Cultural Narratives and Their Impact on Society
Once
upon a time an Australian psychologist traveled the world to learn from
different cultures about peace and human happiness. This particular woman had a
good nose for sniffing out the stories cultures have about themselves that
create their experience of life and the actions of the people. That
psychologist is Celia Bray from Hobart, Tasmania. That psychologist is me. After 10months on the road, I am noticing the power of cultural narratives on the lives of people in their communities. I also notice the impact the narratives have on me as I adjust to each new culture. The photos I use in this blog are of the work I am doing with people who are motivated, proactive and making a difference in their communities. They are not indicative of much of what I speak about in my experience in Kenya. I celebrate them in the work they are doing and we are all working together to turn around many of the narratives that hold Kenya back.
In India I saw the contrast between rich and poor.
Yet I also saw an empowered community who knew that it is through its own
efforts that its future would be determined. There is a self confidence and a
spirit of anything being possible. This is a creative culture. One of the things I respect about the Indian
culture is the focus on the collective good. There was a willingness to
sacrifice self interest for the good of others. It was humbling for me and a
gift to see that human beings can live that way after growing up in Australia,
where individual success is key.
And
then I landed apprehensively in Kenya. Apprehensive because I had heard that
Nairobi is the most dangerous city in Africa and I had no idea how I would
respond to Kenyan culture. As I was alighting from the Swiss Air flight (noted
as they gave Swiss chocolate on the way out of the plane) I told myself that no
matter what happened I would be fine as I
can get a taxi to a hostel if the organisation I was coming to work with forgot
to pick me up. Deep breath!
It
seems that people like me in Kenya. My psychology training combined with
community building has given me a piece of the peace building picture that
people think is missing in Kenya. People know the rhetoric about peace and
train people in the traditional didactic learning ways. However, as a pragmatic
psychologist, I design processes that give full ownership of learning and
participation to the groups I work with and empower them to be the solution.
The learning is embodied. The gap between theory and practice has a bridge in
the work I do. The feedback I have been receiving has delighted me and I feel
like I have something to contribute to peace building in Kenya. The search is
over. I have found my natural niche. My authentic passion has a place in the
world and now it is time to fly.
Now,
we started this story with cultural narratives. What do Kenyans say to themselves
about being Kenyan and Kenya?
I
know my narrative about Kenya is not neutral, as it is through my filters that
the experience of Kenya is being sorted and made sense of. Bias included. This
is what I have s to say so far...
‘Kenya,
you are a country of warm hearted, fun and engaging people. There is a charm
and cheeky flirtation behind the freely given ‘hello’ which is endearing and
builds rapport. Women and men are relaxed around each other and there is an
openness. There is a gushing and joyous willingness to help and it is given
with love and graciousness. This is especially the case when one finds oneself
lost somewhere. It is a place where security guards have a sense of humour and
are happy to say hello. It is a place where high 5s are common. Humanity is
first and hearts are full.
Yet I find a heart broken Kenya. Where so much
hope for the future has been trampled on through corruption, inequity, not
being given a voice and constantly being let down by those who promise but do
not deliver. There is a sadness in the hearts of many people in Kenya that is
akin to the passion, talent and dreams Kenyans have that they want to fulfil
but feel powerless to live. The stories about why this is the case go back far,
but one of the issues seems to be the hope that independence from British rule
in 1963 brought and the lack of fulfilment of that hope by Kenyan politics. Apparently the first Kenyan President, Kenyatta,
gave a lot of privilege to his tribe (there are over 47 tribes in Kenya) of
land and wealth which has resulted in inequity that other tribes have been
struggling to overcome since. It has fuelled division between tribes and been a
way politicians can use tribal alliance to advance their political careers ever
since.
Over 1200 people were killed and 100,000 displaced
in violence that occurred in the months after the Kenyan election in 2007. A
key narrative about the cause of violence seems to be the perception of corruption
and lack of fair play with the election results. The narrative held by the
people is that the outcome of the elections was not accurately reflecting the
voting of the people. People suspect corruption. This may or may not be the
truth, and it is not the truth of this belief that I am here to explore, but
rather the impact this perception has on the community.
Some of the cultural narratives I have heard so
far in Kenya that impact on the social and economic health of the country seem
to be:
·
‘Our government should give us
the jobs, infrastructure opportunities we need. We can’t do anything until they
do what they are supposed to do.’ It is a sense of entitlement and a sense of
waiting for the government to fix the country. This is also the attitude and
expectations of NGOs and the perceived rich.
·
‘White people have money and
power.’ – resulting in white people being asked often for money, opportunities
and marriage.
·
‘We have it harder than other
people’. A sense of being the victim
·
‘If you have money you are above
the law. It is all about money. Money is power. We MUST get more money.’ More
than anything else people talk about needing more money. They are willing to
manipulate and exploit each other to get it. The desperation for money is
strong and it is not related to poverty exclusively. The rich talk about it the
same way as the poor.
·
‘No matter how hard it gets, we
never give up. We keep on fighting.’ This is an optimism and a sense of
resilience that helps the communities to keep hoping and keep motivated.
·
‘After the corruption at the last
elections, there is no point voting or getting involved in politics.
Politicians are just out for themselves. There is nothing we can do.’ – learned
helplessness and resignation
·
‘Women belong in the home and are
to obey men. They do not belong in positions of power.’ – which prevents women
from standing up as leaders and they may also not get much support from men.
·
‘Individual is more important
than the community.’ Individuals will undermine each other to get a small piece
of the pie rather than work together so everyone can gain. Examples are grants
given to youth groups to run a project. Young people will divide the money amongst
themselves and receive a very small amount each rather than use the money to
for to generate a project which will benefit everyone and lift them out of
their situation in the long term. They do not trust each other and do not work
for long term collective gain, which keeps them all poor.
Some of the narratives are strengths that assist
Kenya to be a peaceful country and others create division. The victim
narrative, the helplessness and the sense not being responsible for their
future is a key barrier to Kenya’s prosperity and peace. Time and work needs to
be done to assist Kenyans to create a more empowering narrative and innovative
spirit.
The
individualistic narrative and the lack of innovative spirit is a big contrast
to my experience in India and the situation I have encountered in Kenya has surprised
me. In India there is a huge gap between rich and poor but all levels of
society have pride in who they are and a sense of creating their own future. Corruption
is present in India, but not the corruption of the spirit to the point of
helplessness and despair that is found in Kenya.
There
is no doubt the government could do a lot more and even if all Kenyan’s grievances are correct, it does not need to
stop Kenyans taking their future into their own hands and being proactive. The
dependence on others and giving responsibility for their lives to others is a disempowering
context and has implications on every aspect of Kenyan society.
Three
may be several reasons for this. An obvious one is the history of Western
cultures coming into ‘help’ through aid, charity work. For years westerners
have seen images of starving children in Africa and so money is given to help.
This is a noble intention, however it may be one of the reasons Kenyans see
Westerners as the suppliers of money and put themselves in the role as passive
receivers with their hands stretched for money. Kenyans may have given away
some of their confidence in their own capacity to innovate, create their future
and NOT need foreign aid. The fact that Kenya has more NGOs in Africa than anywhere
else is interesting. Clearly a lot of people want to help, which is great when
there are so many people who want to be looked after. I am aware that aid and assistance can be a
great thing when there is a crisis and the aid genuinely empowers communities
to stand on their own, not when creating dependence. With so much money being
poured into Africa, when one assesses the results, it does not add up. An
example of this that still astounds me is as follows:
In
Australia, the USA, Canada, India and most of the countries I know about, if a
training program or workshop is offered, participants sign up and pay for their
place. When they put their own cash into the program they are investing in
their future and go to the program for the learning that they want to use when
they leave the training to improve their lives. There are circumstances where a workplace or
organisation may pay for their staff to participate, again because it is an
investment in the future for the organisation. There is ownership by
participants at some level for what they gain from the program.
In
Kenya. If a workshop is offered, participants are paid to attend. Their
transport is covered, food covered and often they are given cash to be there
(called a sitting fee). They are paid by the people conducting the workshop. I
am shocked! Who do you think attends in
these circumstances? How much ownership or investment is there by the
participants for the learning they gain? The purpose of the workshop for many
participants becomes the promise of being paid to be there. I have been told
that if I want people to attend then I have to provide money for participants.
So,
what to do? There is a team of us who are keen to turn the hand out culture,
the individualism and the helplessness around. We are not going to pay people to
attend something that benefits them. We want genuine ways of engaging
communities to create their own future so we are going to conduct an
experiment. We are travelling around Kenya for a month to consult youth. We
will run an open forum and invite young people from all walks of life to attend
to discuss their ideas for their communities and their lives. Young people in
Kenya range from 15yo to 35yo. We will not charge people to attend, but they
will need to get themselves there and feed themselves. The invitation to attend
will be on the basis of giving young Kenyans an opportunity to start a dialogue
about their future and generate ideas about what they can do in their
community. Some in our team excited about the new way of doing things and others
are justifiably nervous about my approach. Kenyans have grown up in a culture where
the NGO supplies everything. This experiment is a call to Kenyans to put
themselves on the line to be the authors of their own destiny. It is a call for
them to invest in themselves and develop the confidence in their ideas, wisdom,
passion and leadership.
There
is a lot of great work being done where communities are genuinely being engaged
in creating their own solutions, however the general cultural narrative is one
of passive dependence and powerlessness. Any spark of a self reliant culture is
fragile and needs to be nurtured.
The
finger pointing and blaming of others for our problems is not unique to Kenya.
It is everywhere and we all do it. Creating space for people to create their
own solutions and draw on the wisdom of their community is unusual in most
parts of the world. We blame the government, big business, various ideologies,
family members, people we don’t like... but it doesn’t always result in the
dominant cultural narrative being one of expecting others to save us. Whenever
we blame others, we give our power away, so it helps us to let go of blame and
step powerfully into our own future.
I
don’t think our western cultural narrative has helped. The cultural narrative
of the West of being a super power that has ‘got it right and others should do
things the way we do’ has resulted in the imperialism that disempowers
indigenous cultures. The arrogance of the West in thinking it is needed to save
the less economically powerful countries is difficult for me to swallow.
Economic power does not mean wisdom, nor does it mean happiness. If we measured
success through human happiness, the West would not rate so highly. For Kenya
to catch the disease (dis – ease) that is caused by thinking that happiness
comes through material wealth and money is a great tragedy.
I
am not immune to the hypocrisy of my position, as is a westerner coming to another country to
work for peace, hoping to assist, just like all those who have come before and
stuffed things up. At least I am in good company and perhaps I will also
contribute nothing useful. ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ –
A good heart and good intentions are not enough. Wisdom is required. It is a
partnership. To use the words that have become well known in many Australian
circles;
"If
you have come to help me, you are wasting your time.
But
if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,
then
let us walk together…”
Lila Watson, Australian
Aboriginal woman, in response to mission workers
I
am in Kenya for my own reasons, because it is fulfilling my own dream for a
peaceful planet, from the peace in the hearts and minds of all human beings and
its natural expression of peace in our world. Whether I contribute this to others
is yet to be seen. I hope that I am going
to walk together with communities and allow others to contribute to me as much
as can contribute to others.
The
research in Kenya will have its own natural journey. It is designed to empower
a community but if no one participates then that is learning. If no-one attends
or supports the process then questions can be asked. Finding out the reasons
are part of what is needed to work out what communities want and how they want
it. It could mean the narrative of ‘you have to give everything to us before we
can do anything’ may be confirmed (of course it may be other reasons too, so we
can’t assume anything at this point). If lots of people participate then it
breaks the story that people in Kenya need to be spoon fed and that they won’t
participate otherwise.
So,
that is the challenge. What will the outcomes be?
Stay tuned.
