Once upon a time, this thing called ‘tribe’ mattered a great deal. When all our livelihoods were dependent on soils, rivers and pastures, your tribe helped you secure those vital resources for ‘your’ people. Your tribe kept you safe and kept you fed, so you were right to feel loyal.
Once we started to urbanize and develop income streams away from the forces of nature, the hold of tribe started to weaken. Now, skills and knowledge began to matter more than prowess with spears or shears. But still, tribe remained a powerful adhesive: urban-dwellers stuck together in tribal groupings even in the big city. Businessfolk trusted their own tribesfolk more, and tended to trade amongst them. Political leaders fed jobs and contracts to their own people.
And of course, the fact that the city slicker’s true home was still back in the rural abode, in the bosom of the tribe, meant that the hold of kinship and clanship stayed strong.
That was then. Today, Kenya has been catapulted into the 21st century. If you haven’t noticed, this is a world in which pretty much everyone on the planet interacts with pretty much everyone else, cheaply and pretty much continuously.
In this mind-blowing cacophony of relentless communication, how does one stand out, be distinctive, have influence, earn a better living than the rest of the crowd?
It is not, I suggest, by being a Kikuyu or a Kalenjin or a Kenyan Asian, period. The world of 24-7 commerce does not know those categorizations, and does not care about them. It only cares about who is adding value.
Despite this new reality, one of the most depressing aspects of a Kenyan general election is the confirmation that we remain entrenched in our tribalism, fossilized in our ethnic ghettoes and stuck in the dreams of our distant mountains and lakes. And it doesn’t take us forward, not one inch.
If you are a young Kenyan with an eye on making a future for yourself, please rethink this premise. Let me put to you that the hills of your ancestors and wedding rituals of your forbears are the least relevant ingredient in your future success. What will matter will be to stand out in your chosen field, in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Your tribe will find it very difficult to give you skills and knowledge, or preferred status in contracts, or even employment. Slowly but surely, the hold of ethnicity on economy is fading, and new forms of identity are emerging.
Groupings are still important. We can’t just be a faceless part of the teeming billions. But the nature of the groupings matters, as writer Seth Godin has argued with eloquence. It is way more important, for example, for you to be a member of the global tribe of software developers than to be associated with a river. In the former tribe, you will gain access to the shared knowledge and experiences that will forge your career success.
Don’t misunderstand: culture and kinship never go away. It is very important for people to have shared language, history, songs, literature and cuisine. These are elemental forces that carry huge emotion. I relish my culture, and I hope you revel in yours. But it is very important for us to not confuse heritage with competitive advantage. Your economic future will be swung on an altogether different set of identities, around skills, occupations, passions and pastimes.
In Kenya we have some way to go before this sinks in. The forces of closed-kraal thinking retain a withering hold on the Kenyan mind, even the highly educated one. But the enlightened young Kenyan would do well to understand: your tribe provides your roots, but you must flower widely. Your place of birth is a beginning, not an ending. We can all live bigger lives by living broader ones.
Related posts:
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Mr Bindra
Bravo for once again nailing it. As I’ve said before in a comment to one of your similar articles, tribalism is a cancer that we in Kenya perpetuate in suffering from.
Sadly, as you correctly point out, our leaders – they that hold sway with the majority – are the biggest culprits in the spread of this particularly vile alien concept. Alien I say, as I believe that the brand of tribalism practiced today was taught to us by our colonists as they effected their most efficient policy of divide and conquer.
The saddest part is that we seem not to have learnt anything from the ills of history, except to repeat it; as you suggest, my hope too is that future generations will look back and wonder why only precious few of our leaders understood the errors of their ways. In the meantime, I salute your courage in tackling this very difficult subject, and pray that evangelism such as yours helps steer us to see the error of the ways in which we are led astray from taking a step toward true progress.
Kimenyi
[Reply]
Sunny Bindra Reply:
February 6th, 2013 at 7:00 am
Kimenyi:
It is indeed a difficult subject, one that animates many, and not always in the right way.
My hope was to shine the light of logic on it and hope some of the as-yet-not brainwashed can see the world differently.
[Reply]
I like your commentaries on issues especially this one. Continue with the good work, there are people listening!
[Reply]
Sunny Bindra Reply:
February 6th, 2013 at 6:58 am
Kariuki:
Thank you – and the drumbeating will go on.
[Reply]
l totally agree when you said….”Your place of birth is a beginning, not an ending.” it would be a shame for us to be engrossed in our tribes that it dictates who we are and our decisions to the tip.Development is good especially when one can combine your roots and embrace the modern ways almost perfect fit.
[Reply]
Good point Sunny. I wholly agree. Tribalism is really regression. We rant endlessly about progressive projects such the Tatu City or modern transport systems, but will not let go of the now deleterious tribal groupings. This is a great contradiction!
[Reply]
Sunny,
After reading such a great piece of work, I dare say that PhDs flying tribal flags are not educated neither have they learnt any useful lessons from their supposed wide travel and interaction.
The educated must have learnt there are better associations worth the while. But let’s face it; there are benefits linked to tribal groupings; the only tragedy is they waft, fast. Perhaps we need to put more value in how to identify better associations to see a broader world.
Could other groupings, like professional associations in Kenya and the region be mirroring tribal groups?
[Reply]