The Interpersonal Communication within the African Kisii Culture - Assignment Example

?Oenga English Dec.10, The Interpersonal Communication within the African Kisii Culture The paper seeks to explore and describe the African Kisii culture in detail and tackle more specifically the communication system between persons in the very nature and context of African culture. In addition, it will want to know different communication systems that were diploid in the past and present and how different they are from the American culture. And finally, apart from giving the summary and the conclusion of the findings, the research paper will again describe some peculiar/new aspects within African Kisii culture and why they are emerging in relation to interpersonal communication. That is to say that the paper will brief us on how different was communication in the past as compared to the present in terms of the reasoning and therefore give the outcome. These and many more will be featured in this research project. Culture can be said to be the communication system. It is the way people relate to one another in terms of customs and values. It is the focal point in terms of peoples’ relationship. What am saying is that culture brings people together and they are able to understand from each other, relate to one another and able to identify themselves from the rest of the groups. And in fact, Eric O. Ayisi in his book: Introduction to the Study of African Culture, defines culture as a sum total of the material and intellectual equipment whereby they satisfy their biological and social needs and adapt themselves to their environment (1). It is therefore the people’s practices and beliefs that differentiate them from others. On the other hand, interpersonal communication is a close link in terms of passing of ideas between two or more people but within a small group. It is all about passing of information from one individual to the next with the view of enhancing fluent communication. The kisii people have got a culture that defines and give them identity. Their communication systems were arranged in such a way that hierarchical order was the determinant factor; that no information could be passed to the children without first reaching the elders from which the information would pass to the rest of the community members. This was to ensure that respect is in place and that the elders are much more experienced in community issues and any emerging issues can be easily dealt with by the elders than it could be done by women and children. Perhaps it is good to mention different ways through which information was passed for easy communication. First, we will look at how communication was done within the context of the family and then communication within the community at large. The interpersonal communication within the family was very basic. As Owen Hargie puts it in his book: Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice, communication therefore represents the very essence of the human condition (2). This is where every member of the family was required to keep in touch with one another. All male children were directly linked to their father and their counterparts, the female children linked to their mother. Not at any time one could break such a system. In fact, Scott Loveless and Thomas Holman in their book: The Family in the New Millennium: World Voices Supporting the "Natural" Clan, Volume 1 puts it clearly that the family is the exclusive social unity sanctioned to nurture the inborn, instill human behaviors, and ensure that human rules and laws spinning around emotions and interactions are respected (94). All male children were therefore advised by their fathers and the elders on the task ahead of them. For instance, getting ready to take care of homestead at large or even getting prepared to be the warriors of the village. On the other hand, female children were advised by their mothers and the grandmothers on how to cook, fetch water and how to behave more especially in front of the elders and men at large. Children were therefore brought up with positive values and strong morals. Every single child within the society belonged to the community and therefore any elder who finds a child misbehaving was free to punish the child. These ensured a strong bond between parents and their children and the community as a whole. On the other hand, the Kisii people had different clans and these clans existed on their own. From one clan to the other there had to be a messenger who could help in passing of information. The information here could be the well about of the other elders and how to run the community in a better way, to know whether there is any offering and sacrifices to be offered to the ancestors in order to appease them. The messenger therefore was to ensure that the information once given was to reach to the right people before sunrise so that at dawn in the following day drums were to be bitten, sirens whistled, fire be lit to produce smoke so as to direct people to the right place. Here people could gather to hear from the elders what they had to say. It could be information to do with a planned attack from the enemies and therefore need for preparations especially on the clan/village warriors. Now to be specific here, everybody involved was to be thorough on what ought to be done. How then was this done? All warriors were young men aged between eighteen and thirty five with each group separate according to their age group. Respect was extremely important in every group and there was no tolerance over any misbehavior among the members of the group; otherwise high discipline was ensured and all the culprits of any misconduct heavily punished. This meant that strong bond of relationship was to be the key foundation of the group. Any communication therefore from one individual to the other was done in an orderly and hierarchical manner. The secrets of any kind were to be kept within the group. This was done to ensure the survival of the group and the community at large. Once the secrets of any group are let out, then it becomes easy for their enemies to learn their tactics and easily attack them from their weaker point. However, there seem some differences in comparison with American culture. It is good to understand that many of the American people are immigrants meaning that intermingle of these many cultures could produce something completely different. This is to say that the American culture had no set of rules that could govern and bring people together in terms of good relation and good interpersonal communication. Instead, every individual took his or her own culture and nobody knew the well about of the other and we can say therefore that it was an individualistic society. Respect on the contrary was not very much spelt out as seen in the African culture. Yes there was good interpersonal communication within the family and nothing like communal links as we see it within the African context. Having said and done let us then turn to the present and see whether the same traditions still hold or we can also look at the challenges facing the African culture. Looking at the past, there was that communal existence. In this regard nobody could exist on his/her own. An individual’s problem was seen as a community problem and therefore every individual participated in it. Every problem was communicated and dealt with in the right way. Interpersonal communication therefore was important. Unlike the past in which face to face communication through verbal or visual gestures were common, today it may take few seconds to pass the information without having to meet with the recipient. This is due to the new technologies in the market. Take for example the computers, the mobile phones and I pads all have completely brought revolution in the communication industry and perhaps altered or changed our thinking capabilities; good communication channels like good roads, air transport and water transport have made it easy and faster for communication to be in a better perspective and these cuts across all cultures. In the present global age, as Van Binsbergen describes it: ... local contexts in the world are more and more dissolving into a worldwide network of interaction under the influence of technological innovations that have reduced to virtually zero the costs (in terms of time and money) of communication and information. Globalization was, in the first instance, observed with regard to transnational movements of capital along electronic media, but in the meantime turns out to have important cultural dimensions. (118) Can we then say that these emerging issues have completely led to a loss of an African culture? Let us have a look at what repercussions such technologies have left behind. The growth of urban cities has led to rural urban migration. The men are forced to shift from rural areas in order to move to towns looking for green pastures to be able to take care of their families. This means that there has to be a change of roles and the family will never enjoy the love that used to be. Poor interpersonal communication within families has led to disintegration and family breakage. The parents are no longer close with their children and the only communication between them is the use of a mobile phone, face book, and twitter among others. These have completely changed the reasoning of the people. Young people have been spoilt by immoral materials found in the internet leading to complete disrespect of once life. By watching of pornographic materials for instance has contributed to the loss of African culture that considered sex as sacred. These will again imply that slowly the good part of the culture is fading away. For instance, the aspect of community sharing, the moral teachings are no longer experienced. The society in this sense has become what in the western culture is termed as an individualistic society. The concept of socialism is lost and things became worse with the coming of Europeans, many people lost their identity and their humanism. Mimiko asserts that: The social fabric was completely devastated and a new culture of violence was implanted. Traditional African systems of conflict resolution were destroyed and, in their places, nothing was given. The democratic process, rudimentary though it was, but with great potential as accompanies every human institution, was brutally uprooted and replaced by the authoritarianism of colonialism. A new crop of elites was created, nurtured, and weaned on the altar of violence and colonialism armed with the structures of the modern state to continue to carry out the art and act of subjugation of the mass of the people in the service of colonialism (641-642). People can no longer therefore identify themselves with others and it is completely a new beginning. There is a new culture emerging. The young people have no respect to their elders. There is no clear interpersonal communication between them and in fact parents are not instilling the positive values to their children; and more especially on sex education. Now the question is what needs to be done? This remains a big challenge and a solution is yet to be found. Yes there are many challenges and indeed change is here with us that we can’t avoid. But then do we remain quiet and lose our identity. If one loses his or her own identity, then we stand a chance of not knowing who we are and even not able to understand our present situation and how far we have come from. Where then are we heading to? In recapitulation of what we have discussed, culture as we said is people’s way of life, a communication system. Culture is found in people’s artifacts, knowledge and behavior. It is in culture that we see the interpersonal communication regarded as extremely of greater value and a foundational stone for hum existence; and more specifically the African Kisii culture. We see how this culture was systematically arranged beginning from the family level up to the community level. Proper communication systems were put in place and every member respected them. It is through these proper organizations that every individual identified himself or herself. However, with the coming of Europeans, every order was distorted and new culture begins to emerge. Even though the new culture brought with it new ideas and technologies, is this enough to make the African people and the whole globe forget its own culture? Last but not least, we need to go back and revive the good aspects of our culture. Look at the social aspect of the African culture, good systems of conflict resolution, social and moral values that were put in place and instigated into the young people’s minds by the most experienced. All these were put in place to ensure and respect life and peaceful co- existence. It is amazing! And indeed interpersonal communication could not be avoided in every aspect of their lives. It was the linking power through which strong relationship could be established. It is through communication that every single problem could be shared and solved as a communal thing. It is high time therefore to realize that individualism brings about evil motives in our society, it lags behind development and the national resources can never be shared equally. It is time to challenge ourselves and let us learn to identify ourselves through our own culture. Work cited Ayis, O. Eric. An Introduction to the Study of African Culture. 2nd Ed. Nairobi: East African Publishers, 1992. Web. Dec. 09, 2012 Loveless, A. Scott, and Holman, Thomas, B. The Family in the New Millennium: World Voices Supporting the "Natural" Clan, Volume 1. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. Web. Dec.09, 2012 < books.google.co.ke/books?isbn=0275992403> O Mimiko, “Tradition, Governance, Challenges and the Prospects of Change in Africa” in Niyi Afolabi, ed. Toyin Falola: The Man, The Mask, The Muse. North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2010. Web. Dec. 09, 2012 Owen, Hargie. Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice. USA: Taylor & Francis, 2010.Web. Dec. 09, 2012 Wim M. J. van Binsbergen, Rijk van Dijk. Situating Globality: African agency in the Appropriation of global culture. Michigan: the University of Michigan, 2004. Web. Dec. o9, 2012 Read More