Running Head: INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY RESEARCH PAPER 1

ANTH2300-Intercultural Competence Research Paper

Student’s Name

Country

Date
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“ANTH2300-Intercultural Competence Research Paper”

“Nairobi Half-Life”

Nairobi Half-Life will be one of the movies I will use for this assignment. “Nairobi Half-

Life” is a 2012 Kenyan film produced and directed in Kenya with all the setting and casting done

in Kenya and the Kenyan actors. It was directed by David Tosh Gitonga, produced by Sarika

Hemi, Tom Tykwer and Ginger Wilson. It was written by Billy Kahora, Potash Charles, Samuel

Munene and Serah Mwihaki. The movie highlights the life of a young man called Mwas, who

lives in the countryside, born and raised in the village, has a big dream of being a successful

actor. He sells DVDs for a living but believes in making a successful career in acting. In pursuit

of his dreams, he sets off to Nairobi, the city of opportunities, but he is faced with the harsh

realities of urban life in Nairobi, a city that operates on every man for himself and survival for

the fittest rule.

The movie gives a two-dimension image of the actual life of Kenyans that is the

countryside life and urban life. It gives a visual representation of Kenyans' everyday life living in

different environment setups in the country. The spheres of egocentric and socio-centric societies

are presented in the movie where the countryside life presents a socio-centric society while the

egocentric society being presented in Nairobi. The Kenyan perspective of ego-centrism and

socio-centrism presented in Nairobi Half-Life is totally different from the Canadian perspective,

same as in non-verbal communication, verbal communication and friendship perspectives

Socio-centric versus egocentric.

An acting freelance set performs short plays in his village, and the whole village is

gathered in the village square enjoying the new set of entertainment. The spirit of togetherness

and togetherness among the village people is evident in how they have all come to have the
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theatre experience. The villagers are jovial and social with one other, which shows the close-

knitted relationship as a society. This is a socio-centric society because every village member's

interests are protected by the other, and instances of exploitation and theft are unfamiliar

concepts to the villagers. This explains why Mwas easily trusts the Nairobian actor Jose, who

lies, misleads and exploits him without him noticing. The movie portrays Nairobi as an

egocentric society where the principle of 'every man for himself, God for us all' is in play.

Therefore, Kenya has integrated both societies, that is, the rural socio-centric society and

the urban egocentric society, into her system, and that is her identity. Unlike Kenya, where half

of her population lives in rural upcountry socio-centric societies, Canada is a developed nation

with urbanization spread to almost every country. Therefore, this makes Canada primarily an

egocentric society but with strong bases of socio-centrism in every part of the country.

Friendship or relationship differences.

Through an acting group from Nairobi that performs short plays in his village, the

socialization aspect is fostered since the whole village is gathered in the village square, enjoying

the new entertainment set. The spirit of togetherness and togetherness among the village people

is evident in how they have all come to have the theatre experience. The villagers are jovial and

social with one other, which shows the close-knitted relationship as a society. The acting group

is called the Vultures and is a Nairobian set with its actors coming from Nairobi.

Mwas believes that the village people and the actors are all the same and all share the

same values, and that is why he approaches one of the actors thinking that they are friends

already. He talks to Jose, who seems friendly to him. Mwas shares his aspiration to the actor of

how much he wishes to be a great actor too and would love to join the acting set, and this gives
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Jose insight into how naïve, primitive and uninformed he is. He pretends to have Mwas’s interest

at heart and uses nativity in friendship as an opportunity to exploit him. This is a classic Nairobi

view of friendship where if one is not benefitting from you in one way or another, then there is

no point in being friends. Mwas sets forth to Nairobi with the same mentality and is met with the

Nairobi reality of friendship being treated as a liability. Trust is not something to be accorded to

just anyone; even those you consider your friends.

However, the Canadian perspective on friendship is different from the Kenyan

perspective though there are some aspects they share-alike. Canadians believe that friendship is a

strong relationship like that of siblings, but free of competition and ambiguity. It is a chosen

relationship different from love where one falls without planning or sibling relationship, where

one becomes part of the family whether they like it or not. Unlike the Nairobi aspect in the

movie, a friendship does not have to be parasitic but could be symbiotic. This, however, does not

define a good friendship as that where each party must have something they bring to the table in

order for them to be friends.

Verbal communication differences.

Kenya’s official language is English, while Kiswahili is her national language. The

movie's language is English, Kiswahili, and Sheng, a spin-off language used among the urban

youths in Kenya's major towns. Nairobi gave rise to sheng's language, which is a combination of

English, Kiswahili, and some native language terms that all combine to form the spin off. It is a

language used among youths with a hidden meaning unknown to the elderly and the rural area.

Using this language is a sign of urbanization and digitalism among the Kenyan youth. The movie

presents a different language in the courtside where the village people speak their native
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language. Canada has English as its official and national language, which brings a unified nation

that speaks one language, which helps her achieve a socio-centric society.

Rafiki

This second section of the essay will explore a Kenyan TV show called "Rafiki." It is a

tale of a lesbian affair between two ladies Kena and Ziki, in the center of family and political

heat together with the LGBT issues in Kenyan society. As a result of this, the show was banned

for promoting gay relationships (Dirkes, 2017). We aim to outline how this show and its

characterizations have been used to bring out the relationship and friendships, verbal

communications together with sociocentric and egocentric nature of the Kenyan community .in

the end it also has compared the findings to that which is happening in the Canadian community

in Canada.

Sociocentric versus Egocentric

The theme of egocentrism comes in in the entire show putting in mind that Kenyan

society has over a long time and to date has been against the idea of homosexuality at any cost

measures are put in place to prevent moral erosion as a result of the gay promotion, the movie,

on the other hand, has a main theme exploring on gay relationships where the two main

characters Kena and Ziki happen to be in a romantic relationship.

The author of the show or director does not think about the bigger Kenyan community

but rather thinks that those attributes about gay relationships could be bought in by the larger

Kenyan society and emulate. Similarly, in the church, when the pastor starts to talk about the

homosexuality issues, and we see Kena walk out as a result of being agitated by the pastor, it is

evident that the pastor portrays an egocentric character as he does not think about the diversity of
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the congregation he is serving. Kena dares to publicly stare at Ziki, as she stares back at her, they

expect their public display of affection to be unconditionally accepted by the public.

However, when Blacksta attempts to seduce Kena is an absolute show of sociocentrism in

today's society. Blacksta extends the normality of the public understanding of an affection.

Comparing the Kenyan perception of romance and relationship to the Canadians, we can

conclude that this way different as in Canada, men and women, have that freedom to make their

own decisions on that person they wish to engage in a relationship with. Furthermore, they are

allowed to engage in homosexual connection with no restriction of any kind.

Friendships Differences

Ziki and Kena become very close friends after an ordeal between their fathers in politics.

The father is the main rival in the political arena. This puts more pressure on this relationship. It

is widely known that it is very unusual for parents from two different families not seeing eye to

eye to create perfect working relationships. It has expected that in most cases, the children are to

emulate the parents and extend the poor relationship among themselves (Arasaratnam-Smith,

2017). Due to community stereotyping, we see "Mama Atim," who is also a cast and a store

owner ready to start joking about the escalating connection amongst daughters of the political

competitors.

When Kena's mother says, "folks who can elevate you." the point the group on the

financial basis rises where Kena’s dad “John” is considered to be in a lower class compared to

the “Okemis” who are seen to be economically powerful. "Blacksta" tends to desire to make a

relationship with Kena. However, she turns him down .he is seen to stand for a one-sided

connection as one man considered engaging in homosexuality being harassed with intolerant

rants. Comparing this Kenyan situation to the occurrences in Canada, in most cases, the
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relationship between parents or families does not really have to be of concern to their young

ones. Parents may be big enemies, but children make fines connections and no big issues from

the same.

Non-Verbal Communication

The show contains some silent acts and then closes with a spirit of hope together with

much uncertainty. Walking out of the church by Kena when the pastor brings up homosexuality's

topic of homosexuality was to send the message that she was getting very much agitated about

the whole issue of evil comments and thus walked out. In the Kenyan, there is the freedom to

speech provided by the community, but due to fear of one's safety and lack of protection

assurance to anyone who aims to express what they really think and may spell it out if it

interferes with other persons’ right is very common.

This can, however, be attributed to premature democracies in developing countries like

Kenya. Comparing to Canada, it is almost the opposite, putting in my mind that Canada is

already a developed economic nation with a well-matured democracy. In the country, the right to

speak of its citizens is held with high esteem, and thus use of non-verbal cues to pass the

message may not be as rampant unless for the impaired.

Inclusion is very obvious that due to this difference in culture between these two nations,

Kenya and Canada, one may find it very hard living in another from the one they are used to. For

instance, a Canadian used to voicing their views openly against the oppressor. The government

may find it hard doing the same in Kenya as their security may be compromised. Similarly, those

having a gay relationship in Canada may not express themselves happy while in Kenya, just as a

Kenya living in Canada with neighbors’ who are gay.

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References

Dirkes, J. (2017). Volume I. Synchretic Analysis and Storyboard Scores: The Musical Rhythm of

Filmic Elements. Volume II." The Nightingale": Piece for Orchestra and Narrator," The

Twins": Score to the Film by Daniela Hoyos," April": Score to the Film by Ann

Tmangraksat (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles).

Arasaratnam-Smith, L. A. (2017). Intercultural competence. Intercultural competence in higher

education: International approaches, assessment, and application.