The Pima Phenomenon: Culture, African Time and Consumerism in Kenya

The exponential growth of social media sites in terms of user numbers and revenues is evidence that humans long for connection, no matter how abstract. This means meeting other people and social groups that we consider “alien,” and the success of modern societies is dependent on the ability to take advantage of diversity to improve the socioeconomic welfare of the people. Of course, what we often see is the other side of the coin, so to speak, where any form of differentiation between individuals is used to divide them. The encounter between cultures results in the creation of new environments. “How shall the new environment be programmed? It all happened so slowly that most men failed to realize that anything had happened at all,” prophesied SRT, a character in the classic sci-fi THX 1138.  SRT stands for Sartre, a tribute to the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. I believe I’ve seen a form of this reprogramming, and it has something to do with consumerism, the African concept of time and the encounter of Africa and the West. Here me out.

In Kenya, the gaining of independence did not result in complete socioeconomic autonomy. Our grandparents were influenced by the English, and most of them remember them as white folk with British accents. Today, the foreign influence is mainly American, just listen to the accents of young folk when they talk in English. Who do they get it from, Khaligraph Jones? Consumerism is at the core of American culture, so much so that it is now considered a problem because people are becoming convinced that consumption is a solution to life’s challenges (Consumerism, Conformity, and Uncritical Thinking in America). Consumerism is psychologically unhealthy because it leads to “erosion of the true self and replacing it with a false self” (Emerald). Self-identity is directly linked to culture because the latter forms the basis for understanding the world as well as our place and role in it. Identity is part of African culture because it is a core of being/existence. Besides identity, the essence of being for the African individual is influenced by origin and locality (Chabal). I’m going to limit this analysis to Kenya, and African culture is used as a reference to all cultures and ethnic groups in Kenya. Another clarification I should make is that I refer to American culture as a representative of the West because it’s dominance in the media makes it the most influential on Kenyans.

In his book End of Arrogance: Africa and The West (Understanding their Differences), Helmut Danner analyzes the encounter of Africa and the West, the differences between these two worldviews, and why understanding them is essential for the solution of many problems faced in Africa. Danner observes that this encounter has resulted in arrogance on the part of Westerners and deep distrust on the part of Africans. The former’s attitude is a consequence of a “self-assumed status” of superiority that results in the perception of Africans as in need of “teaching” (Danner). On the other hand, the experiences of slave trade and colonialization have made Africans bitter, distrustful and suspicious of Westerners because it resulted in dehumanization, apartheid, and brutality (Danner). Danner uses anecdotes to support his arguments throughout the book, drawing parallels between his subjective experiences of both cultures. The concept of time in Africa is entirely different from the Western perception of the same. Danner observes that while it is important to Westerners that something is done on time, “for Africans, it is important it happens at all” (Danner, p. 5). Tardiness is tolerated in Africa, and the term “African timer” is a phrase that is proudly uttered to justify it. “Punctuality is the virtue of the bored” is more than a wisdom quote for an African; it is a reality. This observation is supported by evidence from works by African authors namely African Religions and Philosophy by John S. Mbiti, and an article by Daniel Etounga-Manguelle titled “Does Africa Need a Cultural Adjustment Program?” in Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress edited by Lawrence E. Harrison and  Samuel P. Huntington.  Etounga-Manguelle’s argument connects this lack of emphasis on the future to “the glorious past of ancestors,” which Africans revere through tales and fables  (Danner). Mbiti argues that African time is concrete and not abstract. As such, the linear basis of past, present and future found in the Western perception of time is absent in Africa. Concrete time is “a composition of events” that have to be experienced, and since what has not happened cannot be experienced, the emphasis is on the past and present, not the future (Danner). For the African, there is micro-time, which covers sasa/now, and macro-time, which covers zamani, a “dimension in which everything finds its halting point” (Danner). Because of this interpretation Africans “neither plan for the distant future nor build castles in the air” (Danner, p. 119).

My argument is that this phenomenon is, in part, an explanation of the pima phenomenon that characterizes consumerism in Kenya. A majority of consumer products are broken down into smaller quantities with denominations used as the main metric. Kuwa customer wa mama pima is a manifestation of that indifference to the future, a product of our interpretation of the world. Our exposure to American culture via the media has ingrained consumerism into the modern African understanding of the world. Integration of these two entirely different cultures results in curious and sometimes depressing manifestations of social, political and economic phenomena. The capitalistic mindset behind corruption in Kenya is a good example, because it results in the plunder of public loot by leaders who contradict African “ethical foundation in the community” (Danner p. 56). Danner asks whether the impunity of corrupt leaders is rooted in the cultural veneration of elders as beyond reproach (p. 51). I answer with a resounding YES! The pima phenomenon is another example of how the adoption of a foreign value, consumerism, is manifested in Kenya influenced by both economic and cultural factors. The bulk shopping of American Consumerism was not adopted fully in Africa. The lack of urgency about the future makes us curiously comfortable buying things in small quantities. I say curious because I once saw a lady buy a single diaper, and I wondered what she would do if her baby accidentally soiled that ONE. I was worried about something that hadn’t happened yet, ergo, it could not be experienced. It was in the future, therefore, unimportant. Culture influences consumer behavior, and companies that profit off consumerism have to adopt marketing strategies and product designs that reflect the consumption behavior of the majority. The craziest product design I’ve seen that supports my point is a Nescafe instant coffee worth 10 bob that supposedly had milk cream/powder and sugar. I grew up consuming and seeing ads of BlueBand kadogo. Today we have mobile banking, which in addition to being portable, offers miniature banking services. And now within this abstract realm, we have M-Pesa kadogo.

The kadogo/pima phenomenon can be attributed to numerous other causes. The economic aspect of it cannot be ignored, and differences in income can be categorized as the number one cause of this phenomenon. People who earn less income need to be catered for, and so products are sliced, counted, repackaged and measured in every way to suit the pocket of customers. However, as a kid, I grew up hearing “muthenya wa thoko.” Every Sunday in my village, a market called Kanguri  would open up on a scale you would never see on a weekday. The people who shopped at markets like Kanguri bought things in bulk to last till next Sunday. The pima phenomenon in such a socioeconomic setting was unsustainable and unprofitable. This has changed partly because of the growing income inequalities in Africa. However, the African concept of time also explains how the interaction of cultures leads to the reprogramming of consumers to adopt to the new socioeconomic environments that emerge as a result. In addition to being an adjustment because of economic constraints, the pima phenomenon is also meant to suit the emphasis of Sasa/now in the African perception of time. For instance, M-pesa kadogo now allows those who don’t deal with “big money” to transact. It also makes it possible to shop in smaller quantities for immediate utility.

The integration of American and African cultures and the slow but sure dominance of consumerism in Kenya has resulted in the appearance of the the pima phenomenon. A phenomenon that is partly caused by our lack of worry about the future. Globalization is upon us, fueled by technology that has made cultural interchange something natural. The full proportion of the consequences are yet to be seen, and like always, humanity is flying blind into the future. Consumerism is evil, and though it may seem to be compatible with some cultural aspects of Africa, we don’t know what the future holds for us. However, judging from what has been observed in Western societies, the future is not that bright. Cultures are fluid and are shaped by people as communities and countries. Instead of sitting back and waiting to experience it (pacified on our couches by 15 minutes long commercial breaks), we need to be proactive and selective when choosing the cultural values we adopt. We went from shopping with baskets to picking up kadogo products from hawkers and Mama Pimas. A dangerous and unhealthy socioeconomic change that endangers our finances by promoting impulsive buying, and our environment because it is directly responsible for the plastic bag menace in the country. 

   

Sijakataa upimiwe! But next time ukingoja iyo nylon paper imebeba vitunguu tatu ifungwe knot, jua inaeza kuwa haufanyangi shopping hivo juu ya kusota but ‘cause culturally, time kwa Mwafrika ni "All about NOW!"

 Thanks for your time.

Works Cited

Chabal, Patrick. Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling. London: Zed Books, 2009. Print.

Danner, Helmut. End of Arrogance: Africa and The West (Understanding their Differences). Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 2012. Print.

Emerald, Neal D. E. "Consumerism, Nature, and the Human Spirit." Master's Thesis. 2004. PDF.

Paper, 2000 Third Year. "Consumerism, Conformity, and Uncritical Thinking in America." (2000). http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:8846775.

Two Pence Clarity: Education is the Key

The clash between the religious folks and atheists in Kenya is gaining momentum. Each side has done much to discredit the other, and a little digging on the internet can give you a clear picture of who has the numbers, and who has the truth. Yes! I'm being biased here because I belong to one side. However, I believe that this debate is headed in the wrong direction and that events like "Godless Parenting" recently held by Atheists In Kenya on September 24, 2016, aren't gonna cut it, and cannot shake the strong faith that people have in the Supreme! Amen? Amen! Religious folks are still rooted in mind and spirit, and atheists are just barking at the wrong tree!

I'm an atheist, and I think the atheist community led by Harrison Mumia is doing a good job. However, I question the labelling of their recent event dubbed Godless Parenting as a success because to me it was a misappropriation of effort. The main reason being that the entire clash between this country's religious and atheist communities is more like a cat fight, characterized by a lot of misdirected blows. In my opinion, the atheist community is adopting the same conceptual framework of argument as their religious rivals. A framework that relies on platitudes and emphasizes external influence, negating the concept of freethinking. The use of social media is primarily responsible for the former because when you have a max of 140 characters, the use of quotes and inanities becomes very convenient. Quotes are a good example of the ad populum fallacy at work. You see one and think, "That's clever, must be true" then you scroll down to the next Tweet. Jesus can become a cool, smart and witty guy, while the Quran becomes a tolerant and honorable book. In most of these online debates, context doesn't matter, and each side is guilty of being fallacious. It stops being about the children and more about their parents.

While I agree that parents play a significant role in the development of a child, they cannot be trusted. Any atheist who comes from a religious family can attest to this. So why emphasize on the same kind of influence? Anyone can see the insistence on Godless Parenting is basically the same concept as Parenting with God. This cannot help us grow and mature into a Freethinking society. Once the child begins to think and ask serious questions, a parent is obligated to guide them and not impose their conclusions, religious or otherwise. The best way to achieve this is by educating them, but in Kenya, this raises another problem. Ngugi wa Thion'go explored the problems of language and the internal harmony of the African child in Chapter 1 Section. V of his book Decolonising the Mind. He explains how being educated in a foreign language broke "the harmony previously existing between the African child and the three aspects of language" (Thiong'o, p. 16). Ngugi argues that foreign languages in schools alienated children from their world, since foreign languages were the “real language of life” of elsewhere, and could not reflect “the real life” native communities (Thiong'o, p. 16). What is relevant to us here is harmony.

The problem of compromised harmony created by our education that Ngugi pointed out thirty years ago persists today. The result of this disharmony in language saw the birth of Sheng’, a language comprised entirely of a vocabulary of foreign (mostly English), and native (mostly Swahili) words, used to form new words unique to the language. In linguistics, such a mixture is awesome, but if this haphazard amalgamation and reconciliation happened with world views, the result would be a very messed society that doesn’t know what to make of the Universe. One problem that would face children of godless parents is the dilemma of choosing between the philosophy of their home and that of school. It is here that godless parents become victims of the same misgivings as their religious counterparts, imposing undue influence on the fragile minds of their children.

Religious Education is compulsory in all Kenyan primary schools. Everyone who studied biology in High School knows that “Special Creation” is taught as a valid scientific theory explaining the origin of life. It still is, just pick up any Form Four biology book. The result is a society that cannot distinguish the difference between facts and fiction. Education’s role as an instrument to help us find the truth becomes problematic. Our society has no tool to determine which interpretation of the world is right. Since we only have one earth and only one explanation is needed, young minds find it difficult to know the difference between Evolution and Creationism, especially if school books tell you both are true. The result is adults who don’t know what a scientific theory is, and any interpretation of the world that is likeable is acceptable. Now anyone with any respect for the truth knows that “Special Creation” is bullshit, and teaching CRE/IRE isn’t teaching but preaching. To progress as a society, we need to restore education to its true incorruptible form, where nothing but the truth is given precedence. The presence of religious dogma, both Christian and Islamic, in our education system is a hindrance to our growth into a freethinking society. Freethinkers in this country need to turn their attention to education, which has more influence on individual and collective thinking. Instead of tackling issues such as parenting, an act parents demand an exclusive right to, atheists in Kenya should work to ensure that all Kenyan children receive an education that teaches them how to think critically, and accurately interpret the world around them. Getting rid of religious education and anything dogmatic in the curriculum is the first step in guaranteeing that children get to grow up as smart, thoughtful, independent thinking individuals. The future of our country and our world is dependent on that.

Work Cited

Thiong'o, Ngugi wa. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1986. Print.

Lesson Learnt.

Until recently I have vehemently spoken against all holy books.Firstly, I was brought up a Christian, so I'm going to limit my discussion to the Christian bible. Secondly, I am an avid reader so you can imagine how I ravished the pages of the old and new testaments of the bible in our house before I had a cent to buy a book. Thirdly, I am an atheist and I detest all Generation X born again folks. I'm being so specific because the above mentioned are the most notorious in cherry picking the bible. Post-colonial Christians like my grand folks are tough, they walked a treacherous path between the white man and the Mau Mau, two forces that turned their faith against them. Those that survived hold on to their beliefs, and are willing to execute every word in the bible. To these people Numbers 31:17-18, Deut 22:20-22, 1 Timothy 2:9,  were not to be taken lightly.
Enter Generation X. The roots of religion run deep, but the 'temptation' of secularism was strong, still is, and the bible started to become a hindrance instead of an aid. Something like oversized boots that needed resizing. Good thing the generation in question is full of apologists who work diligently  day and night (Their zeal amazes me, honestly) to make sure the bible remains palatable to the ever changing preferences of faith. And so there are verses in the bible you will never hear being mentioned by a Christian anywhere on the globe, because they are outright ridiculous. Read any book in the bible and you'll find a multitude of them.
I was always of the opinion that if cherry picking the bible made the hypocritical religious lives of people livable, life to these poor folk would be bliss of they flashed the whole thing down the toilet. I now recant the above, because I think we could still gain a lot if we continued to read the bible, but as what it is, folklore.
The bible was compiled over thousand of years,  that is a lot of knowledge. As a lover of knowledge, I cannot advocate for its destruction no matter its form. It is true that some of the knowledge contained therein can have destructive impacts. Indeed! But that is great since it leads to the realization that destruction has been humanity's most perennial trait and a constant reminder of our stupidity, a very important fact.
I just read Matthew 8: 28-34 about Jesus and two possessed dudes. So Jesus transfers the demons in these guys to a bunch of swine that end up drowning. Being an atheist, the exorcism part is bullshit, because we all know and I bet Jesus as the "son of god"(In some versions  Jesus refers to himself with the phrase "Son of Man", I wonder if they ignore this deliberately) knew that you can't drown demons, making the whole thing an unnecessary waste of life.  The swine are more interesting because they made me think, what if one of those pigs paused? What if one chose to listen to those demons and think differently from the other pigs? It would have been saved from drowning. Lesson learnt, contradict the crowd. It will save your life. There are numerous other insights, for instance the popularity of crucifixion at the time and the crowd that came to see Jesus and his thieving friends die, remind me of people who cheer and watch as an alleged thief is being stoned and torched. Lesson: nothing new under the sun, and nailing a thief or two with their penises hanging out does not deter future thieves.
Of course the above can be learned from numerous literary sources. However, my atheism is not justification for ignoring it until I infer the same from a Dostoevsky novel. And so I maintain that the bible should be read in its entirety, the beautiful, the ugly and the entertaining. It's a great anthology, the bible is, and so are all holy books. So read them and treat their characters and events the same as you would treat the events in R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island, and you will be amazed at the sheer immensity of depth and shallowness, beautiful prose and poetry, which will make you revere and detest those books in equal measure. Plus if you're an atheist, you'll have the intellectual freedom to read as many as you can from various regions and religions, and all they can do is make you a better person, which is impossible for believers.