No matter your area of study, your major, your thesis, we could all use a bit of an anthropology brush-up at times. Remembering to consider everyone else’s point of view as the same value as your own is part of being a well-rounded person. Not to mention that learning about paleontology, archaeology and cultural anthropology is just… fun. Who doesn’t want to know about a civilization that figured out running water and modern sewage systems 7000 years ago? (If that piqued your interest, Google Ur and Uruk.)
Anyway, springtime is when OU really gets into their anthro, soc and international vibes, and it usually starts with World Anthropology Day, which is February 16th this year. And the month after, a really cool lecture series about Ohio University’s history in Africa starts. Not only are these events fun, but they’re casual and accessible, just like anthropology is writ-large. Let’s take a look at what we have to look forward to:
This Year, OU World Anthropology Day is February 16th
From OU’s World Anthropology Day page:
World Anthropology Day takes places every third Thursday of February. For the year of 2023, World Anthropology Day is on the 16th of February. The Ohio Student Anthropology Society takes this day to teach others the subfields, specializations, and history of the profession through food, games, presentations, activities, speakers, and more.
This event is being held at Baker 366 on February 16 from 5-630pm.
Lecture Series about OU in Africa Starts this Winter
Ohio University has a rich history in Africa. The exhibit looks at Ohio University activities in Africa from the 1950s-1980s. Using materials from the Libraries' collections, the exhibit displays the major milestones, projects, collaborations, and partnerships with African institutions. It will include the university’s first international project, a contract to develop the education infrastructure in Nigeria; other significant technical services to educational development in several African countries. These activities are the foundations that impacted and shaped the growth of the African collection in the Libraries.
This is a 10-part series at Baker Center.
Spotlight: Dr. Diane Ciekawy & Kajiwe’s Movement against Swahili Hegemony
Listen, there are many talented academics in OU’s anth department. But none so perfectly-fitted for this Anthropology in Africa subject as Diane Ciekawy. One of her specialities is religion, witchcraft, and the anthropology of how invasive groups view indigenous spiritualities. And perhaps one of the most epic things she was a part of in East Africa was the Mijikenda’s fiercest medicine man (mganga), Kajiwe.
Historically, the Mijikenda, one of the original peoples of Kenya, inhabited the coasts. However, when the Swahili came in, they pushed them into the interior of the country and subjugated them. As well, Western religion took over the region. But here’s the thing: the Mijikenda have centuries upon centuries of their own religion – a very interesting set of practices and beliefs that, while they may seem foreign to us, make sense when looked at objectively.
The long and short of it is, Kajiwe was a revered Mijikenda medicine man (we would equate to priests, rabbis, imams, etc) who raged against the machine. A main tenant of Mijikenda beliefs is that, when something is awry in the community, that means someone has done bad magic or has ill-intent. It can be searched out and corrected. Traditionally, local cultures murdered confirmed witches, but Kajiwe changed all that – curing evils instead of eradicating his own people.
Well, since colonialism, the Mijikenda have suffered. Limited land, scarce resources, little educational access, disease – the political neglect is astounding, really. Who could argue that something or someone wished bad upon them? But the state had traditionally relegated their religious beliefs to folk magick and witchcraft… even though bad witchcraft was kind of the whole thing Kajiwe was searching out to reverse.
Kajiwe took this search for malintent out to the Swahili, and this got him in legal trouble, like, all the time. The Kenyan government felt some type of way about his practices and the proceeds from the exorcisms he performed, and eventually arrested him with that excuse. In the ‘70s, he was pretty much the only Mijikenda healer whose name was brought up in Parliament on a regular basis.
Ciekawy was one of the few anthropologists who got close to Kajiwe, and not simply as a subject. Her many publications on the subject of Mijikenda relegation detail her time in Kenya as an ethnographer. She was there for many of the legal woes, his endeavors, and mourned his death in 1993. Ironically, today the Kenyan government is searching for Kajiwe’s witch-curing secrets to end the witch lynchings plaguing the country.
Hmm…
Kajiwe is the perfect example of what happens when indigenous cultures stand up to colonial governments: the subjugation, the struggle, the persecution, and the violence. His story is an integral part of modern Kenyan history and the Mijikenda’s quest for equality and cultural survival.
Ciekawy is the perfect example of OU’s history in Africa, and how our university has worked to support native demographics and educate imperial demographics far and wide about the real Africa. She teaches a bunch of anthro classes, so even if it’s not necessarily in your major’s reqs, she offers some pretty cool courses you can take as reqs or electives.
Check out Ciekawy’s Contesting Identities: The Mijikenda and their Neighbors in Kenyan Coastal Society, and head out to campus for Anthropology Day on Feb 16 and the OU in Africa lecture series while you’re at it. It’s cold outside, anyway.