I've been sucked into the America of Kenya..otherwise known as Java. I'm trying to console myself with selling with the fact that I am giving up electricity and all other modern day conveniences for two weeks while I go to the coast (and perhaps learn to spear fish). Too bad I'm coming to the realization that as a woman, a rural village that still spear fishes may not be too welcoming of having a woman learn the trade.
In other news...being in Kenya at this particular time has been pretty fascinating. In case anybody needs a quick catch up: elections last year went terribly, there was a lot of violence in the beginning of the year, and now there is a power sharing agreement in place. President Kibaki is a Kikuyu and most people agree that he lost the election. Prime Minister Odinga is a Luo and now the Prime Minister, but most people believe he won the election.
Interesting for many reasons: Everywhere you go people have something bad to say about the government. Except for my house, in my very privileged Kikuyu household, which thinks that everything is peachy. Probably because Kikuyu's get every government job/ every job available; might be some good cause for a little bit of hostility in the rest of the country.
More interesting because of the ties to FGM (as the west calls it) or female circumcision (as we are told we better call it here). Not that I would ever be a proponent for female circumcision for many many reasons, but being here and talking about in a non-western mindset certainly makes the issue a lot more meaningful and deeper than any class full of middle class white kids could really understand. It also all ties back to the political parties, and a large part of why Kenyatta (a Kikuyu) became the first president instead of Odinga (the current Prime Minister's father and Luo) because the Kikuyu's rounded up all the tribes that practiced circumcision and pitted them against the tribes that don't practice circumcision which just happens to be the Luos and two other small tribes with littler power at all. Luos have been discriminated against and are considered "children" as circumcision rites usually signify the transition from childhood to adulthood.
So last year, when Odinga was almost elected President it would have been monumental as it would have meant a Luo in power, and the possible decline of tribal tensions since Kikuyu groups would not have been able to completely control all agencies.
That is a hugely simplified and generalized explanation of some huge issues that are going on here, but it has definitely been interesting to hear and see people's obvious and resentment towards the current political situation. The newspapers are already filled with talk of the 2012 elections.
The newspapers are also filled with Obama. So much so that when I start reading American news, I am shocked to find out that McCain is still a candidate (although I'm still confused as to why McCain is even a candidate to begin with...or a Republican to begin with. Can't Obama just perform a coup?) Everyone loves Obama here (except for the Kikuyus since he is a "Luo"). The newspaper had a section of Luo children's perspectives on what will happen if Obama wins and most of them are about him making a personal appearance and giving them candy, or building skyscrapers and paving streets with gold in Luo areas. It's not exactly understood that his social views and values wouldn't really mesh well with Kenyans, and many people would probably actually Sarah Palin's crazy ridiculous ideas (Hey guys, Let's ban books in the library!), and complete lack of knowledge.
But that's a rant for another day...
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I'm middle class and white, but my preferred term is definitely FGC, female genital cutting. It doesn't have quite the same normative connotation that FGM does and doesn't imply superior Westerners judging all others for their obviously backwards customs. But I also object to the use of circumcision, since the obvious parallel is male circumcision, which (while there are plenty of people arguing both for and against) is really a whole other thing. In addition to the much more extreme physical harm that results from FGC, there are totally different social and cultural reasons for valuing it. I think referring to FGC as female circumcision totally elides the distinction and ignores the ways in which FGC is used as social control.
Armenians are all about Obama, too, though for them it's because he stated in Turkey that Turkey should recognize the Armenian Genocide. And I don't know the size of the Kenyan community in the US, but the Armenian community is huge.
Reading your blog is so much more educational than going to class.
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