamous Arab writer and historian called Ibn Batuta visited and wrote account of what he saw.
Ibni Khaldan has described as “the Herodotus of Africa” Herodotus of Africa Herodotus was a Greek historian. He was the first historian and is therefore regarded as ”the father of history”. Sheldon lived in the town of Tunnis. He was concerned with relationship between Africans and their neighbors in the Mediterranean world.
TARIKHS AND CHRONICLES
A Tarikh consists of a complete written text of oral traditions. A chronicle consists of direct written records of traditions with previously were preserved orally.Tarikhs and chronicles primarily concentrate on the role of rules.
RECORDS FROM EUROPEANS TRADES AND MISSIONARIES.
Between 1450 and 1800 many writings about the Guinea Cost began to appear. Some of the writings are those by da cada mosto,usodimara. Antorian da Nali and Diogo Cudomosto who left the account of their visits in the voyage of cudomosto.
The notable records on the Zambezi valley included the works of Manuel de Faira de Souza called the Kingdom of the Mwanamutapa and Antorio Suarez’s the converson of the Mwanamutupa.Father pinto wrote the kingdom of Kazembe.
The Portuguese missionaries visited Ethiopia between 1520-1527.Father Alvarez gives an account of the dominions rules by a legendary Christian ruler called Prester John. Mark Barey a witness of the Galla invasion wrote about the Galla towards the end of 19 century. The Turkish traveler called E.Chelebi wrote a general history of North East Africa during the same time. The Yemen Ambassador al-Khayuni al-Kawkabuni also left a rich account of his mission in 1647 during the reign of Emperor Fasiladus. His reign is not in Ethiopia Chronicles.
AFRICA IN THE 19TH CENTURY
The 19th century saw an effective and scientific exploration of Africa by the Europeans. It was also a period when attempts were made to lay the foundations for a natural appraisal of the historical achievements of Africa societies. The period witnessed the influx of missionaries explores and traders whose interests moved them into the interior.
Some of the leading 19th century literature that has served historians well include.T.E Bourdichs mission from cape coast to Ashante(1889)and Joseph Dupus’Journal of a residence in ashante(1824).Richard Burton wrote mission to Ghana, King of Dahomey, where he described Africana as inferior. After hid travel in the period 1821-1870
AFRICA IN THE 20TH CENTURY.
The first half of the century saw a rigorous examination and analysis of primary sources in the reconstruction of African history. However,the racist bias in the interpretation of African history persisted. Anthropologists like C.G.
Seligman claimed in his book Races of Africa published in 1930 that the civilizations of Africa were not indigenous because it was the work of the Hamites. He regarded Negroes and Bushmen as inferior and concluded that any advances in civilization which they may have made was due to Hamatic influence thus theory of African history was developed from earlier writings such as a history of colonization of African Races (1899) by Sir Harry Johnston and Maurice Delafosses’ work. Then Hamatic influence in Africa is now regarded as a myth.
Throughout the colonial period advancement was made in Africa historiography. Good local histories were written like that of A. Kagwa of Buganda. Finally some of the colonial administrations wrote less based works about the people they administer.
CONCLUSION
It would be wrong to think that the African continent is in state of hopeless as regards pre-fifteenth century written sources, but it is true that on the whole it is less well supplied than Europe or Asia. Nevertheless while a great part of the continent is totally devoid of such sources, for the remaining part of historical knowledge is possible and in the case of Egypt is based on documentation that is exceptionally rich. This means that failing the discovery of new material which seems improbable a meticulous and judicious exploitation of these texts can steal contribute a great deal to our knowledge.
Finally while our sources were written in framework of universal cultures with focal points outside Africa-classical and Islamic cultures they have the advantage that they are most of them common and can therefore be read in an African context, though we have to be careful when we come up against ideological presuppositions. This is particularly true of Arabic sources which still form the main basis of our knowledge.
REFERENCE:
Ogutu Mathias,A. (1991) an Introduction to African History. Nairobi. Nairobi University Press.
Ki- Zerbo, J (1981) History of Africa. 1: Methodology and African Pre-history. Heinemann. Califonia.UNESCO.
This is the presentation of the findings of what scholars have written about history. Although the Europeans are looking down upon Africans of being backward it is not the reality of the matter it is just speculations and they are trying to consolidate everything to their own hands as if they are the only ones who are superior. But all of the resources of the Africans they have taken them to their museums which is not good, because we the Africans were among the first people to undergore civilization before they were civilized.
The notion of written source is so broad as to be ambiguous if we take written to mean all that transmits the voice and sound. The written evidence includes inscriptions carved on stone, gramophone records, and coins in short any message that preserves language and thoughts regardless of its medium.
The common sources of history of to-day are the written records of the past. These sort of records stretch as far as the period of the Greeks and Romans and became more popular with the European penetration of Africa.
General problems
No comprehensive study study of the written sources of African history has so far been made because of chronological or regional specialization; the rare studies made have always been associated with compartmentalized fields of scholarly research.
Black Africa made a later appearance both in written history and as a field of modern research.
ETHNO-CULTURAL AREAS AND TYPES OF SOURCES
We have to consider Africa’s articulation into ethno cultural zones characterized by a variety of forces and above and beyond historical periods and spatial difference the actual neology of the source available
Ethno-cultural areas
In reality without denying the importance of such specific qualities a more searching historical examination shows lines of cleavage that are more complex and less sharp.
An objective historian has no right to make value judgments on the basis of his documentary material. But later has he the right to neglect what it has to offer on the grounds that it might be possibly be misleading.
While the general history covering the entire historical era and using the whole mass available documentation may accord as much importance to the Zaire basin as to the Niger basin or o Egypt, a study confined to pre-fifteen century written sources cannot.
To make a detailed inventory therefore we must review our texts by period and by region but we must recognize at the outset that through the regions and to a lesser degree through the historical periods what we have comes out to sources in a few languages on four of certain limited types and that they do not always originate in the area they tent of and not always contemporary with what they describe.
Typology of written sources
a) Languages in which documents have come down have come down to us are many but they do not all have the same importance. The African languages most used the ones conveying the greatest mass of information is: ancient Egyptian, Berber.Ethiopian languages. The most prolific languages are those of non-African origin.Greek.Latin, Arabic.
Chronologically our first written sources are hieratis Egyptian papyrs dating from the new Kingdom but giving texts that were probably first written as far back as the early middle Kingdom(beginning of the second millennium)in particular the papyrus known as instruction for king Merikers.
b) Generally, the material we have can be divided into narrative sources and achieved sources; the other part of the ordinary course of human existence. For Africa-excepting Egypt but including the maghrib-written documentary materials is almost entirely represented by narrative sources until the 12th century.
From the 12th century the archival document makes it’s appearance-rarely, however in the Maghrib.In Egypt archival documents become more plentiful under the Arybida and the Mantus 12th -15th centuries while the manuscripts of Ethiopian monasteries contain official documents by way of appendices. Other types can be enumerated as follows;
Narrative Sources
Ø Chronicles and annals
Ø Geographical works, accounts of travels, works by naturalists.
Ø Legal works religious works
Ø Literary works in the strict sense.
Archival Sources
Ø Private documents; family letters, business correspondence e.t.c
Ø Official documents enameting from the state or representatives of the state official correspondence, decrees, and letter patent, legislative and fiscal texts, juridico-religious documents
HISTORIOGRAPHY OF CLASSICAL AUTHORS
The writing of history (or historiography) by Greek authors such Herodotus and Pliny and traveler’s records from the Mediterranean world are useful to the African historian. Such writers and travelers described in details their journeys and adventures. They throw light on trade. The periplus of the Erythrean Sea has been useful in the reconstruction of the items of trade and the participants in the Indian and Red seas.
The second major sources of African history are deprived from Arab authors. The Arab authors appear to have been better informed than their classical predecessors. The introduction and the wide use of the Camel across the Sahara desert had not only facilitated the establishment of regular commerce but actually encouraged the creation of urban settlement and permanent trade routes between the North Africa and the Western Sudan. During the same period the Arab merchants had also founded colonial settlement along the coast of East Africa. The following are some of the Arab whose records are used in the writing of the African history.
El Bakri wrote a book around AD 1062. He described the wealth and trade of the kingdom of Ghana from accounts provided by the Spanish merchants. El Bakri lived in Spain.
El Idris wrote an account of East Africa about AD1154 in which he showed how trade and prosperity had increased. The coastal people were then doing business with people of Northern China. Some of the coastal traders visited Indonesia and Malaysia and the coast of India.
El Masudi wrote the meadows of Gold and views of Genres in about AD912. He described the people of coastal Africa.
During the reign of Mansa Musa, the famous king of Mali, a lamous Arab writer and historian called Ibn Batuta visited and wrote account of what he saw.
Ibni Khaldan has described as “the Herodotus of Africa” Herodotus of Africa Herodotus was a Greek historian. He was the first historian and is therefore regarded as ”the father of history”. Sheldon lived in the town of Tunnis. He was concerned with relationship between Africans and their neighbors in the Mediterranean world.
TARIKHS AND CHRONICLES
A Tarikh consists of a complete written text of oral traditions. A chronicle consists of direct written records of traditions with previously were preserved orally.Tarikhs and chronicles primarily concentrate on the role of rules.
RECORDS FROM EUROPEANS TRADES AND MISSIONARIES.
Between 1450 and 1800 many writings about the Guinea Cost began to appear. Some of the writings are those by da cada mosto,usodimara. Antorian da Nali and Diogo Cudomosto who left the account of their visits in the voyage of cudomosto.
The notable records on the Zambezi valley included the works of Manuel de Faira de Souza called the Kingdom of the Mwanamutapa and Antorio Suarez’s the converson of the Mwanamutupa.Father pinto wrote the kingdom of Kazembe.
The Portuguese missionaries visited Ethiopia between 1520-1527.Father Alvarez gives an account of the dominions rules by a legendary Christian ruler called Prester John. Mark Barey a witness of the Galla invasion wrote about the Galla towards the end of 19 century. The Turkish traveler called E.Chelebi wrote a general history of North East Africa during the same time. The Yemen Ambassador al-Khayuni al-Kawkabuni also left a rich account of his mission in 1647 during the reign of Emperor Fasiladus. His reign is not in Ethiopia Chronicles.
AFRICA IN THE 19TH CENTURY
The 19th century saw an effective and scientific exploration of Africa by the Europeans. It was also a period when attempts were made to lay the foundations for a natural appraisal of the historical achievements of Africa societies. The period witnessed the influx of missionaries explores and traders whose interests moved them into the interior.
Some of the leading 19th century literature that has served historians well include.T.E Bourdichs mission from cape coast to Ashante(1889)and Joseph Dupus’Journal of a residence in ashante(1824).Richard Burton wrote mission to Ghana, King of Dahomey, where he described Africana as inferior. After hid travel in the period 1821-1870
AFRICA IN THE 20TH CENTURY.
The first half of the century saw a rigorous examination and analysis of primary sources in the reconstruction of African history. However,the racist bias in the interpretation of African history persisted. Anthropologists like C.G.
Seligman claimed in his book Races of Africa published in 1930 that the civilizations of Africa were not indigenous because it was the work of the Hamites. He regarded Negroes and Bushmen as inferior and concluded that any advances in civilization which they may have made was due to Hamatic influence thus theory of African history was developed from earlier writings such as a history of colonization of African Races (1899) by Sir Harry Johnston and Maurice Delafosses’ work. Then Hamatic influence in Africa is now regarded as a myth.
Throughout the colonial period advancement was made in Africa historiography. Good local histories were written like that of A. Kagwa of Buganda. Finally some of the colonial administrations wrote less based works about the people they administer.
CONCLUSION
It would be wrong to think that the African continent is in state of hopeless as regards pre-fifteenth century written sources, but it is true that on the whole it is less well supplied than Europe or Asia. Nevertheless while a great part of the continent is totally devoid of such sources, for the remaining part of historical knowledge is possible and in the case of Egypt is based on documentation that is exceptionally rich. This means that failing the discovery of new material which seems improbable a meticulous and judicious exploitation of these texts can steal contribute a great deal to our knowledge.
Finally while our sources were written in framework of universal cultures with focal points outside Africa-classical and Islamic cultures they have the advantage that they are most of them common and can therefore be read in an African context, though we have to be careful when we come up against ideological presuppositions. This is particularly true of Arabic sources which still form the main basis of our knowledge.
REFERENCE:
Ogutu Mathias,A. (1991) an Introduction to African History. Nairobi. Nairobi University Press.
Ki- Zerbo, J (1981) History of Africa. 1: Methodology and African Pre-history. Heinemann. Califonia.UNESCO.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT OF WESTERN BANTU
INTRODUCTION.
The following is the brief introduction of the Bantu people who form the majority of African people. The information provided is the writing of scholars because there is no clear evidence given about the existence of man in Africa. It is just a speculation of writers who believe in evolution and yet God gives a clear definition and creation of man in the garden of Eden as recorded in his Holy Book the Bible. It is the only reliable written record of the history of mankind on earth. Anything outside that it is only speculation which is not yet approved.
Bantu are supposedly physically ugly and “inferior” representing “ the pygmy- prognathous which formed the first stratum of the human population in nearly all Negroe Africa. Being an underdeveloped type of anthropoid they are considered to have made little progress from the first homosapiens.
Bantu is a mixed language so to speak, descended of a Hamatic father and a Negroe mother.
ORIGIN
Beginning in the third millennium B.C from a homeland in Cameroon, Bantu peoples spread east and south into the rain forest region of Equatorial Africa. Then between 1000 and 100 B.C Bantu communities began to spread beyond the rain forest into the savanna country all around the south and east sides of the forest. Finally between 100 B.C and 500 A.D a further large expansion spread Bantu peoples across the Eastern Africa and Southern Africa.
Any history of Bantu unit is an integral part of the greater Bantu history. The implication of this is that the origin of the Bantu speaking peoples can be located through the study of any single Bantu group as long as it is possible to trace the origin of such group back into the remote past of African history. In doing so it is important to establish such group’s geographical location, the time frame and the environment in which they lived. In the light of this study the geographical location of the pro-bantu group lay between the 2nd cataract of the river Nile and the Gezira region, including Ethiopia and the land between river Atbara and Blue Nile.
BANTU EXPANSION
The Bantu expansion was a millenia long series of physical migrations, a diffusion of language and knowledge out into and in from neighboring populations, and a creation of new societal groups involving inter-marriage among communities and small groups moving tocommunities and small groups moving to new areas. Bantu-speakers developed novel methods of agriculture and metalworking which allowed people to colonize new areas with widely varying ecologies in greater densities than hunting and foraging permitted. Meanwhile in Eastern and Southern Africa Bantu-speakers adopted livestock husbandry from other peoples they encountered, and in turn passed it to hunter-foragers, so that herding reached the far south several centuries before Bantu-speaking migrants did. Archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence all support the idea that the Bantu expansion was one of the most significant human migrations and cultural transformations within the past few thousand years.
It is unclear when exactly the spread of Bantu-speakers began from their core area as hypothesized ca. 5000 years ago. By 3500 years ago (1500 B.C.) in the west, Bantu-speaking communities had reached the great Central African rainforest, and by 2500 year ago (500 B.C.) pioneering groups had emerged into the savannahs to the south, in what are now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Zambia. Another stream of migration, moving east, by 3000 years ago (1000 B.C.) was creating a major new population center near the Great Lakes of East Africa, where a rich environment supported a dense population. Movements by small groups to the southeast from the Great Lakes region were more rapid, with initial settlements widely dispersed near the coast and near rivers, due to comparatively harsh farming conditions in areas further from water. Pioneering groups had reached modern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa by 300 A.D. along the coast, and the modern Northern Province (formerly called the Transvaal) by 500 A.D
Between the 13th and 15th centuries relatively powerful Bantu-speaking states on a scale larger than local chiefdoms began to emerge, in the Great Lakes region, in the savannah south of the Central African rainforest, and on the Zambezi river where the Monomatapa kings built the famous Great Zimbabwe complex. Such processes of state-formation occurred with increasing frequency from the 16th century onward. They were probably due to denser population, which led to more specialized divisions of labor, including military power, while making out migration more difficult, to increased trade among African communities and with European, Swahili and Arab traders on the coasts, to technological developments in economic activity, and to new techniques in the political-spiritual ritualization of royalty as the source of national strength and health.
REASONS FOR MIGRATION FROM THEIR ORIGINAL HOMELAND
a) Growing population and need for more space.
b) Need for more land for cultivation.
c) Search for additional pastures.
d) Internal quarrels arising especially from population pressure.
e) Attacks from neighbobouring communities
f) Prevalence of diseases
g) Search for adventure
EVOLUTION OF THE WESTERN KENYA BANTU.
The Bantu of western Kenya comprise the Abaluyia, abgagusii and abakuria. Bantu presence in western Kenya stretches back to the time of earl Iron Age.
The period between 1500 and 1850 saw the migration of many Bantu clans and families from eastern Uganda into western Kenya and the emergence of the present day Abaluyia, Abagusii, and Abakuria communities. Indeed according to G.S Were the Abaluyia community did emerge as a cultural community during this period. The formation of the abaluyia entailed the fusion of the pre-1500 inhabitants of western province with those Bantu groups that arrived in the region in the 16th century and 18th centuries. The records of most of the Bantu immigration have been lost in the mist of time while only a few dominant clans still retain their emigrational traditions.
While the Bantu who lived to the north of Winam Gulf evolved into a single community (the Abaluyia) the Bantu to the south of Winam Gulf evolved into three distinct societies the Abagusii, Abakuria and Abasuba. This development attributed to the expansion of the Kenya luo, who lodged a linguistic and cultural wedge between the Abagusii and Abakuria and confined the Basuba to Rusinga and Ngodhe Islands at the entrance of Winam Gulf.
The Abagusii in particular, originally migrated into Nyanza from a homeland they identify as “Misri”(to the North of Mt. Elgon) at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Originally a cattle keeping community, Gusii economic and social institutions underwent fundamental transformation in the period between 1520 and 1755 as they established themselves in the lake region. There first settlement in Nyanza was made at Yimbo at the head of Goye Bay, but after prolonged cattle rustling conflict between them and the Luo the Abagusii eventually migrated to Kano plains where they settled between 1620 and 1755. It was this period that the Abagusii developed most of their social institutions such as sectional totems and clan sub- national structures. It was also in the lake region that the Abagusii to have acquired and perfected skills of iron technology with better iron weapons, the Abagusii were able to expand at the expense of the Kalenjins, Sirikwa, Dorobo, and Maasai into areas of present day Kericho and Gusii highlands between 1755 and 1850. This expansion into the highlands from the lowland plains around Lake Victoria necessitated a change intheir economy and society.
Originally pastoralist who undertook little cultivation and fishing in Lake Victoria, the Abagusii as they entered into the south-western highlands of Kenya began to develop an economy based largely on cultivation, although those who later occupied the lower territories of South Mugirango, Wanjare and western Kitutu retained their earlier concern with cattle. Abagusii traditions are silent on earlier on earlier occupants of the Gusii highlands, although we know from archaeological and linguistic studies that some people were living there.
To the south of the Abagusii though separated by a corridor of Luo, are the Abakuria. They inhabit the rich and undulating savanna land along the Kenya and Tanzania boarder close to Lake Victoria. It is apparent, at least from linguistic studies, that Kurialand was continuously occupied from the late stone age. In the period up to A.D 1500 Bantu speakers tended to occupy areas bordering the lake while the Southern Nilotes and southern Cushites lived on their eastern flank, in the interior. By 1700 the Bantu had expanded eastwards and had absorbed most of their neighbors. This led to the grafting of a Nilotic cyclical age- set system on the earlier Gulf Bantu clan- based social and political organization.
ABAGUSII
Political Organisation
a) Abagusii believed in one supreme God known as Engoro.
b) Elders prayed to God directly or made intercession through ancestral spirits.
c) A clan chief Omoruoti presided over a clan council.
d) Clan elders, Abagaka b’egesaku assisted the clan chief in administration.
e) A homestead was headed by a clan elder, Omogambi.
f) Junior warriors lived in ‘cattle bomas’ (ebisarate) where they cared for livestock and performed military functions.
Social organization
a) Abagusii were organized into age-grades.
b) A man joined an age- grade on circumicision.
c) Boys and girls were circumcised.
d) For greater unity a clan associated itself with a special creature or object.
Economic organization
a) Both livestock rearing and crop cultivation were important economic activities.
b) Hunting and food gathering were also practiced.
c) Certain communities had blacksmiths who made iron implements.
d) Various baskets and soapstone items were also made.
e) The abagusii traded with their neighboring communities.
ABAKURIA.
Are related to the abagusii.
THE ABALUYIA
The evolution of the Abaluyia occurred between 1200 and 1850. They are the products of interaction between Bantu immigrants from Eastern Uganda and different groups. These were the Southern Cushites, Luo, Kalenjin and Maasai.
Political organization.
The abaluyia believed in a supreme God, Were or Nyasaye
Intermediaries usually ancestral spirits, helped in praying to God.
A village was ruled by a council of elders, abenengo.
Several villages formed one big group, olukongo.
The head of lukongo (walukongo) was both political and religious leader.
The abaluyia of Wanga had a centralized political system. Its king was known as nabongo. Under him were various councils and administrators.
Social organization
Age-group was the basis of organization of the Abaluyia society at the clan level.
Boys of the same age were circumcised together to subsequently form an age group. In some clans girls were also circumcised.
Age- group performed various functions. They started as junior warriors and eventually ended as retired elders.
Economic organization
The Abaluyia were mixed farmers.
Hunting and gathering food were also significant activities.
They traded with their neighboring communities.
They manufactured iron implements and practiced pottery,clothing making and wood carving.
Reference:
Makira, F, E. (1978) An outline History of the Babukusu. Nairobi. Kenya Literature Bureau. (Afr. DT 542. M34 1998)
M’manyara, Alfred, M.(1992) The Restatement of Bantu Origin and Meru History. Nairobi. East Africa Educational Publishers.
Moss Joyce, Wilson George. (1991). People of the World: Africa South of the Sahara. (Ref. DT 352.42 M67 1991)
Ochieng, William, R (1991) Themes in Kenyan History. Nairobi. East Africa Educational Publishers. (DT 433.558 T47 1991)
The following is the brief introduction of the Bantu people who form the majority of African people. The information provided is the writing of scholars because there is no clear evidence given about the existence of man in Africa. It is just a speculation of writers who believe in evolution and yet God gives a clear definition and creation of man in the garden of Eden as recorded in his Holy Book the Bible. It is the only reliable written record of the history of mankind on earth. Anything outside that it is only speculation which is not yet approved.
Bantu are supposedly physically ugly and “inferior” representing “ the pygmy- prognathous which formed the first stratum of the human population in nearly all Negroe Africa. Being an underdeveloped type of anthropoid they are considered to have made little progress from the first homosapiens.
Bantu is a mixed language so to speak, descended of a Hamatic father and a Negroe mother.
ORIGIN
Beginning in the third millennium B.C from a homeland in Cameroon, Bantu peoples spread east and south into the rain forest region of Equatorial Africa. Then between 1000 and 100 B.C Bantu communities began to spread beyond the rain forest into the savanna country all around the south and east sides of the forest. Finally between 100 B.C and 500 A.D a further large expansion spread Bantu peoples across the Eastern Africa and Southern Africa.
Any history of Bantu unit is an integral part of the greater Bantu history. The implication of this is that the origin of the Bantu speaking peoples can be located through the study of any single Bantu group as long as it is possible to trace the origin of such group back into the remote past of African history. In doing so it is important to establish such group’s geographical location, the time frame and the environment in which they lived. In the light of this study the geographical location of the pro-bantu group lay between the 2nd cataract of the river Nile and the Gezira region, including Ethiopia and the land between river Atbara and Blue Nile.
BANTU EXPANSION
The Bantu expansion was a millenia long series of physical migrations, a diffusion of language and knowledge out into and in from neighboring populations, and a creation of new societal groups involving inter-marriage among communities and small groups moving tocommunities and small groups moving to new areas. Bantu-speakers developed novel methods of agriculture and metalworking which allowed people to colonize new areas with widely varying ecologies in greater densities than hunting and foraging permitted. Meanwhile in Eastern and Southern Africa Bantu-speakers adopted livestock husbandry from other peoples they encountered, and in turn passed it to hunter-foragers, so that herding reached the far south several centuries before Bantu-speaking migrants did. Archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence all support the idea that the Bantu expansion was one of the most significant human migrations and cultural transformations within the past few thousand years.
It is unclear when exactly the spread of Bantu-speakers began from their core area as hypothesized ca. 5000 years ago. By 3500 years ago (1500 B.C.) in the west, Bantu-speaking communities had reached the great Central African rainforest, and by 2500 year ago (500 B.C.) pioneering groups had emerged into the savannahs to the south, in what are now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Zambia. Another stream of migration, moving east, by 3000 years ago (1000 B.C.) was creating a major new population center near the Great Lakes of East Africa, where a rich environment supported a dense population. Movements by small groups to the southeast from the Great Lakes region were more rapid, with initial settlements widely dispersed near the coast and near rivers, due to comparatively harsh farming conditions in areas further from water. Pioneering groups had reached modern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa by 300 A.D. along the coast, and the modern Northern Province (formerly called the Transvaal) by 500 A.D
Between the 13th and 15th centuries relatively powerful Bantu-speaking states on a scale larger than local chiefdoms began to emerge, in the Great Lakes region, in the savannah south of the Central African rainforest, and on the Zambezi river where the Monomatapa kings built the famous Great Zimbabwe complex. Such processes of state-formation occurred with increasing frequency from the 16th century onward. They were probably due to denser population, which led to more specialized divisions of labor, including military power, while making out migration more difficult, to increased trade among African communities and with European, Swahili and Arab traders on the coasts, to technological developments in economic activity, and to new techniques in the political-spiritual ritualization of royalty as the source of national strength and health.
REASONS FOR MIGRATION FROM THEIR ORIGINAL HOMELAND
a) Growing population and need for more space.
b) Need for more land for cultivation.
c) Search for additional pastures.
d) Internal quarrels arising especially from population pressure.
e) Attacks from neighbobouring communities
f) Prevalence of diseases
g) Search for adventure
EVOLUTION OF THE WESTERN KENYA BANTU.
The Bantu of western Kenya comprise the Abaluyia, abgagusii and abakuria. Bantu presence in western Kenya stretches back to the time of earl Iron Age.
The period between 1500 and 1850 saw the migration of many Bantu clans and families from eastern Uganda into western Kenya and the emergence of the present day Abaluyia, Abagusii, and Abakuria communities. Indeed according to G.S Were the Abaluyia community did emerge as a cultural community during this period. The formation of the abaluyia entailed the fusion of the pre-1500 inhabitants of western province with those Bantu groups that arrived in the region in the 16th century and 18th centuries. The records of most of the Bantu immigration have been lost in the mist of time while only a few dominant clans still retain their emigrational traditions.
While the Bantu who lived to the north of Winam Gulf evolved into a single community (the Abaluyia) the Bantu to the south of Winam Gulf evolved into three distinct societies the Abagusii, Abakuria and Abasuba. This development attributed to the expansion of the Kenya luo, who lodged a linguistic and cultural wedge between the Abagusii and Abakuria and confined the Basuba to Rusinga and Ngodhe Islands at the entrance of Winam Gulf.
The Abagusii in particular, originally migrated into Nyanza from a homeland they identify as “Misri”(to the North of Mt. Elgon) at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Originally a cattle keeping community, Gusii economic and social institutions underwent fundamental transformation in the period between 1520 and 1755 as they established themselves in the lake region. There first settlement in Nyanza was made at Yimbo at the head of Goye Bay, but after prolonged cattle rustling conflict between them and the Luo the Abagusii eventually migrated to Kano plains where they settled between 1620 and 1755. It was this period that the Abagusii developed most of their social institutions such as sectional totems and clan sub- national structures. It was also in the lake region that the Abagusii to have acquired and perfected skills of iron technology with better iron weapons, the Abagusii were able to expand at the expense of the Kalenjins, Sirikwa, Dorobo, and Maasai into areas of present day Kericho and Gusii highlands between 1755 and 1850. This expansion into the highlands from the lowland plains around Lake Victoria necessitated a change intheir economy and society.
Originally pastoralist who undertook little cultivation and fishing in Lake Victoria, the Abagusii as they entered into the south-western highlands of Kenya began to develop an economy based largely on cultivation, although those who later occupied the lower territories of South Mugirango, Wanjare and western Kitutu retained their earlier concern with cattle. Abagusii traditions are silent on earlier on earlier occupants of the Gusii highlands, although we know from archaeological and linguistic studies that some people were living there.
To the south of the Abagusii though separated by a corridor of Luo, are the Abakuria. They inhabit the rich and undulating savanna land along the Kenya and Tanzania boarder close to Lake Victoria. It is apparent, at least from linguistic studies, that Kurialand was continuously occupied from the late stone age. In the period up to A.D 1500 Bantu speakers tended to occupy areas bordering the lake while the Southern Nilotes and southern Cushites lived on their eastern flank, in the interior. By 1700 the Bantu had expanded eastwards and had absorbed most of their neighbors. This led to the grafting of a Nilotic cyclical age- set system on the earlier Gulf Bantu clan- based social and political organization.
ABAGUSII
Political Organisation
a) Abagusii believed in one supreme God known as Engoro.
b) Elders prayed to God directly or made intercession through ancestral spirits.
c) A clan chief Omoruoti presided over a clan council.
d) Clan elders, Abagaka b’egesaku assisted the clan chief in administration.
e) A homestead was headed by a clan elder, Omogambi.
f) Junior warriors lived in ‘cattle bomas’ (ebisarate) where they cared for livestock and performed military functions.
Social organization
a) Abagusii were organized into age-grades.
b) A man joined an age- grade on circumicision.
c) Boys and girls were circumcised.
d) For greater unity a clan associated itself with a special creature or object.
Economic organization
a) Both livestock rearing and crop cultivation were important economic activities.
b) Hunting and food gathering were also practiced.
c) Certain communities had blacksmiths who made iron implements.
d) Various baskets and soapstone items were also made.
e) The abagusii traded with their neighboring communities.
ABAKURIA.
Are related to the abagusii.
THE ABALUYIA
The evolution of the Abaluyia occurred between 1200 and 1850. They are the products of interaction between Bantu immigrants from Eastern Uganda and different groups. These were the Southern Cushites, Luo, Kalenjin and Maasai.
Political organization.
The abaluyia believed in a supreme God, Were or Nyasaye
Intermediaries usually ancestral spirits, helped in praying to God.
A village was ruled by a council of elders, abenengo.
Several villages formed one big group, olukongo.
The head of lukongo (walukongo) was both political and religious leader.
The abaluyia of Wanga had a centralized political system. Its king was known as nabongo. Under him were various councils and administrators.
Social organization
Age-group was the basis of organization of the Abaluyia society at the clan level.
Boys of the same age were circumcised together to subsequently form an age group. In some clans girls were also circumcised.
Age- group performed various functions. They started as junior warriors and eventually ended as retired elders.
Economic organization
The Abaluyia were mixed farmers.
Hunting and gathering food were also significant activities.
They traded with their neighboring communities.
They manufactured iron implements and practiced pottery,clothing making and wood carving.
Reference:
Makira, F, E. (1978) An outline History of the Babukusu. Nairobi. Kenya Literature Bureau. (Afr. DT 542. M34 1998)
M’manyara, Alfred, M.(1992) The Restatement of Bantu Origin and Meru History. Nairobi. East Africa Educational Publishers.
Moss Joyce, Wilson George. (1991). People of the World: Africa South of the Sahara. (Ref. DT 352.42 M67 1991)
Ochieng, William, R (1991) Themes in Kenyan History. Nairobi. East Africa Educational Publishers. (DT 433.558 T47 1991)
CHILD REARING AMONG THE ABAGUSII COMMUNITY
INTRODUCTION
Gusii culture as a set of ideals and prototypes that continue to influence the experience and behavior of Gusii parents and children, can be characterized by its domestic model of social concept of avoidance as essential to morality
Children were born into and grew up in a physical environment rich in the norms and models that will guide them throughout the life course. The initiated men who were unmarried spent much of their time away from the homestead along with the young men from neighboring homesteads of the same riiga (localized partrilineage) in a cattle camp(egesarate)where they jointly grazed their father’s herds and defended them against raids by other Gusii class.
Each role, each state and transition in life was defined by assigned and forbidden spaces and by customary action performed in those spaces using traditional objects. The code of conduct for the homestead served as the prototype for social norms outside the homestead. The domestic group itself was divided into generations such that one acted in a restrained manner prescribed by the avoidance taboos(chinsoni) with one’s own parents and children but in a in-relaxed and familiar manner with one’s brother and sisters and grandparents and grandchildren; is applied to others of their generation and carried with them the appropriate norms of restraint or familiarity.
GUSII SICIETY AS A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
IN pre-colonial Gusii society like most of indigenous Africa, there were no schools that there are no institutions dedicated to instructions. Only the annual male and female initiation ceremonies, specifically the period of several weeks during which newly circumcised boys and girls were secluded (separately) provided an occasion dedicated to training: older teenagers instructed the notice in the code of gender appropriate adult conduct, with an emphasis on sexual information that could not be publicly discussed. This event happening once in a person’s life during puberty in pre-colonial times and some what earlier seven to eight for girls, ten to eleven for boys from the 1940’s onward constructed a dramatic personal transition but it was regarded as the completion of his or her education on the assumption that the person had already been educated at home.
INFANCY
Infancy in Gusii can be characterized as the period between birth and weaning.When the greatest amount of attention is paid to their needs and the least effort directed toward their trainins.Health and survival of the child are the source of exiety for the parents,although this is not apparent until the child actually becomes ill.When an infant developes a diaorrheathat lasts several days the mother becomes worried and calls a medicine man (omonyamariogo)to adiminister portions orally and makes incisions on yhe child,s body.Payment may be a goat or a substituitio of the measure of the mther,s decision
Infants are particularly susceptible to the “evil eye” (okobiriria) not because they are young but because their skin is still brown and therefore delicate.Although nowadays its nolonger in place.When a child is infected small things near the child appear:grains,feathers,wool of blankets.If not removed in time,may kill the child.This evil is thought to be brought by Kipsigis women into the wives when there was a fight in Kipsigis.
When the child is infected,the parents rup his whole body wiyh clarified butter which is thought to removethe harmful materials.This process is called(okongura) must be done without talking about the evil eye.
The lack of strength and mother control manifested by all infants is attributed is put to thir (hot blood)which makes them weak and fearful of a cold environment.The only medicines used to facilitate growth are herbs given to infants during the first three months of their life to promote growth of teeth.
WEANING.
Takes place in the second and third years of life of the Gusii child. Weaning begins within two months of the time the mother discovers herself to be pregnant due to the fear that the milk may cause diarrhea or milk may be finished for the coming child.
METHODS OF WEANING
The word weaning is known as “Ogotacha”Which literally means to stamp or to step on. To stop the children from sucking used bitter substances; pepper, goat dung, juice from sour fruits on the nipples, slapping the child, burn his mouth with caustic plant juice, ignoring his cries in the day time and wearing a dress that prevents access to the breasts sending him to live with the grandmother. Giving him large amounts of solid food to make him forget the breast. The child who lives with the grandmother, for a few months during weaning is usually fed a great deal and receives much murturant attempt from her.
TOILET TRAINING AND RESPONSIBILITY.
This is an important event which takes place shortly after the birth of a younger sibling is training in sphincter control. The aim of this is to teach the child to defecate in bush by pasture some distance from the house. Urination control is the second consideration. The approximate average age for this training at 26.7 months. First the mother takes the child to uncultivated pasture near the house several times to show him the procedure.
Secondly, canes him of not following the instructions.Thirdly.the child is punished for defecating in the house even at night for he is supposed to do it day time or wake up somebody to accompany him outside at night. The amount of time the mother trains a child ranges between one week to a year but the majority one month. Proper habits concerning urination though not stressed seriously as early as bowel control are acquired by the child gradually as an adjustment of bowel and modesty training.
The period between 18 months and 3 years is one of severe punishment for the child’s infertile dependency behavior and there are beginnings of new behaviour part tens in his learning simple tasks and his orientation towards other children who he is now forced to interact more than when he was oriented towards the mother.
CHILDHOOD 3-8 YEARS.
This is the period in the life if the child from the year following his replacement by a young sibling to the time when the boy begins sleeping outside of his mother’s house and they prepare for their initiation. The period between 3 to 8 years is uninterrupted by school for hardly any Gusii child attend school.
STATUS OF THE CHILD.
The training of the child in the proper patterns of behavior takes place largely in the years between weaning and initiation. Although some of the improper behaviour of the adults are portrayed up to the time of initiation. The child is expected to show signs of his readiness by some adult-like behavior beforehand and this must be taught during childhood. the initiation of girls take place early between age 8-9 because they are said to mature early while boys it takes 10-15 years until initiation the girl is called (egesagane) and the boy is called (omoisia) which reveres as uncircumcised boy or girl. After weaning however.itis not too long before the child is at the back and call of everyone around with no one younger or more inferior for him to order about.
Indeed adults see in the behavior of individual children foreshadowing of their adult character; a trouble child will become bad while an obedient and respectful one will become good person.
SLEEPING AND EATING
Sleeping for the Gusii family is early in the evening except when there is a party going on. During this time the children are allowed to stay up during the progress of the party in the house but younger children are go to sleep early while the infants sleep in the hands of the mother.One or two of the children are usually buddle close to the mother especially when the traditional slightly raise hide corsed bed, dried mud bed is used. Nights in Gusii are so cold and it is customary to sleep naked under blankets not far from the cooking fire which burns the whole night.
The Gusii mother is considered to provide food as their primary responsibility to their children and there is evidence that food constitutes an important symbolic bond between the children and the mother.
Meal time situation provides some important lessons in the rules of the family behavior for the Gusii child. The father is served in a different pot and his food is not touched by anybody until when he takes the food and then the remains can be taken by the children. Greed children are punished by being served in a different pot and it may be small or others finish and are served again.
CLEANLINESS AND CLOTHING.
The Abagusii in general bathe infrequently and the children are not excemption.Mothers take little interest in their cleanliness as though they encourage them to bathe at the stream with their siblings and friends of the same sex.Boys who are herding cattle sometimes take off their shirts and splash around water; Girls copying their nubile sisters are somewhat more systematic about washing but do not appear to be very clean until they are initiated.
Although cleanliness is not stressed, the child learns a set of attitudes about the body at an early age. By the time the child is at the age of 3 years, he or she knows the parts of the body and he has also learnt that his parents give different names for some of these then his siblings of the same sex.the parents call the penis a tail when his friends use coarse expressions. By the age of the children have an extensive obsesses vocable lay and a euphemistic one and they have learnt that only the latter may be used in the presence of the adults.
With the respect of dress modesty is more stressed for girls than for boys Girls wear a garment which no matter how fatted covers them from the knee to navel and usually the neck as well.
When a girl wearing a dress and sitting so as to expose her genitals her mother yells and orders her to sit properly. Boys in the other hand may wear clothes which do not cover their genitals until initiation that is until ten or twelve years. They usually wear pullover shirts with long tails that reach to mid thigh.
For both boys and girls dressing involves putting a garment over the head and slipping arms and head into appropriate opening.
RELATIONSHIP TO MOTHER
Mothers have the responsibility for caring and training of all her uninitiated children. They live in the house are fed by her and look to her support and protection. If her child gets into mischief at another homestead she must face the adults of that homestead. The burden for this responsibility is even greater for widows and women whose husbands are working outside the district.
Despite the almost solitary responsibility of the mother for her children and the striking soldierly of the mother. Child unit against outsiders, Gusii mothers are overburdened with an agricultural and domestic work load which limits the attention they ca pay for their weaned children. With the exception of the older uncircumcised boy and those who go to school most children spread at least half of the day within shouting distance for the mother.
Mothers do not play with their children as the display of affection for them openly. The mother-child relationship is relatively informal allowing the most relaxed interaction between persons of adjacent generations that can be found in the Gusii social system.
SOCIALIZATION
To train children and control their behavior the mother uses fear more frequently than reward. The small child who annoys his mother by crying at night is warned ‘if you don’t stop crying, I shall open the door and call hyena to come and eat you’This helps to keep the child alarmed and disciplined with good behavior.
The method of punishment used by mothers are caning i.e. beating on the legs and buttocks with a tall weld or thin branch depriving of food reprimanding, chasing from the house overnight labor chores.
RELATIONSHIP TO SIBLINGS AND PEERS
The interaction of the child in Gusii takes place within conditions set for him by his mother. There are numerous restrictions on the extent of this association, restrictions which are gradually relaxed as the child grows older. Parents discouraged association with children who fight within the limits set by the mother the place where the child spends most of his daytime depends a good deal on whether family has cattle. This narrow range of friendship and association even for boys who herd cattle is reflected in them. Somewhat exclusive and suspicious attitude toward outsiders. Adult supervisions of children is impossible for much of the day since adults are often too far away to keep an eye on the young ones.
ACTIVITIES OF CHILDREN’S GROUPS.
The first and the largest group is that of herding cattle whereby the young boys are water herd by the adults. The boys takes the cattle very early in the morning after milking and returns home in the rate evening.In the fields the mother sends food to them and the girl who takes this food eats with them. When the boys are grazing there are less activities to do and they leave the cows to go to somebody’s garden.
The other activities away from the stream include climbing trees and trying to shoot birds with homemade sling shots. Other times the older boys jokingly insult a younger one in the same way or shoot a stone at him with his slingshot in order to provide a tassel.
A group of children which gathers in a different part of Gusii is much more amorphous and variable in its composition.Some of the children are associated mainly with siblings and one or two cousins’ interaction tends to be even less animated.
THE CONTROL OF AGGRESSION.
Parental control its implementation and evasion is a factor of primary importance in the aggressive and sexual behavior patterns of Gusii children. Mothers play an active part in the part in the resolution of aggressive encounters within children’s groups
The Gusii mother: to discourage aggressive habits in their children and to protect them from the aggressive of others, the most frequent response of mothers to physical aggression against other children by canning. Attacking one’s own sibling is not considered as a bad as doing the same to outsiders. Mothers do not try to fight every battle for their children. A child who complains to his mother of being insulted and verbally abused by peers may well be told to retaliate in kind particularly if the children are of the same age
RELATIONSHIP TO FATHER
Children do not have the intensive contact with their father that they do with their mothers. The father is always at home but leaves all the workload of caring children to the mother. The father is viewed by his child as an awesome and frightening person and with some justification. Father does not play with, fondler or praise their children and unlike mother, they do not feed them or comfort them when hurt fathers are more severe and inflexible disciplinarians than mothers
.
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ADULTS.
The relation of the Gusii child to other adults other than parents as for the most part explicitly patterned after the mother-child and father-child relationships, although less intense in form. Children are thought to respect all persons of the parental generation and they may be chastised by such adults who catch them misleading. Adults usually feel animal responsibility of reporting a child’s observed misbehavior if serious to hi parents. Grand parents initiates sexual joking with young children and insult including sexual abuse, flow back and forth between them in a manner which is almost related a start of age. The grand parents are observed of not punishing the children.
Training in obedience, responsibility and skills.
The good child as viewed by the Gusii parents is obedient child who does what the parents tell him without question. Obedience is considered to be the key to success in the contemporary settings and parents state that the child selected to attend school is obedient and who will do what the teacher tell him and therefore make progress in school. The training of boys in heading by their father and older siblings begins at the early age. Three year old girls are thought to carry small cans of water from the river to the house on their heads with grass rings support.
THE CONTROL OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
The sex play of children elicits even greater disapproval than fighting Gusii parents. The children who were found having masturbation or heterosexual are punished. The Gusii women are aware that there is secret heterosexual activity in the pastures when they sing to the girls at their initiation” you have been the wives of the uncircumcised boys: they are alluding to this activity.
TRAINING IN OBEDIENCE, RESPONSIBILITY AND SKILLS
The good child as viewed by the Gusii parents is obedient child who does what the parent tells him invariably without question. Obedience is considered to be the key to success in the contemporary setting and parents states that the child selected to attend school is the obedient who will do what the teachers tell him and thereby make progress in school.
The training of boys in herding by their father and older siblings begins at earlier age. Three year old girls are taught not to carry small pans of water from the river to the house on their heads with grass-rings supports. Girls of 7& 8 years old are usually so apprehensive of maternal punishment that they are after dropping a pot. Both boys and girls as young as three years old have been observed helping their mothers hoe a field for a shot period of time.
INITIATION
This makes the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. In the Gusii community both boys and girls undergoes this stage
The initiation always take place during the month of December. It is the girl who decide when she would undergo initiation but in most cases the mother decide for them. Most girls want to be initiated into because the ceremonies themselves are attractive but because they desire to live the status of “little girl” (egesagane) and enter that of (anyaroka) little means and uncircumcised girl or (omoseke) and which means un married lady there are three components to the girl conscious desire for initiation : the first is that she wants to put behind the task and chores of childhood and assume those of un adult female.
REFERENCE:
LeVine, R. A., & Lloyd, B. B. (1966). Nyansongo a Gusii community in Kenya. Six cultures series, v. 2. New York: Wiley. LeVine, R. A. (1994). Child care and culture lessons from Africa. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge
Gusii culture as a set of ideals and prototypes that continue to influence the experience and behavior of Gusii parents and children, can be characterized by its domestic model of social concept of avoidance as essential to morality
Children were born into and grew up in a physical environment rich in the norms and models that will guide them throughout the life course. The initiated men who were unmarried spent much of their time away from the homestead along with the young men from neighboring homesteads of the same riiga (localized partrilineage) in a cattle camp(egesarate)where they jointly grazed their father’s herds and defended them against raids by other Gusii class.
Each role, each state and transition in life was defined by assigned and forbidden spaces and by customary action performed in those spaces using traditional objects. The code of conduct for the homestead served as the prototype for social norms outside the homestead. The domestic group itself was divided into generations such that one acted in a restrained manner prescribed by the avoidance taboos(chinsoni) with one’s own parents and children but in a in-relaxed and familiar manner with one’s brother and sisters and grandparents and grandchildren; is applied to others of their generation and carried with them the appropriate norms of restraint or familiarity.
GUSII SICIETY AS A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
IN pre-colonial Gusii society like most of indigenous Africa, there were no schools that there are no institutions dedicated to instructions. Only the annual male and female initiation ceremonies, specifically the period of several weeks during which newly circumcised boys and girls were secluded (separately) provided an occasion dedicated to training: older teenagers instructed the notice in the code of gender appropriate adult conduct, with an emphasis on sexual information that could not be publicly discussed. This event happening once in a person’s life during puberty in pre-colonial times and some what earlier seven to eight for girls, ten to eleven for boys from the 1940’s onward constructed a dramatic personal transition but it was regarded as the completion of his or her education on the assumption that the person had already been educated at home.
INFANCY
Infancy in Gusii can be characterized as the period between birth and weaning.When the greatest amount of attention is paid to their needs and the least effort directed toward their trainins.Health and survival of the child are the source of exiety for the parents,although this is not apparent until the child actually becomes ill.When an infant developes a diaorrheathat lasts several days the mother becomes worried and calls a medicine man (omonyamariogo)to adiminister portions orally and makes incisions on yhe child,s body.Payment may be a goat or a substituitio of the measure of the mther,s decision
Infants are particularly susceptible to the “evil eye” (okobiriria) not because they are young but because their skin is still brown and therefore delicate.Although nowadays its nolonger in place.When a child is infected small things near the child appear:grains,feathers,wool of blankets.If not removed in time,may kill the child.This evil is thought to be brought by Kipsigis women into the wives when there was a fight in Kipsigis.
When the child is infected,the parents rup his whole body wiyh clarified butter which is thought to removethe harmful materials.This process is called(okongura) must be done without talking about the evil eye.
The lack of strength and mother control manifested by all infants is attributed is put to thir (hot blood)which makes them weak and fearful of a cold environment.The only medicines used to facilitate growth are herbs given to infants during the first three months of their life to promote growth of teeth.
WEANING.
Takes place in the second and third years of life of the Gusii child. Weaning begins within two months of the time the mother discovers herself to be pregnant due to the fear that the milk may cause diarrhea or milk may be finished for the coming child.
METHODS OF WEANING
The word weaning is known as “Ogotacha”Which literally means to stamp or to step on. To stop the children from sucking used bitter substances; pepper, goat dung, juice from sour fruits on the nipples, slapping the child, burn his mouth with caustic plant juice, ignoring his cries in the day time and wearing a dress that prevents access to the breasts sending him to live with the grandmother. Giving him large amounts of solid food to make him forget the breast. The child who lives with the grandmother, for a few months during weaning is usually fed a great deal and receives much murturant attempt from her.
TOILET TRAINING AND RESPONSIBILITY.
This is an important event which takes place shortly after the birth of a younger sibling is training in sphincter control. The aim of this is to teach the child to defecate in bush by pasture some distance from the house. Urination control is the second consideration. The approximate average age for this training at 26.7 months. First the mother takes the child to uncultivated pasture near the house several times to show him the procedure.
Secondly, canes him of not following the instructions.Thirdly.the child is punished for defecating in the house even at night for he is supposed to do it day time or wake up somebody to accompany him outside at night. The amount of time the mother trains a child ranges between one week to a year but the majority one month. Proper habits concerning urination though not stressed seriously as early as bowel control are acquired by the child gradually as an adjustment of bowel and modesty training.
The period between 18 months and 3 years is one of severe punishment for the child’s infertile dependency behavior and there are beginnings of new behaviour part tens in his learning simple tasks and his orientation towards other children who he is now forced to interact more than when he was oriented towards the mother.
CHILDHOOD 3-8 YEARS.
This is the period in the life if the child from the year following his replacement by a young sibling to the time when the boy begins sleeping outside of his mother’s house and they prepare for their initiation. The period between 3 to 8 years is uninterrupted by school for hardly any Gusii child attend school.
STATUS OF THE CHILD.
The training of the child in the proper patterns of behavior takes place largely in the years between weaning and initiation. Although some of the improper behaviour of the adults are portrayed up to the time of initiation. The child is expected to show signs of his readiness by some adult-like behavior beforehand and this must be taught during childhood. the initiation of girls take place early between age 8-9 because they are said to mature early while boys it takes 10-15 years until initiation the girl is called (egesagane) and the boy is called (omoisia) which reveres as uncircumcised boy or girl. After weaning however.itis not too long before the child is at the back and call of everyone around with no one younger or more inferior for him to order about.
Indeed adults see in the behavior of individual children foreshadowing of their adult character; a trouble child will become bad while an obedient and respectful one will become good person.
SLEEPING AND EATING
Sleeping for the Gusii family is early in the evening except when there is a party going on. During this time the children are allowed to stay up during the progress of the party in the house but younger children are go to sleep early while the infants sleep in the hands of the mother.One or two of the children are usually buddle close to the mother especially when the traditional slightly raise hide corsed bed, dried mud bed is used. Nights in Gusii are so cold and it is customary to sleep naked under blankets not far from the cooking fire which burns the whole night.
The Gusii mother is considered to provide food as their primary responsibility to their children and there is evidence that food constitutes an important symbolic bond between the children and the mother.
Meal time situation provides some important lessons in the rules of the family behavior for the Gusii child. The father is served in a different pot and his food is not touched by anybody until when he takes the food and then the remains can be taken by the children. Greed children are punished by being served in a different pot and it may be small or others finish and are served again.
CLEANLINESS AND CLOTHING.
The Abagusii in general bathe infrequently and the children are not excemption.Mothers take little interest in their cleanliness as though they encourage them to bathe at the stream with their siblings and friends of the same sex.Boys who are herding cattle sometimes take off their shirts and splash around water; Girls copying their nubile sisters are somewhat more systematic about washing but do not appear to be very clean until they are initiated.
Although cleanliness is not stressed, the child learns a set of attitudes about the body at an early age. By the time the child is at the age of 3 years, he or she knows the parts of the body and he has also learnt that his parents give different names for some of these then his siblings of the same sex.the parents call the penis a tail when his friends use coarse expressions. By the age of the children have an extensive obsesses vocable lay and a euphemistic one and they have learnt that only the latter may be used in the presence of the adults.
With the respect of dress modesty is more stressed for girls than for boys Girls wear a garment which no matter how fatted covers them from the knee to navel and usually the neck as well.
When a girl wearing a dress and sitting so as to expose her genitals her mother yells and orders her to sit properly. Boys in the other hand may wear clothes which do not cover their genitals until initiation that is until ten or twelve years. They usually wear pullover shirts with long tails that reach to mid thigh.
For both boys and girls dressing involves putting a garment over the head and slipping arms and head into appropriate opening.
RELATIONSHIP TO MOTHER
Mothers have the responsibility for caring and training of all her uninitiated children. They live in the house are fed by her and look to her support and protection. If her child gets into mischief at another homestead she must face the adults of that homestead. The burden for this responsibility is even greater for widows and women whose husbands are working outside the district.
Despite the almost solitary responsibility of the mother for her children and the striking soldierly of the mother. Child unit against outsiders, Gusii mothers are overburdened with an agricultural and domestic work load which limits the attention they ca pay for their weaned children. With the exception of the older uncircumcised boy and those who go to school most children spread at least half of the day within shouting distance for the mother.
Mothers do not play with their children as the display of affection for them openly. The mother-child relationship is relatively informal allowing the most relaxed interaction between persons of adjacent generations that can be found in the Gusii social system.
SOCIALIZATION
To train children and control their behavior the mother uses fear more frequently than reward. The small child who annoys his mother by crying at night is warned ‘if you don’t stop crying, I shall open the door and call hyena to come and eat you’This helps to keep the child alarmed and disciplined with good behavior.
The method of punishment used by mothers are caning i.e. beating on the legs and buttocks with a tall weld or thin branch depriving of food reprimanding, chasing from the house overnight labor chores.
RELATIONSHIP TO SIBLINGS AND PEERS
The interaction of the child in Gusii takes place within conditions set for him by his mother. There are numerous restrictions on the extent of this association, restrictions which are gradually relaxed as the child grows older. Parents discouraged association with children who fight within the limits set by the mother the place where the child spends most of his daytime depends a good deal on whether family has cattle. This narrow range of friendship and association even for boys who herd cattle is reflected in them. Somewhat exclusive and suspicious attitude toward outsiders. Adult supervisions of children is impossible for much of the day since adults are often too far away to keep an eye on the young ones.
ACTIVITIES OF CHILDREN’S GROUPS.
The first and the largest group is that of herding cattle whereby the young boys are water herd by the adults. The boys takes the cattle very early in the morning after milking and returns home in the rate evening.In the fields the mother sends food to them and the girl who takes this food eats with them. When the boys are grazing there are less activities to do and they leave the cows to go to somebody’s garden.
The other activities away from the stream include climbing trees and trying to shoot birds with homemade sling shots. Other times the older boys jokingly insult a younger one in the same way or shoot a stone at him with his slingshot in order to provide a tassel.
A group of children which gathers in a different part of Gusii is much more amorphous and variable in its composition.Some of the children are associated mainly with siblings and one or two cousins’ interaction tends to be even less animated.
THE CONTROL OF AGGRESSION.
Parental control its implementation and evasion is a factor of primary importance in the aggressive and sexual behavior patterns of Gusii children. Mothers play an active part in the part in the resolution of aggressive encounters within children’s groups
The Gusii mother: to discourage aggressive habits in their children and to protect them from the aggressive of others, the most frequent response of mothers to physical aggression against other children by canning. Attacking one’s own sibling is not considered as a bad as doing the same to outsiders. Mothers do not try to fight every battle for their children. A child who complains to his mother of being insulted and verbally abused by peers may well be told to retaliate in kind particularly if the children are of the same age
RELATIONSHIP TO FATHER
Children do not have the intensive contact with their father that they do with their mothers. The father is always at home but leaves all the workload of caring children to the mother. The father is viewed by his child as an awesome and frightening person and with some justification. Father does not play with, fondler or praise their children and unlike mother, they do not feed them or comfort them when hurt fathers are more severe and inflexible disciplinarians than mothers
.
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ADULTS.
The relation of the Gusii child to other adults other than parents as for the most part explicitly patterned after the mother-child and father-child relationships, although less intense in form. Children are thought to respect all persons of the parental generation and they may be chastised by such adults who catch them misleading. Adults usually feel animal responsibility of reporting a child’s observed misbehavior if serious to hi parents. Grand parents initiates sexual joking with young children and insult including sexual abuse, flow back and forth between them in a manner which is almost related a start of age. The grand parents are observed of not punishing the children.
Training in obedience, responsibility and skills.
The good child as viewed by the Gusii parents is obedient child who does what the parents tell him without question. Obedience is considered to be the key to success in the contemporary settings and parents state that the child selected to attend school is obedient and who will do what the teacher tell him and therefore make progress in school. The training of boys in heading by their father and older siblings begins at the early age. Three year old girls are thought to carry small cans of water from the river to the house on their heads with grass rings support.
THE CONTROL OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
The sex play of children elicits even greater disapproval than fighting Gusii parents. The children who were found having masturbation or heterosexual are punished. The Gusii women are aware that there is secret heterosexual activity in the pastures when they sing to the girls at their initiation” you have been the wives of the uncircumcised boys: they are alluding to this activity.
TRAINING IN OBEDIENCE, RESPONSIBILITY AND SKILLS
The good child as viewed by the Gusii parents is obedient child who does what the parent tells him invariably without question. Obedience is considered to be the key to success in the contemporary setting and parents states that the child selected to attend school is the obedient who will do what the teachers tell him and thereby make progress in school.
The training of boys in herding by their father and older siblings begins at earlier age. Three year old girls are taught not to carry small pans of water from the river to the house on their heads with grass-rings supports. Girls of 7& 8 years old are usually so apprehensive of maternal punishment that they are after dropping a pot. Both boys and girls as young as three years old have been observed helping their mothers hoe a field for a shot period of time.
INITIATION
This makes the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. In the Gusii community both boys and girls undergoes this stage
The initiation always take place during the month of December. It is the girl who decide when she would undergo initiation but in most cases the mother decide for them. Most girls want to be initiated into because the ceremonies themselves are attractive but because they desire to live the status of “little girl” (egesagane) and enter that of (anyaroka) little means and uncircumcised girl or (omoseke) and which means un married lady there are three components to the girl conscious desire for initiation : the first is that she wants to put behind the task and chores of childhood and assume those of un adult female.
REFERENCE:
LeVine, R. A., & Lloyd, B. B. (1966). Nyansongo a Gusii community in Kenya. Six cultures series, v. 2. New York: Wiley. LeVine, R. A. (1994). Child care and culture lessons from Africa. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge
Saturday, November 24, 2007
COMMMUNICATION
Six Rules for Good Communication in Marriage and Families
By Joe Beam
Marriage and family therapists not only pinpoint a lack of communication as a source of family unhappiness, they also point out that bad communication causes unhappiness. To keep that from happening in your family, let's look at some of the things that strong families have learned about good communication. Their experiences help us see how to eliminate faulty ways of communication in favor of effective ones.
Basically, strong families gave six rules for good communication.
Rule #1. Allow Enough Time
While much communication in strong families is spontaneous — "We talk while we do chores together" or "We talk anytime we're together" — some strong families plan a certain time each day for the entire family to be together to talk.
Oteka and Jerry, for example, use dinner as a time for each member of the family to share the most enjoyable experiences of the day. Other families plan special times, such as family night or family councils, for family members to share happy things, problems, and concerns with each other. These families do not shirk talking about difficult or troubling things; but at the same time, they make sure that the positive sides of life are well represented in the dialogues.
So strong families don't spend all their time communicating about problems or worries. They make time to talk about other matters of interest to every family member, both trivial and important.
Rule #2. Listen
Strong family members realize that communication involves two steps; talking and listening. They avoid the trap of focusing on talk to the exclusion of listen.
Listening strengthens the relationship between folks by conveying messages of caring and respect. Strong families increase their understanding of each other by being good, active listeners...active listeners notice facial expression, body posture, and voice tone as well as words. They nod or say "okay" or "go on" or something to indicate their attention. And really good listeners "sift," as the nineteenth-century English novelist Dinah Maria Mulock Craik expressed it: "Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a fruitful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away."
Rule #3. Check It Out
Bob had been irritated all evening. He'd snapped at Ann a couple of times over nothing and had been unusually quiet the rest of the time. Of course, Ann was disturbed over this. Naturally, she felt hurt and resentful toward Bob. However, her resentment was based on the assumption that Bob's irritation and negative behavior were directed toward her.
She decided to see if Bob was really angry or upset with her or if something else was going on. She said, "Bob, you've been acting grumpy tonight. Is it because of something I've done, or is it something else? Do you feel okay?" Bob then shared with Ann that his budget had been cut at work, and because of the cut, he would have to terminate a friend who works in his office... He was not upset or angry with Ann at all. If she had not clarified the meaning of his communication, she would have misinterpreted Bob's behavior and may have reacted in a way that would only have made their evening worse.
Unclear messages can often be clarified by saying, "I'm not sure I know what you mean by that" or "This is my understanding of what you mean...Is that correct?"
Rule #4. Get Inside The Other Person's World
We each live in our own unique world. No one sees life exactly the same way you do. The way you look at a certain situation depends on past experiences you have had, the values in which you believe, and your personality characteristics. This means that when two people disagree on an issue, it is not always because one person is right and the other wrong. It is more likely due to the fact that the two people come from different worlds, with different perspectives.
Rule 5. Keep The Monsters In Late-Night Movies
Remember when you were a kid and you played the monster game with your friends? Someone would yell, "Here comes the green monster." Everybody would scream and howl and run amok. The monster game was scary but fun.
Adults also play a "here comes the green monster" game, but the adult version isn't much fun. It creates anxiety, destroys good communication, and ruins relationships.
In his book Love Busters, Dr. Willard Harley refers to these "monsters" of criticizing, evaluating, and acting superior as "disrespectful judgment." When disrespectful judgment takes place, relationships will fail. Strong families banish such "love busters" and don't allow them to destroy all the good that they've accomplished in their homes.
Rule 6. Keep It Honest
The communication patterns in strong families are characterized by honesty and openness. People say what they mean and mean what they say.
Members of strong families don't resort to bullying, outwitting, blaming, dominating, or controlling. They don't play on dependency; they aren't silent, long-suffering martyrs who create guilt. All those methods of manipulating others lead to dishonesty and shallowness in relationships.
But some folks use "honesty" as an excuse to be exceedingly unkind. Strong families maintain a balance of honesty and kindness. They aren't apt to let Sis go out in a dress and hairdo that look ridiculous just because they don't want to offend her. On the other hand, they won't use one mistake in her judgment as an excuse to blast her taste, time management, hygiene, and study habits.
The important principle is the idea that any disagreement, any thought, any aspect of human relationships can be expressed in a positive, nonjudgmental, nonhurtful way.
Kindness is more than reserving harsh or hurtful words. Sometimes it is seeing to the needs of the rest of the family before you expect them to help you with your own.
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