Erasing Class/(Re)Creating Ethnicity: Jobs, Politics, Accumulation and Identity in Kenya

Abstract

A large literature on African economies argues that ethnicity plays a role in the politics and economics of African countries. Unfortunately, much of this literature is speculative or anecdotal because of the lack of data, with the exception of a few papers that examine ethnic networking as a business or employment strategy. In many ways Africa's failure to develop is a failure of nationhood. Creating nation is handicapped by the use of ethnicity. In this paper, I empirically examine the relationship between employment, wages and ethnicity in Africa via a case study of Kenya. I challenge the pervasive view that ethnicity in Africa is related to a primordial instinct and attempt to show empirically that ethnicity is used by politicians as a political strategy to maintain power. In the process of using ethnicity, class solidarity is explicitly down played by politicians as ethnicity is reified. In this paper I specifically examine whether jobs are being used by politicians as both reward and carrot to ensure ethnic allegiances. This is done by testing whether being a member of a dominant group (in terms of population and also politically) has an impact on the possibility of employment and the level of wages.

Cross‐ethnic appeals in plural democracies

“…Thus, in interviews, politicians campaigning for office in Kenya invariably evoked "tribes" ("the Kikuyus," "the Luos," "the Kipsigis," etc.) when describing their electoral strategies as if these communities were empirical facts rather than constructed, malleable identities, thus actively reproducing ethnic differences (wa Gĩthĩnji, 2015). Conversely, voters readily acknowledged that their own tribal affiliations had an outsize importance at elections times: "You wouldn't know that I'm a Luhya until election year, and then I'm really Luhya."…”

Influence of Political Culture on Women Participation in Politics in Nairobi and Kajiado Counties

“…Political Culture and the existing legal and Regulatory frameworks Gĩthĩnji (2015) observes that women participate in politics not only by voting, but also by becoming advocates, activists, political party members and candidates. Political parties often control decisions about who will be nominated to run for office, what positions candidates will be given on party lists, and who will receive support during the campaign and after the election.…”