Kenya’s effects of colonial rule—One Minute Glory

Before colonial authority

Before colonial authority took hold in the majority of the African continent, there was no such thing as civilization. On the land, the African culture was honored and greatly admired. Specific rituals and practices were used as the binding ceremonies of each community, and the Africans shared a sense of peace and pride in their shared culture. Communities, particularly in Kenya, revered their gods in secret locations like forests, mountains, caves, and a variety of other areas. In accordance with the instructions of their community leaders, the people also carried out ceremonies and rites like circumcision, marriage, and funerals among others. Women in the society had their roles which included tilling of the land and managing domestic affairs; they were under the directions and dependency of men.

Impact of colonial ruling

Colonial ruling introduced new stuffs and new strategies of solving things on the globe.. The introduction of education and white-collar jobs brought about dramatic changes in the society where young girls abandoned their role in their homes and went into towns to seek for greener pastures. The women were a new breed that would not engage in land tilling with their parents. According to engage Ngugi Wa Thiong’s, Wanjiru could not do what her parents had been doing over the past years since she had been educated up to class seven and therefore eligible for high school education or office jobs.

Corruption and employment

With the colonial rule, corruption became filtered into the country and employment was only found through networks, and those who did not have any had to tarmac and even then they were not assured of employment. According to the story, Wanjiru had attained better results than most of the people she knew in the society who had secured jobs in offices and towns, but since she did not have a person to help her to secure the job, she ended up becoming a barmaid (Thiong’o, 89). The administrations were also dishonest, and this might be supported by the type of policy that the individuals in the bars were chatting about.

Filth and rotting of the society

The colonial rule brought about filth and rotting of the society, through the clubs and joints where women were used as entertainers of men. The women would be taken in for one night stands to earn an extra coin a vice that had been unheard of in the African culture. The women also engaged in western ways of enhancing beauty such as wearing wigs and whitening their skins to attract men. The African women developed an inferiority complex feeling when they compared themselves with the whites. The inferiority complex led the women to hate their skin colour, which led them to apply Ambi to whiten their skins (Thiong’o, 91). The ladies had to struggle for the notice of men who mistreated them to feel satisfied.

Introduction of Christianity

The colonial rule introduced Christianity as the accepted religion to replace the African worshipping. Christianity condemned the African rituals and rites such as female circumcision. The religion was not taken up well by the Kenyans and even led to running away from home for some women such as Nyaguthii. She as Beatrice had to run away from home due to the strict rules that her family lived with after taking up Christianity as their primary religion. The colonial rule had brought about some detention of minds, and the African would revolt in search of freedom. Wanjiru runs away from home to look for greener pastures in terms of office jobs, but Nyaguthii runs away from home in admiration of the African culture and freedom that accompanied it.

Post-colonial culture

The post-colonial culture in the nation has some qualities of the colonial system. Development has been experienced in the public, which has the western enriching control. There has been a total shift of economic activities for women in the society with more women being well educated and having highly respected jobs in the society. There has been some kind of freedom for women where they are now seen as equal contributors in a marriage institution. Women have turned into self-governing of the customary duties in the society and the truth that they have been beneath the authoritarianism of men previous to the colonial law. Women have been freed from the primitive culture of female circumcision among other cultural practices that threatened their health and later lives. Nevertheless, the filth that the colonialists introduced in the entertainment joints can still be evidenced. Bribery has been the danger that has in jeopardy the nation’s expansion (Branch, 52). Many youths remain unemployed even though highly educated due to lack of connections to land them jobs.

Conclusion

The African culture had been uncivilized before the colonialists came into the country. The colonial rule affected the lives of African women who became entertainment objects for the colonialists. The society became corrupt and the entertainment joints became filthy, alienation among African families became the order of the day. The post-colonial era has brought some freedom to women regarding culture. While gaining some freedom, the society is still marked with colonial traits such as corruption and westernization of the African culture.

Work cited

Branch, Daniel. Defeating Mau Mau, Creating Kenya: Counterinsurgency, civil war, and decolonisation. No. 111. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Thiong’o, N. (1985). Minutes of Glory. African Short Stories. Oxford: Heinemann.