When Cultures Colide

This might be the best thing I've written so far, especially from an academic perspective. It's a paper I wrote as a final project for Anthropology in the Fall of 2006. It's a very long paper, so don't try to read it all unless you have some interest in cross-cultural interaction or the mechanism of historical change. But if you are interested in those things, this should be very interesting for you. As always I apologize for the formatting (if anyone knows how to post without losing paragraph indentations and extra spaces, please let me know). I'd appreciate any critical opinion of my conclusions. Enjoy!


When Cultures Collide
It happens every day at a thousand different locations across the globe. Two cultures, each formed under distinct circumstances and stresses, encounter each other and attempt to coexist. The manifold interactions between these two entities is more complex, and much less precise, than the most advanced chemical reaction, and the result is the enormously multi-cultural world we see today. No culture has ever been a complete island unto itself, able to escape all influence and outside penetration. In fact, while we are often led to see as nicely packaged and stand-alone cultural identities planted like trees in an orchard, the truth is more like a jungle canopy, a network of fluid give and take, in effect causing nearly imperceptible or drastic transference from and to every piece constantly.

THE KIKUYU OF KENYA:
A first-rate example of culture clash occurred in what is now Kenya, starting in the 1880s, with the meeting of two cultures with histories of substantial expansion success. One of these was colonial Britain, and upon its arrival in Kenya it quickly came into intense contact with the Bantu group known as the Kikuyu (also known as Gikuyu). The Kikuyu were (and still are) the dominant ethnic group in Kenya, both in population and politics. Their homeland in nestled around the slopes of Mt. Kenya and the surrounding area.
While the Kikuyu initially welcomed the Europeans into their home, possible as a result of previous prophesies that resistance would be disadvantageous (Kenyatta 1938a), they soon realized the dire threat they faced: the systematic eradication of the very foundations of their cultural identity.
The question which this paper will address is: how do cultures change each other? There are certainly a plethora of approaches one culture can take in changing another. In the case of the Kikuyu, it is possible to interpret four separate agents of change.

AGENTS OF CHANGE:
First of all, Force. This often involves using physical power to cause someone to do something different than they would otherwise. It needn’t be physical force; intense economic, social, even religious pressure might also fall under this category. In any case the consequences of noncompliance are extreme and sometimes fatal, and the recipient of this force will feel that he has no choice in the matter.
Second, Influence. This could be seen as “flexible force.” Such things as economic, social, religious, pressure might fit here also, the main difference being that with Force, the recipient changes to avoid prescribed punishment, while with Influence he changes to achieve a prescribed reward.
Third, Appeal. Here the unchanged culture doesn’t attempt to manipulate the recipient to change, the recipient simply finds some aspect of the other’s culture more appealing than his own, and therefore adopts it.
If these were the only agents of change it might be technically possible for cultures to intermingle without alteration. The fourth and final, however, is Environmental Modification. Here it is important to remember why “culture” exists, and that is to better equip its members to optimally overcome the pressure and problems presented by their specific environment, meaning physical environment as well as social, psychological, spiritual, etc. However, the introduction of a different culture into the same living space inevitably alters that environment. Therefore, the circumstances which formed and supported certain customs no longer have the same shape, and each culture must gradually or suddenly adjust to the new landscape.
While we trace the course of these various agents through modern Kikuyu history, it should be noted that rarely is a tangible change brought about by a single one of these. However, by viewing the unfolding events through these filters, it can be easier to draw some conclusions and dispel certain myths about cultural (specifically colonial culture) interaction. This paper will focus on the two primary foci of conflict between the British and the Kikuyu, Land rights and Initiation Ceremonies (Worthman 1987), and will conclude with several shorter but fitting examples of intercultural transference.

FORCE, THE NUCLEAR OPTION?:
A common assumption is that direct force is the most common and efficient tool used by an infiltrating culture to bring about change in another, especially in the case of colonialism. It is easy to see why this perspective exists. After all, colonial interests commonly involve an agenda to alter existing cultures and people according to the needs and preferences of the more powerful colonizer. What surer way to bring this about than by brute force? When all else fails, the threat of death ought to cleanly uproot even the most stubborn cultural element. Thus force is seen as the nuclear option in the realm of cultural manipulation.
In the case of the Kikuyu, however, this appears to be anything but accurate. Taken in comparison with the other observed agents of change it seems to be the rarest used in any pure form. As to its effectiveness in bringing about any lasting change, the following example ought to speak for itself.

KIKUYU AND THEIR LAND:
The attachment of the Kikuyu to their land cannot be over-stated. Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu anthropologist who eventually became the first president of independent Kenya, said in a speech shortly before independence that “Our greatest asset in Kenya is our land. This is the heritage we received from out forefathers. In land lies our salvation and survival” (Kenyatta 1964). Of course, as part of a long tradition of Bantu agriculturalists, arable land is a Kikuyu’s only significant source of food. But the connection goes deeper than this. Through a rather intricate system of land acquisition, homesteads were passed down from father to sons. There could often be a large number of sons, due to the active practice of polygamy, and land was usually granted to a son upon the son’s marriage. As long as the father was alive, he had final say on all decisions, and even regarding land already given to the sons and their families he could call it “his land.” Once he died, the family was allowed to split the area into separate homesteads (Kenyatta 1938a).
It’s clear that this process would cut a large quantity of land into insignificant pieces in a few generations, so an essential component was the development of new land, a task which was pivotal to the existence of the warriors caste. Every year, those initiated as warriors were expected to fulfill their duty to clear brush-land and cultivate new fields (Leakey 1977).
Not only was land the source of life-granting food, a milestone for the coming-of-age process, and a timeline through which the many divisions and branches of genealogies could be traced, but Kikuyu land also obtained a strong spiritual importance. A Kikuyu saying goes “this land is the mother of us all” (National Geographic 2001). A mother carried and nurtured a child for 9 months in the womb, but the land nourished the child for the rest of life. The land, therefore, was the most sacred and revered mother of all. According to Kenyatta, land was also the medium through which contact with the ancestors was maintained (Kenyatta 1938a). To lose the land was to lose one’s past, present, and future.
Enter the British. The conflict was quite simple: the Kikuyu had good land, and the colonizers wanted it. When the British first appeared in small number, the Kikuyu even “lent” the apparent wanderers land to build on and farm until they returned to their own home. It wasn’t until the Kenyan colony had a significant foothold that the Kikuyu realized that the newcomers had no intention of leaving. “The Gikuyu lost most of their lands through their magnanimity” (Kenyatta 1938a).
British settlers, misunderstanding the Kikuyu system of land usage and the structure of ownership, saw an empty country free for the taking. Believing that land belonged to an entire community, they saw no wrong in relieving a few African farmers of their land, confident that they would quickly find another place to farm. But in a society where every inch of cultivated land was under private ownership, and due to the rarity of the ownership of land passing out of immediate family, the families displaced by the British were effectively disinherited. While they could find land that they would be allowed to cultivate, they would not be able to pass it on to their children (Leakey 1952a). Despite the initially small number of landless Kikuyu, it is not difficult to appreciate the impact.
The practice of moving Kikuyu from their land increased for over 50 years. By 1952, when British government declared the Kenya Emergency due to seven years of increasing violence, “of the 20,000 square miles of land in Kenya with a rainfall of more than 20 inches, 5,900 square miles had been reserved for Europeans, who formed less than one percent of the country’s population” (Mboya 1963). Any thought to the effect for the dispossessed had quickly faded, and the Kikuyu “were made to know that ‘might is right’” (Kenyatta 1938a). This intrusion hit the Kikuyu hardest (Arnold 1981), and had the direct result of causing a violent, Kikuyu-led revolution, which is popularly known as the Mau Mau Revolt. But even in the face of severe resistance and aggression against British policy (or perhaps because of it), over 1000 Kikuyu were evicted during the war (Mboya 1963). To add insult to injury, because of the Kikuyu’s central role in the Revolt, their movement and expansion were severely restricted, unintentionally preventing the young warriors from “earning their stripes” by clearing new land. This caused further bewilderment and eventually a major crumbling of the culturally prescribed path to adulthood. The general atmosphere during the Revolt in Kikuyuland was one of barely controlled chaos, and the last 50+ years of land tenure upheaval only increased exponentially.
At this point it can be seen that the application of force did have the benefit for the British of achieving their short term desires. Not wanting to concern themselves with the complexities of a more mutual sharing of land, nor with understanding the Kikuyu’s dissimilar perspective, the colonizers simply took what they wanted and enjoyed the benefits with relative impunity until revolt struck. But what truly lasting effect did these events have on Kikuyu culture?

WILL THE REAL CHANGE PLEASE STEP FORWARD?
After independence, small areas of land vacated by Europeans were given to farmers who did not have farms of their own (Kenyaweb.com 2001). However, the political landscape had changed forever, and the new African leaders knew that Kenya could not survive as a single country with multiple sets of customary law dictating people’s behavior more than government regulations, especially on such critical issues like land ownership. Thus “official rhetoric in Kenya sees customary law as an obstacle to development, and to the creation of a strong united nation” (Coldham, 1979).
The government set up a system of land registration to track sub-divisions, sales, successions, and the inheritance of land. This program, while vital for the ability of the state to regulate entitled ownership and legal disputes, has been largely unsuccessful. First of all, citizens rarely report deaths to the Land Registrer, thus land can change hands multiple times without any official notice. “The reason why people fail to register their dispositions are not hard to find. The fact that a title is registered and that therefore the land ceases to be governed by customary law is unlikely in itself to affect the behavior of those concerned” (Coldham 1979). Among many other problems, this creates a legal nightmare whenever the state is asked to resolve ownership disputes.
The people of Kenya simply see no point in registering their land, as their customary laws still meet all their needs on the local level, and the complication and length of government mediation of disputes usually convinces them to find another solution. “Despite the attempts to bring customary land rights within a new statutory tenure system based on the registration of individual titles and therefore limiting the effectiveness of applying customary laws in land ownership and transfer, smallholder behaviour on the ground has not changed so as to incorporate the new statutory system” (Groppo 2001). In fact, in 2001, 80% of all land in Kenya comprised of Trust Land waiting for registration by a smallholder for cash crops or peasant farming. Only 6% of that land had been registered under individual titles (Republic of Kenya 2001). The Kikuyu still rely on their traditional system of land tenure to gain the land they need, and coming to the government for land doesn’t factor into their thinking.
It is remarkable to note that the customary laws regarding land tenure were subjected to the harshest treatment by the colonizing culture. Direct force was used to negate all resistance, the very foundation of the customs, the land itself, was taken away, and the authority and strength of related customs were aggressively undermined for over 50 years. And yet a cursory look at those farmers whose situation is now reasonably similar to pre-colonization indicates that “Customary contracts…among the Kikuyu will continue to exist; customary rules and procedures governing the transfer or inheritance of land will continue to be observed” (Coldham, 1979).

INITIATION CEREMONIES:
As in many African cultures, another cornerstone of Kikuyu society is the rites and ceremonies surrounding initiation into adulthood. The core of these annual ceremonies, which typically last several days and involve thousands of Kikuyu young people all across Kikuyuland (Kenyatta 1938a), was the act of circumcision of both the boys and girls. The boys had their foreskins cut (though not completely removed), and a clitoridectomy was performed on the girls (Leakey 1977). This operation officially indicated that the initiates were no longer children (though not considered full adults until marriage and parenthood), and granted a number of rights and privileges upon them.
Socially speaking, the most important product of the circumcision ceremonies was the solidification of age-groups. All initiates who were circumcised in the same year become members of one age group, regardless of family or clan. Each group was given a name (usually based on a key event that occurred that year, thus providing an outline of Kikuyu history), and many social rules and bonds revolve around these groups. “The fellowship and unity of these age-groups is rather a remarkable thing. It binds men from all parts of the country, and though they may have been circumcised at places hundreds of miles apart, it is of no consequence” (Kenyatta 1938a).

NGWEKO:
Another privilege that comes of being circumcised is the right to engage in ngweko. This practice is described by Kenyatta as “platonic love and fondling,” and is “considered right and proper and the very foundation stone upon which to build a race morally, physically and mentally sound” (Kenyatta 1938a). Both the male and female initiates are carefully instructed in the proper performance of ngweko by the older girls (Leakey 1977). The general tradition is for boys and girls to meet at a special hut (thingira) which is designated for this very purpose. There they socialize until one of the boys brings up the subject of ngweko. Then the girls are asked to choose their partners. It is not necessary for the girl to chose the boy she is most attached or attracted to. A girl who too often chooses her “boyfriend” will be thought of as selfish and self-serving. This way even the less attractive boys who are without girlfriends are not left out.
Once the partners are chosen they move to the bed(s). For the sake of peer surveillance to prevent violations, several pairs will often share a single bed (Leakey 1977). The boy then removes all his clothing, and the girl removes all except her skirt and a leather pubic apron. These she pulls forward between her legs and tucks into the front, providing protection for her private parts. They lie on their sides facing each other, with legs tightly interwoven to prevent movement of the hips, and “they then begin to fondle each other, rubbing their breasts together, whilst at the same time they engage in love-making conversation until they gradually fall asleep” (Kenyatta 1938a).
The freedom of this custom came with several strictly enforced taboos. It was absolutely forbidden for the couple to engage in full intercourse, or for the girl to ever remove her lower coverings, and indeed the boy was forbidden to even touch her garments with his hands. Any touching of either’s genitalia was banned. Those who violated these rules were severely fined, barred from further ngweko, and ostracized by their peers. A girl was expected to be a virgin upon her marriage, and otherwise would be subject to strict penalties. The choosing of partners was also carefully restricted along relational and age lines, preventing any relatives or members of too great an age difference (5-6 years) from engaging in ngweko together.
The social results stemming from this practice were many. First of all it functioned as the culture’s sex education, with carefully structured instruction and monitoring. Second it formed stronger social bonds between the members of society. Third, it cultivates a lack of jealousy which was essential in a highly polygamous society. After marriage it was even accepted for women to chose sexual partners from among the age-mates of their husbands, and as long as it was not done secretly this was not seen as any cause for marital conflict (Leakey 1977 ). This social openhandedness was believed to have its roots in the practice of ngweko. Fourth, provided an outlet for sexual expression while establishing a respect for the rules of society in the minds of members at a young age. If the seemingly unanimous consensus regarding this issue by anthropologists and members of the culture is accurate, “there was little conflict about premarital sex in traditional kikuyu society” (Worthman 1987).

THE BRITISH REACTION:
The reactions of British colonizers and missionaries against the Kikuyu practice of clitoridectomies and ngweko ought to be unsurprising. Unfamiliar with the culture and social functions, they saw “nothing more than a ’horrible’ and ’painful’ practice, suitable only to barbarians,” (Kenyatta 1938a) and blatant sexual debauchery among the youth. After several attacks on the practice of clitoridectomies, in 1929 the Church of Scotland Mission to Gikuyu decided that only children of parents who had denounced the initiation ceremony and female circumcision would be allowed to attend school. It should here be noted that European schools by this time already had a huge place in the Kikuyu lifestyle. In one example in the region of Ngeca, the school run by Scotland Missions went from a few students in 1910 to over 500 students in 1928 (Worthman 1987). The threat of their children being barred from a modern education was a serious matter indeed. After a great protest and petition to the government, missionary schools eventually had to compromise their restrictions, and so then only demanded that teachers be required to denounce the tradition (Kenyatta 1938a).
There were then petitions through several channels, including the British House of Commons, to stop clitoridectomies by law. In the end these were unsuccessful, in part due to brilliant oration by Kenyatta before British Parliament in which he equated clitoridectomy to the Jewish practice of male circumcision. He writes later that “general opinion was for education which would enable the people to choose what customs to keep and which ones they would like to get rid of” (Kenyatta 1938a). Ngweko, meanwhile, was totally denounced by the missionaries as sinful, and was generally perceived as involving full intercourse without restrictions. Polygamy, perplexingly for the Kikuyu, was preached as wholly unbiblical.

THE KIKUYU COUNTER-REACTION:
In face of the proclamation that “the elaborate initiation rites are pagan and godless, and, furthermore, that clitoridectomy is evil” (Whiting 1986), the Kikuyu, many of whom had converted to Christianity, expressed great surprise. Regarding circumcision, Kenyatta wrote that “it is important to note that the moral code of the tribe is bound up with this custom and that it symbolized the unification of the whole tribal organization… No Kikuyu would ever dream of marrying a girl who has not been circumcised, and vice versa. It is taboo…” (Kenyatta 1938a). Initiation was also the only official was of designating new age-groups, a social structure that was vital for discerning correct social behavior and for clear legal application. Most Kikuyu at this time believed that it was the secret purpose of the government and missions to corrode their social order.
The course of action chosen by many was to continue to perform clitoridectomies, but in secret and without the intricate public ceremonies (Worthman 1987). While this allowed the continuation of culturally accepted marriages, it signaled the collapse of age-group structures. The direct result was that there was no forum for the older girls to instruct the incoming initiates on the proper practice of ngweko (Whiting 1986), which meant sudden uncertainty among the youth regarding sexual expression and restrictions where no uncertainty existed before.
By the 1960s, scholastic progression had taken the place of initiation ceremonies as a marker of cultural age, and academic achievement replaced the traditional methods of evaluating a person’s appeal as a spouse (Worthman 1987). At the same time traditional marriage ceremonies had been almost completely replaced with Christian weddings in Christian churches (Robertson, 1997). The ancient customs were fading fast.

NGWEKO DRIFT:
There is a fascinating side story in the effects that colonialism had on the cultural boarders between ethnic groups after they were all arbitrarily designated as “Kenyans.” The ethnic group to the east of Kikuyuland, known as Meru, shared a large number of customs with the Kikuyu, including elaborate initiations into warrior status and the responsibility of the warriors to clear land. But rather than having the practice of ngweko open to them, the Meru warriors were not allowed to drink alcohol or have any sexual activity for the duration of their time in warriorhood, which could last up to 10 years. This was seen as a test of endurance and bravery and was much respected and anticipated among the youth (Fadiman 1993).
When the Meru fell under similar restrictions of movement and expansion as the Kikuyu, this similarly began the fissioning of the institution. Thus the warriors lost much of their practical meaning and had a great deal of unoccupied time. However, along with the confusion (shared by the Kikuyu) over uncertain progression to adulthood and marriage without having fulfilled their responsibility to clear land, this also eroded the discipline which the Meru typically adhered to. Heavy drinking began to fill much of their time.
Due to the softening of self-discipline rules and the increased contact with the Kikuyu due to colonialism, the custom of ngweko made its way into Meruland. However, disconnected from the cultural context and traditional restraints, the practice became in essence what the missionaries imagined it to be among the Kikuyu; unrestricted sex without code or purpose beyond pleasure-seeking. For the demoralized warriors of Meru, the “breakdown of sexual discipline had tragic results for both men and women” (Fadiman 1993). The frequency of premarital pregnancy, abortion, and child abandonment skyrocketed. Looking back at this time it is said that “real warriorhood died with the coming of England” (Fadiman 1993).

LONG TERM EFFECTS:
It seems that when the instruction involved with initiation rites skipped a single generation, it was enough to divert the entire relational structure of the Kikuyu. Schools now replaced thingira (ngweko huts) as the place to meet members of the opposite sex, and “sex education has not been in the curriculum…consequently, young people are not trained in the traditional mode of limited intercourse, nor in the appropriate, defined partners and contexts in which it is acceptable” (Worthman 1987). When students were asked in 1983 about their knowledge of ngweko, they were “aware that a traditional method of contracepted physical intimacy has existed, none had been instructed in it, and one reported it was thought to be ‘old-fashioned’ and therefore of negligible contemporary relevance” (Worthman 1987). This undefined context of socialization has had the result that premarital pregnancy “which was rare in the traditional system is now not unusual” (Whiting 1986).
Polygamy has taken a serious hit as well. Those over 60 years of age polled in 1987 expressed a 30% approval of polygamy (primarily stating economic reasons), while 7.1% of those in their 40s agreed (“more concerned about detrimental effects on their relationships“) (Robertson 1997).
In regards to the major structures involving sex, age, and marriage, all primary cultural traditions have been torn down. Initiation ceremonies, ngweko, and polygamy are gone or going fast, and in a cultural of formerly carefully defined guidelines and identities, “Today there is considerable ambivalence on the part of both adults and adolescents…” (Worthman 1987).

IDENTIFYING THE AGENT:
Despite attempts to the contrary, at no time did the British force the cessation of initiation rites and related customs, at least not in the way they British land policy was forced. Restrictive law were not passed and no know initiation was stopped at gun-point. The most direct influence on the Kikuyu culture came from the increasing pressure from the schools and churches to end the practice. The actual weakening of the customs was motivated by the Kikuyu’s desire to be accepted in these institutions. This shows how the agents of change here called Influence and Appeal can work together. One culture can influence another by enticing change with the promise of rewards, but for this to be effective the latter must find the offer appealing enough to change or adjust to the demands. Of course chronological either one could come first. It is possible that the Kikuyu were first touched by the pure appeal of Christianity and western-style education, and the British then used this appeal to influence them to change.
In any case there was nowhere near full compliance, only the minimal adaptation needed to achieve the rewards ( harmonious schooling and church membership). If the initiation ceremonies had simply been repressed without being replaced by another marker of age, it seems possible that the custom would have returned after independence. But by that time school had already replaced initiation in this function, and the traditional ceremonies were no longer needed. This is an example of the last agent, which in the Kikuyu context seems to be the most common and effective.
Looking through the theory of structural functionalism, initiation ceremonies served an express social need within the Kikuyu community, a need born of the specific environment. That need was, among other things, for a strong social solidarity and clear guidelines to prevent any social fissioning. The environment in which this was needed included individual reliance upon the community and family members to provide food and/or loans of land, regular threat of raid from outside groups, the importance of each person knowing his place in the ladder of authority, and the need to regulate careful division of labor (for example the warrior class clearing and protecting land). However, the arrival of the British on the scene changed this environment tremendously. The broader economic picture which was opened up to Kikuyu youth gradually freed them from full reliance on their community for survival, and the risk of raids was done away with. The most untouched need was probably the need for clear definition of social standing. This allowed a very different social custom (school graduation) to replace the more traditional (initiation) in fulfilling the radically altered needs.
A similar reading can be applied to the drift of ngweko. While the Meru might blame the British, this would be accurate only in a very indirect sense. After all, the colonizers did all they could to discourage the practice of ngweko, and were not guilty of using force or influence to bring this custom, and certainly cannot be blamed for carrying the custom in with them, which then appealed to the Meru. It could be said that the Kikuyu used appeal, since the demoralized Meru warriors were attracted to the notion (as they understood it) of free sex in that lonely and nerve-racking time. However, it is safe to say that had Britain never arrived in Kenya, this transference would never have taken place. England’s presence and activity in other realms so modified the social environment of the Meru that important aspects of their culture suddenly seemed obsolete. Under the intense new pressures of the world, change was rapid and radical. So far, they haven’t looked back.

OTHER EXAMPLES:
To wrap this study up, it seems worth while to look very briefly at three other aspects of the Kikuyu culture affected by the British culture besides land tenure and initiation. This will serve to give a more rounded view of how virtually no part of Kikuyu life was left untouched and how the agents of change operate in other cases. Each of these examples merits as much attention as the previous two, and hold just as much revelation regarding the nature of change in intercultural interactions, but they are not the focus of this particular paper. They are here simply to reinforce observations already made.

RELIGION:
One of the most thoroughly adjusted areas of Kikuyu life was the spiritual. From absolutely no contact with Christianity and in possession of their own sophisticated spirituality involving ancestral spirits, it is now believed that around 73% of Kikuyu are professing Christians (Wikipedia 2006). The missionaries had great success in early Kenya, bringing the nation to its altar in just one or two generations. This was not done by force, nor by influence (at least not until they were already well established in the native population), and it can be seen that the religious environment was not experiencing sufficient change to render the Kikuyu religion obsolete, witnessed by the fact that many Kikuyu continued to practice the traditional spirituality and simply added Christianity to their beliefs in communion with their ancestors. Part of this is probably due to the relative ease with which the religions could be melded. In Kikuyu tradition before colonial influence “there are three Gods, all called Ngai: one who sends riches, another children and the third misfortune; but these are best regarded as different aspects of the one Ngai (Middleton 1965).” This is remarkable similar to the Christian concept of God, and further explains the appeal of Christianity to the Kikuyu. In the end, it does seem to be just that, the agent of appeal, that brought about the widespread conversion of the Kikuyu to Christianity.

GOVERNMENT:
Comparing traditional Kikuyu government of 150 years ago to Kenyan government today is like comparing night and day, though night and day of the same planet. “The Gikuyu system of government prior to the advent of the Europeans was based on true democratic principles” (Kenyatta 1938a). While mixed with a good deal of magic and sacrifices, Kikuyu government revolved around elections, representation, and justice for the individual. “I can categorically state that my own Kikuyu community had a pre-colonial democratic governance which was better than any in the world today” (Maathai 1953).
The initial change to this government was a forceful overruling by the British. But in many respects the British government in Kenya would far outlive British possession of Kenya. After independence the many ethnic groups were technically free to return to their previous forms of government, but the environment had been too drastically changed to allow this. “Kenya” had fought together in the Revolution, and Kenya needed to be one united nation in the modern world. The formerly European government was taken over by African leaders, and consequently many ironies appeared. The African revolutionaries, those who fought the hardest to end the conflict between colonizer and native, became the instant heirs of the government quarrels with the African people. The clearest one is the friction between modern micromanaging government and the customary law of at least 25 different ethnic groups (Wikipedia 2006).
This came into sharp focus in a court case in 1987 that captivated the entire country. A prominent lawyer of Luo ethnicity named Silvano Melea Otieno (commonly known as SM) died unexpectedly. The ensuing conflict was sparked by his Kikuyu wife who wished to bury him near their homestead in Kikuyu land (according to Kikuyu customary law), and his brothers who insisted that a Luo must be buried near his birthplace (according to Luo customary law). To further complicate things, Kikuyu law gives funeral control to the adult sons of the deceased, Luo law to the brothers, and Kenyan national law grants it to the next-of-kin, in this case the wife. Thus the battle between customary and common law was on, staged in the highest national court, and scrutinize by the entire country who saw their future in the verdict. At one point the wife’s lawyer argued that “Kenyans were living in rapidly changing times and that the Luo, therefore, should not be encouraged to practice customs that were not conductive to this ‘modernity’” (Cohen, 1992). Luo lawyers argued that one cannot chose the laws that apply, and SM was born under Luo law, regardless of his choices to embrace Christianity, government, and a “foreign” wife.
Interesting, despite the fact that common law gives the final word to the disease’s wife, the court ruled in favor of the brothers, and SM was buried near his birthplace. This decision indicates that the period of adjustment to the Environmental Modification brought by the British nearly a century ago is far from finished. When SM’s wife dug her own grave near her home to make it perfectly clear where she would be buried, her Luo brother-in-law allegedly sent her a letter asking her to fill it in, as the wife of a Luo must be buried next to her husband (Cohen, 1992). Indeed, the adjustment is far from over.

SCHOOLING:
If there is any clear example of change by the agent of influence, it is schooling, meaning the change from traditional styles of education to European styles. Missionary school fees were high, often higher than the heavy taxes imposed by the government, but parents were willing to work much harder than usual to give their children an education (Worthman 1987). There are indications that initially the Kikuyu were so fascinated by the Europeans ability to transmit their words by writing them down and sending them long distances where others could pick them up that they thought it was a new form of powerful magic, and were eager to learn it. More practically, as their land expansion was cut off Kikuyu parents quickly realized the best help for their children’s futures was a European education. Examples have already been given showing how quickly the first missionary schools grew. When theological and cultural conflicts grew intense the Kikuyu actually fought for the right to start their own school, in the European style but apart from direct missionary or government influence. This right was granted. The focus on education has not lessened in independent Kenya. Waruhiu Itote, who was known as General China during his time leading the revolutionary fighters in the Mt. Kenya, and who was tutored in English by Jomo Kenyatta himself while they were in detention camp together, wrote that “education rather than guns would be the most important weapon in Kenya’s advancement” (Itote 1967).

CONCLUSION:
The interaction between two distinct cultures is a truly remarkable thing, full of twists and turns that cannot be predicted. However, for any culture attempting to affect a lasting change upon another, this case study of the Kikuyu holds some useful, though potentially disappointing, information. What might be the most appealing course of action, direct force, here proved to be the least effective in the long-term. This was seen in the examination of land tenure conflicts and somewhat in the government example. While both were forced upon the Kikuyu, the former was utterly unsuccessful in sticking, and the latter was perpetuated not because of the application of force, but because of more subtle by-products of the force. This continued European government still often butts heads with customary law, as seen in the SM example. Interestingly, these two cases, land and government, were practically the only causes of the bloody revolution (Itote 1967).
Influence seems to have functioned in a more balanced way, though, in the schooling example, as soon the Kikuyu learned how to produce the desired European education for themselves they cut the proverbial umbilical cord and did it themselves. Therefore the British could no longer use it as a lever, but they were successful in inserting their form of education into Kikuyu culture, which did persist and increase. But in trying to use it to influence the Kikuyu to change specific customs, such as the practice of clitoridectomies, it was basically fruitless.
Appeal went a little farther, though a culture has only limited control over what another culture will find attractive. The Kikuyu were drawn to literacy, Christianity, and European technology and weapons (not discussed here). These things have remained firmly ingrained up to the present day. Another example is the effects of ngweko’s appeal to the Meru warriors, a development utterly unintended by anyone involved, which worked enormous and lasting change upon that culture.
Finally, Environmental Modification was observed in the long-term cessation of initiation rituals (the short term cessation being due more to influence), adoption of European style government, and again in the Meru acceptance of ngweko. These happenings, intended and unintended, showed this agent to be a powerful force in the shaping of culture. As well it should be, since culture is primarily formed by the shape of environment, this agent is touching the fabric of culture in a way that the others can do only indirectly. For, as seen in the land example, no matter how much force, influence, and appeal are applied to a cultural trait, if the surrounding corresponding environment is not significantly altered, the trait will bounce back into place at the first alleviation of those forces.
The conclusion that this writer would like to express to those interested in altering other cultures is that in the examples examined here it seems that there is a direct correlation between the long-term effectiveness of an approach and the practical control with which it can be used. Force is easy to use in a practical way, but for the Kikuyu it proved to be the least effective. Environmental Modification, an agent much too complex for anyone to predict or use with any degree of accuracy, directly rewrites cultures. It would seem that for humans, culture has been set in a “read only” format. And with thousands of cultures colliding in different ways every moment, that ought to be the source of at least some hope for the perpetuation of a diverse and multi-cultural world.


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