John Kariuki
5 October 2008
opinion
Since he burst into the international limelight last year, US presidential hopeful Barrack Obama has become different things to different people.
Now he is becoming the focal point to "hyphenated identity," a new factor in American life.
In a recent lecture in Washington, Dr Gary R. Weaver, who is founder and executive director of Intercultural Management Institute, told a group of foreign visitors touring America as part of a programme to promote tolerance through the arts, that one of the major factors about Obama is that he represents the very essence of American nationhood, in which apart from the Native Americans, all others are immigrants who found themselves there for different reasons.
Dr Weaver is also a co-author of the book, America's Mid Life Crises: The Future of a Troubled SuperPower. He said that by being African-American, Obama has become the focal point for the hyphenated Americans who want to carry their full identity and culture even as they profess pride in being American.
The uniqueness of Obama is that his origins are clear and he has no baggage; he is proud of his Kenyan heritage, his Indonesian experience and of being an American.
He comes at a time when the issue of belonging has become central to American social life. Said Weaver: " You will note that among the first things an American will ask you is where you are from, because we all know that everybody came from somewhere."
Hence there are Mexican-Americans, Japanese-Americans, African-Americans and many others who now hyphenate their nationality in order to situate themselves in this diverse American society.
Even white Americans emphasise their roots in Europe and are keenly interested in their ancestors and ancestral hometowns. In fact, DNA tests have become a major obsessions and more people are using the technology to determine their origins.
"I did a preliminary test that indicated I may have Ethiopian roots," said an African-American social worker. Among the African communities, Nigerians were once most visible, but Ethiopians are now defining themselves more visibly through community and business ventures such as supermarkets and cafes that bear their trademark.
The branding of African Americans is now being broadened to carry new sub-tribes. On a visit to the Moore College of Arts and Design in Philadelphia, a teenage student introduced herself as an African even though an American citizen whose father is an African-American and her mother a Senegalese.
"I consider myself African, I regularly visit Senegal and speak the native language," she insisted. We could soon see dozens of new hyphenations within the American black community, which now has inhabitants from dozens of black origin from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific. The popularity of Obama has put Kenya in the spotlight and most people are quick enquire about the country.
"How is it there and is the country OK?" asked an African-American in Philadelphia. The concerns are obvious and there are questions about how the country is responding to ethnic animosity that is blamed for the post election violence that gripped the country early this year.
Remarkably, the issue of hyphenation in Kenya came up in the past decade among members of the local Asian community, mostly of Indian and Pakistani heritage, who sought to distinguish themselves from expatriates from their countries of origin who work and live in Kenya.
Previously, they were all referred to as Indians or Asians. Kenyan ethnographer Prof Sultan Somjee, who is of Indian extraction, introduced the term Afro-Asians to distinguish those citizens, many of the third-generation Kenyans.
"We are not Indians or Pakistanis and should be accorded our due identity as Africans of Asian heritage," he said.
The issue is, however, more complex within the broader Kenyan community, due to the lack of a well-defined government approach to identity issues.
The simplistic solution offered by politicians is to encourage inter-ethnic marriages, which is based on the notion that the mix will blur tribal identity and create a new hybrid society free of ethnic affinity.Their argument is that a country that has 42 tribes is too diverse to mould into a hemogeneous community.
But Nigerian has over 300 tribes and Ethiopia 175, which dilutes the argument.
In any case, people cannot be forced to inter-marry and recent surveys indicate that ethnicity is a much bigger issue now than it ever was before.
Relatively though, Kenya was once on the right path, especially in the early 1960s, when a spirit of nationhood appeared to flourish.
The emergence of residential associations in the 1980s to deal with matters of community issues such as crime and facilities was also a progressive development to allow people to define themselves at community level.
But the momentum was lost due to political interference by the government. In the US, similar neighbourhood groups are a strong component in decision-making processes and can overrule even state authorities on a wide range of matters.
"They determine what happens in their community and can veto state projects like roads and train stations," said Weaver.
With issues of ethnicity now well in the public domain, Kenya needs to study the American model and those of other countries that embrace diversity as a way to harness its national resources.
One of the pertinent factors to emerge from the lecture by Dr Weaver was the strong emphasis the US places on the rights of the individual, which includes those of self-identity and allows people to express it in innovative ways either as individuals or as local communities.
And for now, Barrack Obama is the symbol of an individual comfortable in all his different identities and had the audacity to dream.
In politics, candidates are expected to offer solutions, but Obama has drawn criticism for not always having ready answers to pressing issues. But supporters see no problem with that and say it is a mark of his honesty.
"There may be issues that he dodges, but he is articulate about those that he has a passion for," said a social worker in Seattle. For her, the fact that he may appear not to always have ready answers is just proof of his humanity.
"The world no longer needs a leader who will promise to protect you, yet in the real sense, the truth is that this is no longer practical and all boils down to individuals and the immediate community."
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