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Students' perception of ethnicity and learning : a case study of the United States International University (USIU) Katsuji Nakamura

By:

Nakamura, Katsuji

Publication details: Nairobi USIU 2009Description: 76-89pg The Journal of Language, Technology and Entrepreneurship in Africa vol.1 no. 2ISSN:

19981279

Subject(s):

Contents:

Summary: Kenya is an ethically diverse country comprising over forty ethnic groups. While the diversity should make up the richness of culture and ways of life, the 'tribe' mentality is the root cause of many problems that Sub-Sahara African nations face. In Africa, different ethnic groups compete for national resources such as 'land, political power,natural resources, social and economic power' (Osore, 2008) and 'tribalism still infuse all aspects of society' (Wax, 2005). Sadly, higher education does not seem to be be an exception. That could be the reason why in the past, the Kenyan Government used to exercise a lot of control over the public universities in terms of contents of curriculum, hiring and firing of staff and lecturers, approving conferences and seminars, among many others, in order to meet its own political ends, thus curtailing academic freedom (Mwiria, 2001). After the introduction of multipartism in 1992, the situation began changing with the States and other political formations now competing to influence the educational sector. For instance, some months before the general election in December 2007, many the students bodies of the public universities' were reportedly re-aligned to one of three major political forces of the time, which were aligned to some etnic groups. ''Tribalism and ethnicity have almost become the second name for the students' body'' and ''the tribal politics being played out between the ODM and the PNU groupings have been extended wholesales to the student community'', During the last General Election, the two leading political parties of the time aproached the Students Affairs Council, the students' Affairs body at USIU, a private university, but the student officials declined to be associated with any of the political parties, as it was against the policy of the university. Consequently, there was no election campaign that took place on the USIU campus. This paper attempts to investigate whether or not ethnicity is a determinant of student learning at university in a country like Kenya that is rocked by ethnic violence.

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Kenya is an ethically diverse country comprising over forty ethnic groups. While the diversity should make up the richness of culture and ways of life, the 'tribe' mentality is the root cause of many problems that Sub-Sahara African nations face. In Africa, different ethnic groups compete for national resources such as 'land, political power,natural resources, social and economic power' (Osore, 2008) and 'tribalism still infuse all aspects of society' (Wax, 2005). Sadly, higher education does not seem to be be an exception.
That could be the reason why in the past, the Kenyan Government used to exercise a lot of control over the public universities in terms of contents of curriculum, hiring and firing of staff and lecturers, approving conferences and seminars, among many others, in order to meet its own political ends, thus curtailing academic freedom (Mwiria, 2001). After the introduction of multipartism in 1992, the situation began changing with the States and other political formations now competing to influence the educational sector.
For instance, some months before the general election in December 2007, many the students bodies of the public universities' were reportedly re-aligned to one of three major political forces of the time, which were aligned to some etnic groups.
''Tribalism and ethnicity have almost become the second name for the students' body'' and ''the tribal politics being played out between the ODM and the PNU groupings have been extended wholesales to the student community'', During the last General Election, the two leading political parties of the time aproached the Students Affairs Council, the students' Affairs body at USIU, a private university, but the student officials declined to be associated with any of the political parties, as it was against the policy of the university. Consequently, there was no election campaign that took place on the USIU campus.
This paper attempts to investigate whether or not ethnicity is a determinant of student learning at university in a country like Kenya that is rocked by ethnic violence.

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