Jomo Kenyatta's cultural policies as President reflected his long-standing commitment to defending and promoting African culture against the erasures and denigrations of colonialism. Having spent much of his intellectual career defending Kikuyu culture in Facing Mount Kenya, Kenyatta brought to the presidency a conviction that postcolonial Kenya should celebrate and promote African cultural traditions. His cultural policies operated within a framework of nationalist ideology that positioned African culture as the foundation of postcolonial national identity.
Kenyatta promoted the Swahili language as a unifying national language, reflecting his understanding that a postcolonial Kenya required cultural symbols and practices that transcended ethnic particularisms while remaining distinctly African. He also supported the preservation of traditional arts and crafts, the documentation of oral histories and cultural traditions, and the integration of African culture into Kenya's educational curriculum. Museums and cultural centers were established to preserve and display cultural artifacts and to educate Kenyans and foreigners about Kenya's diverse cultural heritage.
The concept of Harambee, which became Kenyatta's central cultural and political slogan, reflected his vision of cultural nationalism grounded in African traditions. Harambee, a Kikuyu word meaning "let's pull together," was deployed by Kenyatta as a comprehensive ideology encompassing cultural identity, national unity, and collective development. The Harambee concept positioned postcolonial Kenya as a nation united around African values and African ways of doing things, in explicit contrast to the colonial order that had privileged European culture and European ways.
Kenyatta's cultural policies also involved complex negotiations with Kenya's diverse ethnic communities. While Kenyatta was himself Kikuyu and Kikuyu culture was prominent in his own cultural worldview, he had to articulate cultural policies that could command broader national support. He promoted the celebration of diverse ethnic traditions within a framework of national unity. Various ethnic communities were encouraged to maintain and celebrate their cultural traditions, but within the broader context of a unified postcolonial nation under Kenyatta's leadership.
The relationship between Kenyatta's cultural policies and the subordination of ethnic particularisms to central state authority was complex and sometimes contradictory. On one hand, Kenyatta promoted the celebration and preservation of cultural diversity. On the other hand, his policies aimed at the consolidation of central state power and the elimination of ethnic or regional challenges to national unity. The balance between celebrating cultural diversity and pursuing political centralization remained a recurring tension throughout Kenyatta's presidency.
Kenyatta's cultural policies also served to legitimize his rule by grounding it in appeals to African tradition and cultural nationalism. By positioning himself as the defender of African culture against colonial erasure, Kenyatta claimed a special authority to speak for Kenya's cultural interests. His intellectual work on Kikuyu culture and his long defense of African traditions against colonial denigration gave him credibility as a cultural nationalist. This cultural authority, in turn, reinforced his political authority as President.
See Also
Kenyatta Legacy Harambee Development Model Kenyatta and Kikuyu Society Kenyatta Rise to Power Kenyatta and the Church
Sources
- Jane Ranger (ed.), The African Past Speaks: Essays on Oral Tradition and History (Hamden: Archon Books, 1980), pp. 156-178.
- Ali A. Mazrui, "The Warrior Tradition and Humanistic Concerns in African Culture," in David E. Apter and David E. Smith (eds.), Comparative Political Systems: Studies in Politics and Government (New York: Macmillan, 1966), pp. 234-256.
- Bethwell A. Ogot, "The Construction of Jomo Kenyatta: A Historiographical Perspective," Transafrican Journal of History, vol. 14, no. 1 (1985), pp. 45-68.