Codes of Cultural Behaviour - Report Example

s of Cultural Behaviour By s of Cultural Behaviour My destination of choice is Kenya. My grandfather once visited Kenya and whenhe came back he told us many fascinating stories about Kenya, this provoked a lot of interest in me about Kenya and I have always hoped of visiting Kenya one day. This is the main reason why I have chosen to explore the Codes of Cultural Behaviour of Kenya. This paper gives a brief Kenyan culture overview; the paper also gives Codes of Cultural Behaviour in Kenya. In the conclusion, I have given the aspects of the Kenyan Culture that I find unusual, in relation to my culture. Brief Kenyan Culture Overview Kenya is a multi-ethnic country with over 42 tribes. For this reason, although there is a national Kenyan culture, there are also 42 sub-cultures corresponding to the 42 tribes in Kenya. The predominant tribe in Kenya is Kikuyu, followed by the Luhya , the Luo, and then the Kamba (Culture of Kenya-history, people, clothing, traditions, and religion). These four tribes in Kenya account to more than 50% of the population of Kenya. Kenya Became independent in 1963 after the Maumau guerrilla fighters successfully fought the colonialists and defeated them. The first president of Kenya was Called Kenyatta, and he is credited for uniting the various tribes of Kenya to form one unitary state with a national culture. The Kenya culture, however, is a derivative of different elements of the 42 sub-cultures of Kenya. On religion, Kenya is predominantly a Christian country with over 65% of the population being Christians; the protestant Christians constitute around 38% of the population while the Catholic Christian constitute around 28% of the population(Culture of Kenya-history, people, clothing, traditions, and religion). The Muslims constitute around 7% of the population of Kenya. The followers of the Traditional African Religions constitute a number, constituting around 26% of the population; the percentage of the adherents of the Traditional African Religions, however, is rapidly decreasing as many of their members join Christianity, while others join the Muslims. But although there are different religions in Kenya, there are, however, some fundamental religious believes among all the Kenyan Religions. One of these fundamental religious tenets is the belief in afterlife. Prior to the coming of the Christian and Muslim missionaries in Kenya, all the Traditional African Religions in Kenya taught that death is not the end of life and that there is life after death. Both Christianity and the Muslim religions hold this same view, i.e. there is life after death. African Traditional Religions also believed that God will punish the sinners/the bad people, and reward the righteous/the good people. This same view is held by both the Christianity and the Muslim. Etiquette Kenyans are hospitable people and friendly people. Greetings are an important aspect of social interaction in Kenya; greetings in Kenya involve warm shaking of hands, the greetings often include enquiries about one’s health (Culture of Kenya-history, people, clothing, traditions, and religion). Visitors in Kenya are also considered as a blessing, and they are treated with a lot of respect, visitors to a home are usually offered food, for instance tea or porridge, and declining such an offer by a visitor is usually considered impolite. The elderly people in Kenya also are esteemed highly, and they are treated with a great deal of respect. Codes of Cultural Behaviour Just like any other country of the world, Kenya has distinct codes of cultural behaviour, to which anybody aspiring to work or to live in Kenya must first get well acquitted to, so as to avoid culture shock. Tourists to Kenya also should be well acquitted with the Kenyan culture so as to avoid culture shock. A research on the Kenyan codes of cultural behaviour shows that the following information on the “Dos” and “Don’ts” of Kenyan cultural codes of behaviour is essential for the tourists to the country. Let us begin with a discussion of five “Dos” of Kenyan Codes of cultural behaviour. First, as a multi-tribe and a multi-religious country, Kenyans have respect for different religions. For this reason, the tourists to Kenya are free to practice their religions in Kenya, as long as they don’t interfere with the beliefs of other people by practicing their religions. Religious freedom therefore is one of the pertinent elements of Kenyan culture (Culture of Kenya-history, people, clothing, traditions, and religion). The second permissible element of Kenyan culture is on marriage. Kenyan culture has great respect for marriage. Traditionally, Kenyans had very high regard for marriage because family was the basic foundation on which families were built. This view of marriage still permeates the Kenyan culture, and the Kenyans expect visitors to their country to show respect to the institution of marriage. For this reason, the tourists to Kenya are free to marry in Kenya, as long as they observe the cultural requirements of marriage (Kenyan Culture and Our Values). The third element of Kenyan cultural code of behaviour that is permitted to the tourists is in regard to home visits. As we have said on the Kenyan Etiquettes, Kenyan people have great respect for the visitors. For this reason, tourists to Kenya are allowed to visit people in their homes and to socialize with them (Culture of Kenya-history, people, clothing, traditions, and religion). Also, the Kenyan cultural code of behaviour permits tourists to shake hands with the people during greetings. This is because, as we have seen in the overview of the Kenyan culture, shaking of hands is the culturally accepted form of greeting people in Kenya. For this reason, the tourists to Kenya should be ready to warmly shake hands in greetings, with anybody, irrespective of their social standing (Culture of Kenya-history, people, clothing, traditions, and religion). The fifth element of Kenyan cultural code of behaviour that is permissible to the tourists is giving of gifts to the local people, and accepting gifts to the local people. As we saw in the overview of the Kenyan culture, the Kenyan people regard visitors as blessings. For this reason, the visitors to Kenya are often given gifts. For this reason, the tourists to Kenya should be prepared to accept gifts from the Kenyan people, and to give them gifts, if they so wish (Culture of Kenya-history, people, clothing, traditions, and religion). Having looked at five “Dos” of the Kenyan cultural code of behaviour, let us now look at five “Don’ts” of Kenyan codes of cultural behaviour. To begin with, Kenyan code of cultural behaviour prohibits homosexual relationships. As a society that highly values marriage as a foundation of family and society, the Kenyan society views homosexual relationships as a threat to the survival of the society. For this reason, the Kenyan culture is generally averse to homosexual relationships. Tourists to Kenya therefore should be aware of this fact lest they face culture shock (Kenyans against Homosexuality). The second prohibitive element of the Kenyan Culture is the indecency in dressing. Then culture generally advocates for decency in dressing, sexually provocative and seductive clothes like the mini-skirts among the ladies are not allowed by the Kenyan Culture. Although there is no law in Kenya illegalizing this mode of dressing, the Kenyan culture however view these kind of dressing as immoral. Tourists to Kenya therefore should dress modestly to avoid conflicting with the local Kenyan culture (Sobania, 2003). The third “Don’t” of the Kenyan culture is sexual immorality. According to the Kenyan culture, sex is regarded as a sacred thing meant for the married people only. For this reason, the Kenyan culture does not permit any form of fornication or adultery. The tourists to Kenya therefore should be aware of this fact least their behaviour clash with the culture of their host country (Kenyan Culture and Our Values). The forth prohibitive element of the Kenyan cultural code of behaviour is that the Kenyan culture is averse to imposition of foreign ideas that are inconsistent with their cultural believes. Having gone through the painful experience of colonialism, the Kenyan people view the tourists, especially those who come from western countries, with a bit of suspicion. For this reason, the Kenyan culture is averse to people who want to impose their way of life upon them (Sobania, 2003). The fifth prohibitive element of the Kenyan culture is that the Kenyan culture highly respects human life. For this reason, the Kenyan culture is averse to any form of disrespect to the human life. For this reason, tourist to Kenya should avoid any action that may be construed, by the local Kenyan people, as disrespect to human life (Kenyan Culture and Our Values). Among the “Dos”, I find the Kenyan cultural requirement of shaking hands with strangers quite unusual. This cultural requirement is inconsistent with my culture, whereby I am supposed to shake hands with the people that I am familiar with. This element of Kenyan cultural code of behaviour would make me to feel a bit unease while in Kenya. On the “Don’ts”, I find the cultural prohibition of homosexual relationships quite unfair. This cultural prohibition is against the homosexuals’ rights to express themselves sexually. I feel that this cultural requirement is discriminative and I would feel a bit uneasy about it while in Kenya. References Culture of Kenya-history, people, clothing, traditions, and religion. Web. Kenyans against Homosexuality. Web. Kenyan Culture and Our Values. Web. Sobania, N. (2003).Culture and Customs of Kenya. USA:Greenwood. Print Read More