Unity in Diversity

In the XIX century Africa has been seen as a continent to conquer and exploit. It was considered as nobody's home and the white man's burden was to invade and rule over territories and aborigines, according to the principle “divide et impera”. After the process of decolonisation, borders haven't changed and several ethnic groups coexist in many African states. This is the case of Kenya with 42 ethnic groups. Bantu (67%) represents the majority, followed by Nilotic (30%), Kikuyu (22%), Luhya (14), Luo (13%), Kalenjin (12%), Kamba (11%), Kisii (6%), Meru (6%), other African (15%), and non African (1%).

This diversity has repercussions also in social aspects such as religion and language. Apart from English and Swahili, which are the two official languages, different ethnic groups speak their mother tongues, and Ethnologue reports 69 languages spoken in Kenya. Most belong to two broad linguistic families: Niger-Congo(Bantu branch) and Nilo-Saharan (Nilotic branch), spoken by the country's Bantu and Nilotic populations, respectively. The Cushitic and Arab ethnic minorities speak languages belonging to the separate Afro-Asiatic family, with the Hindustani and European residents speaking languages from the Indo-European phylum.

As far as religion is concerned, Christianity was spread by Portuguese colonist and nowadays is the most professed religion, followed by Baha'i, Hinduism, Islam, traditional African religions, based on animism and magic. Although traditional beliefs has been reduced to the individual sphere, they affect social life still now with dances and rites. There is also a percentage of atheists.

On this topic I found very interesting this article:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/kenya_ethnicity_tribe_state

It analyses the correlation between ethnicity and state, showing how the former is exploited in order to get the power. For instance, President Kenyatta based his campaign on the frustration of Kikuyu, while his successor was sensitive toward his ethnic group, Kalenjin.

In this case the European motto “unity in diversity” is a provocation. Unity is the result of the colonisation process, and ethnic groups were forced to live together in a totally artificial new state. But now that Kenya has gained its independence, ethnic groups are in conflict, power has been taken by élites that stress the diversity between minorities instead of trying to grow as a nation thanks to this cultural richness. What do you think about it? Is coexistence possible or because of the “artificial birth” of Kenya it will always be poisoned by violence?

SOURCES:

Ethnologue – Languages of Kenya

 CIA - The World Factbook - Kenya