THE DOMINANT KENYAN CULTURE AND THE ASIAN-

KENYAN CO-CULTURE:

“People carry their culture wherever they go, and that culture influences how they

respond to the people they meet. To understand the communication event that you are

involved in, you must appreciate your role in that event.”(Samovar, Porter & MacDaniel,

2007, page 135)

Turn a corner in downtown Nairobi and you enter an Asian bazaar. The aroma of

curry dishes, and chilli peppers floats from open storefronts that stretch for two blocks on

both sides. The bazaar is much more than an object of curiosity. These Asian shop

owners, most of who are of Indian or Pakistani descent, have struggled to find a sense of

identity in Kenya. The outcome of their effort could be vitally important to the economy

of this African nation.

The presence of peoples from the Indian sub-continent in East Africa goes back

3,000 years; the last 200 years are the most significant. Of notable exception is the

Muslim navigator from Kutch, an area of Gujarat in western India, who directed the

explorer Vasco da Gama from Kenya to India in 1498. In addition, the masons from the

West Coast of India helped build Fort Jesus in Mombasa from 1593 to 1596 out of local

impregnable coral. Beginning in the 1820s, artists and carpenters from Gujarat designed
and built intricate doors and furniture for the houses of the islands of Pate, Mombasa, and

Zanzibar.

The greatest influx of these peoples occurred in 1896 when the Uganda Railway

was begun in Mombasa and was completed over difficult terrain in 1901 as it reached

Lake Victoria. To build this rail line, the British brought over 31,000 workers from the

Punjab and Gujarat. This arduous and technical work was done mostly by hand because

no machines were available. It was accomplished through much hardship and loss of life:

for each mile of rail laid, four workers died, which came out to 38 workers dying every

month during the six years. (Naipaul, 1990).

Not only were East Indians instrumental in building the railroad, they also helped

build the towns of Nairobi, Nakuru, and Kisumu, and more than 40 railway stations. With

this involvement in labor, some were instrumental in establishing trade unions. During

this time, the colonial government failed to adequately provide for the needs of this

growing Indian community. As a result, the Indians established their own voluntary

associations. They funded their own welfare organizations that provided schooling and

health care for new immigrants. Other organizations helped maintain their cultural

practices and fostered interest in sports (Gunning, 2005).

When the move for Kenyan independence gathered momentum, Asian Indians

were also involved. Due to their continuous challenge of white settler ambitions, Indians

such as A.M. Jeevanjee and M.A. Desai prevented the establishment in Kenya of the

apartheid model of Southern Rhodesia and South Africa(Gunning, 2005). Some even

spent time in detention. Others defended those who were arrested during the Mau Mau
rebellion, including Jomo Kenyatta. During this time, many Asian Indians served as

newspaper publishers and journalists who figured prominently in the printing of the

African voice against colonialism and for independence. In the late 1950s, the population

of East Indians peaked. The Trade Licensing Act took effect; many Asian Indians left

Kenya because non-citizen traders had their licenses revoked by the new government.

So with all these acclamations, why did the black African’s attitude towards their

Indian Asian neighbors turn sour?. During colonial rule, the British had separated the

different races in their respective neighborhoods in the towns. The British also had

established separate schools that taught in the vernacular of the people. For the Asian

Indians, this meant the Gujarati language. Although it was not their purpose, the social

and community organizations also may have served to isolate the Asian communities.

This isolation, added to aloofness, sowed seeds of resentment among Kenyan Africans.

The fact that the Asian Indians had achieved economic success added to the anger of the

black Africans. Anti-Asian feelings and resentments, especially over their perceived

economic successes and commercial pre-eminence, were fuelled in the 1970s when

80,000 people of Asian heritage were expelled by Idi Amin in neighbouring Uganda. In

Tanzania, anti-Asian feelings spurred the programme of nationalisation in 1980. This

anger and resentment exploded in Nairobi in 1982 when there was widespread looting of

Asian shops and homes and assaults on Asian Indian women. Stereotyped as corrupt and

often regarded by middle class indigenous Kenyans as ‘paper citizens’, the Asian

businessman has been intimidated to the extent that most of them prefer to circumvent

unjust laws rather than fight for their repeal.The two camps were alienated from one

another even more.

 Most indigenous Kenyans do not accept that the Asian minority are authentic

Kenyan citizens and refuse to recognize that as opposed to the forefathers who became

Kenyan citizens by biological accident, the Kenyan Asians are descendants of people

who became Kenyans by choice. It is a pity that most people pay lip service to the issue

of minority rights and regard local Asians as the millstone around the neck of indigenous

entrepreneurs, aliens who have refused to intermarry with Kenyan tribes and who live in

segregated enclaves. Kenya’s indigenous often scapegoat the Kenyan Asians for

undermining efforts by the government to economically empower indigenous locals. .

However, the phenomenal success of this immigrant community is not restricted to

Kenya, immigrant communities tend to be naturally enterprising wherever they live as is

the case of the Jews in pre-war Germany, the Chinese in South East Asia, and the

Lebanese in West Africa (Sachs, 2005)

Westlands, an affluent neighborhood dominated by ethnic Indians, supermarket

aisles course with sari-clad Asians clutching the latest issue of ‘India Today’. In the

parking lot, a black Kenyan waits in the front seat of late model Peugeot or a pick up

truck, driving for an Asian family is considered a good job. However, for many, it also

limits their economic activity, but this is no fault of the Asians. Asian Africans are

accused of being a closed society, but what did this closed-ness contain; It is the very

components of "civil society" so crucial to the struggling democracies of the developing

nations. Unable to rely on either British colonialists or post-independence governments

for protection, the subgroups of the Indian community-Sikh, Ismaili, Goan, Hindu-turned

self-reliant, building welfare organizations that all Kenyans have come to depend on.

Nowrojee, a civil rights lawyer, insists that Kenya's Indian community is no more
economically exclusionary than other ethnic elites that have thrived here: The Kalenjin of

President Daniel arap Moi; the Kikuyu of founding father Jomo Kenyatta. Yet, in Kenyan

media and everyday conversation, Indian businesspersons or "tycoons" are far more

likely to be labelled "Asian."

The Asian community, with its custom of holding itself culturally and

economically apart, has inadvertently reinforced this prejudice against them. The 1982

disaster in Kenya and the anti- Asian occurrences in both Tanzania and Uganda has

caused anxiety among the Asian Kenyans. Feeling of anxiety associated with the

unknown- the lack of security, represent the reason the Asian community remain together

without interaction with the dominant Kenyan society. They tend to live separately, be

educated separately, shop separately and rarely mix or marry outside their own groups.

They are perceived as a homogenous and exclusive community, despite the fact that the

differences between the diverse religious and cultural groups within the Asian

community - between Hindus and Moslems, between Goans and Punjabis - can be as

deeply divisive and mutually exclusive as those dividing Asians from their African

neighbours. Intensely focused on family and community, "the Asian is the eternal 'other,'

" wrote the author Shiva Naipaul after visiting East Africa in the 1970s. Naipaul, a native

of Trinidad, where Indian immigrants had assimilated, was struck by how "the Indian in

East Africa brought India with him and kept it inviolate." (Naipaul, 1990)

The idea of assimilating more into the Kenyan culture no doubt offends many

Asians. There is very little social integration between black and Asian Kenyans,

Interracial marriages are considered taboo. Parents do not want their children to interact
socially with those of other races because of the Hindu belief in keeping to one's caste in

social matters. A second factor is spiritual. According to Hindu belief, all ways lead to

God. They believe that a sincere Christian, Muslim, and Hindu will eventually reach God

through their own religion. They do not believe in changing religions. Both the Asian

African community and the dominant Kenyan culture withdraw –on an interpersonal and

intercultural level, and seek to group and associate themselves with others of similar

faith, economic interest or political like-mindedness. This is a clear explanation why

currently a very small number of Asian Africans get involved in Kenyan politics perhaps

due to some form of reverse racism: It is somehow not acceptable to struggle against

black leadership. The lack of engagement is a real problem for the community, something

that holds back Kenya’s development as a nation.

It is thus of outmost importance that intercultural communication and

interaction is fostered between the dominant Kenyans and Asian Kenyans in the country.

Development of this country will not occur if we insist on associating citizenship with

kinship. Kenya must move from the world of kinsmen to a world of compatriots,

reflecting changing times and challenge the stereotypes about the Asian community,

acknowledging that the Asian community is as much a part of modern Kenya, as any

other tribe. “For most people it takes insight, training, and sometimes an alteration of

long- standing habits or cherished beliefs before progress can be made. The increasing

need for global understanding and cooperation, however, makes the effort worthwhile.”

(Samovar, Porter & McDaniel, 2007, page 318)

 References

Gunning, W., & Collier, P. (2005b) Explaining African economic performance. Journal

of Economic Literature, 37(1) 64-66.

Naipaul, S. (1990). India: A million mutinies now. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

Sachs, J. (2005). The end of poverty: How we can make it happen in our lifetime.

London: Penguin Group.

Samovar, L., Porter, R., & McDaniel E. (2007). Communication between cultures.

Belmont, CA: Holly Allen.