| dc.description.abstract | This research was designed to di.scover the effects of modern,
Western-type education upon the traditional ways of life of the
Samburu people of Kenya. Traditionally, the Samburu had adapted well
to an arid habitat by nomadic pastoralism. Population growth, overgrazing,
erosion and dessication of their environment have seriously
threatened that adaptation. Modern schools among the Samburu were
o~ened in 1935 and had increased in number to enroll about 20% of school
age children by 1977. Thus, by this date the effects of these schools
were clearly observable during my research visit (from January - August,
1977).
Initial interviews were conducted with Samburu youths, and
middle-age and older adults of both sexes, to determine what cultural
changes were disturbing to them. An interview schedule was formulated
from these jnitial interviews, embracing the various aspects of their
culture. The interview schedule was administered to a research sample of
six groups, of 20-25 individuals each, controlled for age, years of school
and sex.
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Information from respondents was supplemented by observational
data, written essays by secondary school students, and recorded life
histories and oral literature. Questions in the interview schedule
attempted to ascertain: (1) whether specific cultural items were considered
traditional or modern by the respondents, (2) whether the
respondents approved or disapproved of these i~ems, and (3) from whom
the respondent acquired his/her opinions.
In most aspects of culture respondents with more schooling
registered ~ore choices for modernizing ways of life. A majority still
preferred traditional social values. A pigher percentage of girls
registered choices for change in questions of social relations and
education than did boys. Traditionally males were more dominant than
females, and more were permitted to attend school.
Parents, aunts and uncles, elders, and unschooled warriors were
,
the chief transmission agents for traditional ways of life, whereas
school teachers, students, civil servants and missionaries were the
primary transmission agents· for modernizing ways of life.
Schools are seen -to be a very imporeant but not the only source
of profound cultural change occurring among the Samburu. | en |
