International Study presentation - Essay Example

Anthropology of the Kikuyu in Africa Being a distinctively large community in Kenya, the community is one of the earliest known inhabitants of the country next to their counterparts the Maasai. Their traditional setting was quite contemporary as they were quite advanced in their systems of governance. In the articles I reviewed they address the interaction of world-known anthropologist and archeologist Louis Leakey. Having been born and brought up within the kikuyu traditional setting his knowledge of the anthropology of the community is impeccable.

This was during the colonization period in which the country had being colonized by the British. Similarities between the two articles:Both articles are on Leakey interacted with the kikuyu people learning their custom, beliefs and ways of life.In both articles, the kikuyu are viewed as a community with a highly developed structure in term of their social setting whereby the interaction between the community members is very close.Differences between the articlesIn the first article is mainly about that Louis Leakey wrote but remained unpublished till after his death while the second one is about his upbringing in the local setting which later molded his archeological career.

In the first article, the kikuyu herbalists are noted to have developed a vaccine against small pox which was long before the evolution of medicine and the settling of the Europeans in their country. In the second article however, this information is not written.In the book that Leakey wrote, it is evident that he had in depth knowledge of the Kikuyu ways of life as he even writes about their customary ways of treating the dead while in the second article, his articulation with the community is shown by the fact that he underwent the customary initiation process.

ReferencesArticle 1; http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/-/434746/472874/-/item/0/-/ks409f/-/index.html Article 2; http://www.leakey.com/bios/louis-seymour-bazett-leakey