The Luhya are presented as a relatively new ethnic formation that emerged in western Kenya by the 1950s from a conglomeration of adjacent Bantu-speaking peoples. Their boundaries were shaped by political strategy within the national arena rather than by an immutable prior identity.
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The Story
The Luhya are described as one of the new ethnic groups that emerged by the 1950s in western Kenya. Their formation resulted from the aggregation of adjacent peoples who shared a Bantu-speaking background, rather than from the simple continuation of one previously unified political community.
The passage emphasizes that the boundaries of this identity were strategically shaped within a particular political arena. Ethnic labels could therefore operate at different scales, depending on whether the relevant competition involved Kenya as a whole, a city, a district, or a more local community.
The Luhya example demonstrates the flexibility of ethnic formation in the mid-twentieth century. Collective identities were influenced by national political pressures as well as by earlier patterns of association and cultural identification.
The Luhya are presented as a relatively new ethnic formation that emerged in western Kenya by the 1950s from a conglomeration of adjacent Bantu-speaking peoples. Their boundaries were shaped by political strategy within the national arena rather than by an immutable prior identity.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Luhya are described as one of the new ethnic groups that emerged by the 1950s in western Kenya. Their formation resulted from the aggregation of adjacent peoples who shared a Bantu-speaking background, rather than from the simple continuation of one previously unified political community.
The passage emphasizes that the boundaries of this identity were strategically shaped within a particular political arena. Ethnic labels could therefore operate at different scales, depending on whether the relevant competition involved Kenya as a whole, a city, a district, or a more local community.
The Luhya example demonstrates the flexibility of ethnic formation in the mid-twentieth century. Collective identities were influenced by national political pressures as well as by earlier patterns of association and cultural identification.