Kenyan Post-Colonial Politics and Embodied Heritage of Bomas

The independence of Kenya in 1963 from the British did not magically resolve all of the tribal/ethnical division and conflicts underlying the Kenyan society rooted since its colonization. Its post-colonial politics have even raised more social issues that are irreconcilable by politics and social reforms because of the corrupted and uncivilized government system. Kenya’s most recent political turmoil in 2007 has labeled the nation as being “undermined by the reemergence of primitive identities^[1],” indicating that the country is incapable of uniting its diverse cultural identities. This is clearly not the image and personality Kenya intended to show to the world. Moreover, these brutal, though factual, critiques toward the Kenyan society has resulted in a widespread ignorance over its rich and complex cultural heritages. Along with the goal to unify the country eventually, Bomas and Bomas dance as part of the Kenyan embodied heritage come into service to alleviate the social tensions, as well as restoring a positive Kenyan personality as a unified, progressive, and civilized society. In order to better understand the social context of a dance form, one has to put it into its historical and cultural context. Therefore, this essay first aims to review the authentic history of Kenya throughout its colonial and post-colonial period. And then to examine the significance of Bomas dance and the role it plays in reconciling the social tensions, as well as in representing the Kenya personalities.

To understand the social divisions in contemporary Kenya society, it is necessary to look back and examine its original formation during colonial history. Kenya’s colonial history could be dated back to the 1885 Berlin Conference in which East Africa was divided into multiple territories by the European power. During the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, Europe was undergoing a massive industrial revolution, making Africa——with its abundant raw materials and cheap labor——a lucrative market for the Europeans. Soon after the British officially declared its colonization over Kenya, they opened up interior highlands for farming coffee and teas, as well as other economic activities. By the 1950s, there were approximately 80,000 white settlers living in the Kenya areas, which increased from 30,000 during the 1930s. The increase in population of the white settlers mirrors their increasing political voices and social status in the Kenyan society because of their contribution to the economy and supervision of the workers. This ultimately resulted in redrawing the territories and boundaries of many of the African communities to marginal reservations in order to serve the European settlements. While the white settlers are gaining sovereignty in an exotic land, the indegenous, especially millions of Kikuyu people, had no claims on their own lands and had to experience massive exodus away from their original highlands homes^[2]. Not only was there inequality between the white and the black, the European settlers further manipulated between different Kenyan ethnic groups by segregating them to confined geographic areas in accordance to their stereotypical social qualities, as well as to how much they collaborated with the British colonial rules. The division between local ethnic groups was, therefore, originally intensified by foreign influences.

Multi-ethnic country has become the headline for Kenya, meaning that it is an inherent nature of the Kenya personality. This personality manifests itself in social structure, and more importantly in political system. The Kenya government adopts a democratic presidential eletoral method that is highly associated with tribes and ethinic groups, which, after colonial independence, is still intensifying the national tribal crisis.

There are more than 40 ethnic groups in Kenya, each of which has clear boundaries with other ethnic groups, and each of which could launch its impact on the presidency. However, after more than four decades, Kenyans have found that it is beyond difficult to shake the dominant political status of the Kikuyu tribe. This political inequality accounts for the long existing political confrontation between the Kikuyu alliance and the anti-Kikuyu alliance dominated by the Luo group. Under this socio-political context, it is easier to understand why democratic election is inherently the same as ethnic election in Kenya: presidential candidates are chosen from ethnic groups rather than from their talents and competence; the competence for president is basically a competence of the number of population of certain ethinc groups. The more population a tribe has, the more likely it is to win the presidency. Moreover, Kenyatta has even promoted a political “solution” that is to bring all ethnic groups into the government in proportion to their ethnic populations. From where I am looking, either kind of ethnic politics to the Kenya diverse population is a long-term solution. The resulting system would not only offer incentives to organize by ethnicities, but "ethnicize" its country in a way that could only be politically unstable^[3].

With all the background information given about the ethnical divisions in the Kenya society, the true problem and question that matters is how it has jeopardized the indegenous Kenya culture, and its people’s identity recognition. To put it more specifically, many of the African youths face a dilemma of culture conformity, especially for those who have received higher education and who usually happened to be the third generation of colonists. They accept western culture and speak fluent English. They are a generation with black skin on the surface and white skin on the inside. As a result, they are the generations sandwiched between the indegenous African cultures and the western imported cultures. This also explains the “entanglement” argued by Susanne Franco that some Kenyans are “far from the ‘primordial’ entities of Western popular discourse,” but also refuse to be categorized in tribes^[4].

Postcolonial society has not only put Kenya’s ethnic/tribe issue on edge, it has also put African indigenous culture in an awkward situation and internal chaos and disorder. The post colonial era not only challenges Kenya's ability of political autonomy, but also challenges its cultural self-confidence. This is why a rooting back to indigenous heritage bears an obligatory responsibility. It is the key to reconcile the social divisions, and to reassert the independent Kenyan identity. Kenya urgently needs a way to solve the tribal conflicts, to invigorate the society, and to help to reform the African personality.

(Luo Village at Bomas, Tony Dunnell)

The picture^[5] on the left side shows off the winding path leading up to the Bomas performance center. The sideways are encompassed by trees, giving a leisure nature atmosphere, as if the inside of Bomas is separated from the troubled world outside. The whole environment gives a feeling of returning back to the innocence, so that there are no tribal contradictions and complex politics involved. Everything in the Bomas is centered around art and people. In that sense, the road to Bomas could be regarded as a process of unloading heavy packages of the modern world and letting the audience enter a pure spiritual world. Such pureness, innocence and even rustic quality lie at the heart of the African personality. In African dances, there are rarely flamboyant costumes decorated with gems or furs in comparison to other dance forms such as ballet. Therefore, one can forget about the political and social chaos from the outside and fully immerse in the artistic experience once entering the Bomas cultural village.

(Isuku dancers at Bomas)

This close-to-nature quality as part of the Kenyan personality as shown from the architectural feature of Bomas could also be seen from the close interaction between Bomas dancers on stage and their audience. The above picture^[6] is screenshotted from Isukuti performance at the Bomas. It is noticeable that a kid from the audience started dancing to the performers with the music and beats. This scene is so fascinating to me in a way that this child is instinctively attracted to the dynamic beats and movements of African dances. His innocent behavior reminds us of the close-to-heart nature of African dance as it draws emotional appeal to the audience with its rhythmic clapping of hands and stomping of feet. It is worth noting that this child is also a white kid. He completely breaks the racial boundaries and the sense of distance with the black dancers, exemplifying the unifying nature of Bomas dance. Even though there is still some physical gap between the black dancing bodies and the white spectators, the arena stage is at least creating an opportunity for racial union. In short, Bomas dance proves its unique value in breaking the tribal/ethnical or even racial tensions, helping Kenya to regain pride and confidence under its social pressure of division. Bomas also put African tribal dances on an international platform performing to a broader range of audiences ranging from African to western or Asian tourists. Bomas dance is also playing a bigger role for the development and promotion of culture tourism in Kenya. Bomas dance, therefore, serves as a post-colonial tactic informing the world of the national unity vision and desire, portraying a personality yearning for peace.

The most significant contribution of Bomas to the Kenya society is that it managed to create a sense of nationhood and celebrates the unity and equality in diversity by exhibiting the embodied heritage of each tribe/ethnic group. Not only does Bomas exhibit a diverse forms of cultural heritage including dances, acrobatic feats, musical intermissions, songs, costumes from the forty-two ethnic communities, it also managed to equalize all these communities in terms of their performing length, content, multi-ethnical cast, indicating their equal social status to each other. These are the collective efforts of both the Bomas Committee and the Kenya government in broadcasting its rich cultural heritage and its unified nation portrait. The promotion of this “unity in diversity^[7]” has, in fact, positive impacts on Kenya society, awakening the nationalism and cultural confidence of the mass public. The young generations are more drawn to the indegenous culture^[8] and are more willing to take progress in integrating modern choreographic techniques into the traditional dancing steps^[9]. The joining of the young population indicates an evolution toward modernity of the traditional ethnic dances. Evidently, Kenyan embodied heritage is going to pass along centuries, which would eventually become part of the Kenya personality.

In conclusion, post-colonial tribal/ethnical divisions, which are rooted from the colonial period, make up a huge part of Kenya's personality as a culturally divided land. Even though it is not the ideal scenario, it doesn't necessarily imply a negative figure of Kenya. On the contrary, not only is it an inherent feature of all the colonized lands, it also enriches Kenya socio-culture landscapes. The multi-ethnicity personality gives rise to its diverse heritage. Kenya has a long way to go to take advantage of its diverse embodied heritage to revitalize its culture, and to resume the dancing culture before colonialism.

^[1] Franco, Susanne. “Reenacting Heritage at Bomas of Kenya: Dancing the Postcolony.” Dance Research Journal 47, no. 2 (2015): 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0149767715000170.

^[2] Morgan WT (1963). "The 'White Highlands' of Kenya". Geogr. J. 129 (2): 140–155. doi:10.2307/1792632.

^[3] “Beyond 'Tribes': Violence and Politics in Kenya: Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective.” Origins. Accessed July 19, 2021. https://origins.osu.edu/article/beyond-tribes-violence-and-politics-kenya.

^[4] Franco, Susanne. “Reenacting Heritage at Bomas of Kenya: Dancing the Postcolony.” Dance Research Journal 47, no. 2 (2015): 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0149767715000170.

^[5] Dunnerl, Tony. “Bomas of Kenya.” Atlas Obscura. Atlas Obscura, November 16, 2018. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bomas-of-kenya.

^[6] “Isukuti Dancers at The Bomas of Kenya #Bomasofkenya.” YouTube. Sir Nyukuri Edwin, YouTube, May 3, 2018.

^[7] Hughes, Lotte. 2011. “‘Truth be Told’: Some Problems with Historical Revisionism in Kenya.” Heritage, History and Memory: New Research from East and Southern Africa, African Studies, 187-89

^[8] Franco, Susanne. “Reenacting Heritage at Bomas of Kenya: Dancing the Postcolony.” Dance Research Journal 47, no. 2 (2015): 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0149767715000170.

^[9] Ndeti, Kivuto. 1975. Cultural Policy in Kenya: Studies and Documents on Cultural Policies. Paris, UNESCO Press. 46-47

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.