Azaadi kis se kehte hain?

      In the article ‘Facing Mount Kenya’, anthropologist Jomo Kenyatta gives a detailed account of the tribal practices of the Gikuyu tribe in Africa. The main aim of the article is to argue for the liberty of the Gikuyu in practicing their custom of ‘irua’ or clitoridectomy by demonstrating, step by step, the significance of the process to the tribe. Kenyatta’s main claim is that this one ritual symbolizes the unification of the whole tribal organisation and is hence a practice that cannot be stopped.

      The purpose of writing down this article for Kenyatta is to fight for the preservation of the culture and liberty of the Gikuyu tribe. However, ironically, as the article shows, oppression of the patriarchy replaces the oppression of the colonizers and is thus the new threat to liberty. This can be seen through the step by step procedure of the custom of ‘irua’ and the deeply ingrained superstitious beliefs that are a part of the process. Firstly, Kenyatta says that those following the custom are not prepared to welcome those into the family who have not fulfilled the ritual qualification, showing an exercise of power by the tribe over the individual, out-casting those who choose not to be circumcised.  Secondly, superstitious beliefs such as the burial of old bandages and the performance of ceremony on even days show further constraints on the individual’s liberty. They guide the behaviors of the society at large, restricting individuals to a narrow set of choices they can exert control over in their lives. The final part of the ceremony involves the shaving of the head, which is symbolic to new life for the Gikuyu people, but further demonstrates to us how the rigid structure of tribal society takes the freedom of ‘choice’ out of the individual’s hands.

        The removal of colonial powers is no doubt a step towards freedom, but the sociological structures and norms that underlie tribal society ultimately are a breach to that very same freedom. To that we ask, what does one do to really be free? And a simple solution would be to become a part of an individualist culture, as collectivist cultures are cohesive and require conformity. And this is primarily because our view of liberty is the view of what western notions of liberty look like, which entail maximum liberty of choice to the individual. Once could thus argue, that while individual’s in collectivist cultures such as the Gikuyu are slaves to conformity within the tribe, individual’s in individualistic, European cultures are no less slaves as they too have to conform to the expectations of their society, and while it may seem that they more liberated than us, the cohesive group conformity does confer some benefits to the individual that those in individualistic cultures lack.

      Therefore, it is up to us, the third world, to define once again, for ourselves, what liberty means to us and how we can uphold that liberty for the benefit of our peoples.