Undergraduate Projects/Long Essays

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://192.168.4.170:4000/handle/20.500.12342/173

Welcome to Undergraduate Projects Community

Browse

Filters

2001 - 20073

Settings

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Luo

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Mourning the Dead among the Luo of South Nyanza: Reconsidering Some Traditional Luo and Christian Ways of Mourning
    (Tangaza University College, 2005) Bwana, Alfred orwa
    It is observed that many Christians, when faced with crisis moments revert to their traditional African practices.' This could be taken to mean that the Christian faith is not firmly rooted in them. Such a move is most explicit particularly during death, among others. Consequently, many Christians seem to live in a dualistic state of mind by practicing syncretism of Christianity and African Traditional Religion as they strive to meet their spiritual needs. The Christian missionary work in Africa, and now in Kenya, was characterized by demoniz_ation of the African cultural practices of the various ethnic communities. The Roman Catholics missionaries, for instance, allowed all other indigenous practices except those related to death. 2 For them, such rituals were related to ancestor worship. Accordingly, they called for radical discontinuity of the values that Kenyans and others viewed as salient. This dichotomy threatens to tear the heart of our faith. Inculturation could be the 'medicine' for it. Evidently, many African communities valued traditional practices since they adequately treated their major ideals and issues such as those regarding life and death. Christianity, however, introduced new categories of responding to similar issues. Unfortunately, some of the issues of the Africans were not adequately responded to in this new religious dispensation. Christianity failed to profoundly address what the people felt that their whole existence and survival hinged on. Consequently, the whole system of Christianity weakens whenever the people are confronted with real critical issues of life. The present study examines the traditional mourning rituals of the Luo of South Nyanza, hoping to bring to light, some of the elements that were 'buried' in the process of "planting" Christianity in Africa through the medium of other cultures. We aim to capture some of the values embedded in the rituals and find means of expressing them in a much more familiar categories. Among the ethnic groups of Kenya, the traditional Abaluyia and Luo communities are known to be very scrupulous in their funeral rituals. Being a Luo, I have taken the challenge to do this task as an insider. The Luo are believed to have migrated southward from Sudan to where they currently stay. 4 They thus have undergone a great transformation. Accordingly, it would be unrealistic to generalize about them all. This is why this study focuses on a smaller group of the Luo in South Nyanza. Nevertheless, there have been certain practices in common. Consequently, some reference to those Luo outside South Nyanza may be helpful. It should also be noted that the present tense used in most of the text signifies that the traditional values, practices and institutions are still substantially maintained.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Formation of Human Conscience: A Way of Liberation and Redemption
    (Tangaza University College, 2007) Omondi Watta, Joahness
    This paper deals with the issue of human person and conscience formation from the perspective of Luo tradition and Christian tradition. We shall examine the reason why it is important to review the formation program in the Christian life. Due to the fact that early missionaries didn't put into consideration the idea of inculturation, there have been problems concerning the way a Luo Christian should live his/her Christian life faithfully without being involved in syncretism. Moreover, we shall look into some of the ways in which a Luo attitude can be changed through inculturation. This can be done by inculturating Christianity into the Luo traditional values of the people themselves. So, our attention is focused on the formation of human conscience among the Luo people of western Kenya, as well as the understanding and formation of human conscience in the Scriptural and theological aspects. We further look into ways in which inculturation of Christian formation of human conscience can be made possible from the perspectives of Luo tradition, touching especially on the areas of community, family and pastoral problems and solutions. The main area of concern is "inculturating" I Christianity into Luo ways of life as a concern to the traditional values and customs.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Death among the Luos of Kenya: A Pastoral Challenge
    (Tangaza University College, 2001-02-07) Okwadha, Dominick
    The Luo are a Nilotic people with a rich base of traditional knowledge about their cultural beliefs, practices and environment. The Luo of Kenya inhabit the territories bordering Lake Victoria— to the North and South of Nyanza gulf, extending into Tanzania. The Luo are both agriculturalists and pastoralists. Grain, fish and milk make up their main diet. Cattle used to be a chief criterion for judging wealth but today it is scarce. Sheep and goats are also kept. For the Luos, nothing is done without having in mind the Supreme Being (Nyasaye). There is always religious meaning and implication to everything. All things, events and phenomena alike are interpreted in terms of the divine will. Accordingly, nothing happens simply by mere chance. Death too does not just strike a blow without a reason. There must be something communicated by each and every kind of death. The rituals on the other hand are not performed just at the surface level as such. They directly bridge the living to the spiritual world. This essay is focused on the basic principles that underline the Luo understanding of death, the relevant and common rituals and other contemporary issues which need to be addressed in the present society. "Death among the Laos of Kenya: A Pastoral Challenge" is centred on a few questions which seem to be common among the other ethnic groups of Africa. These are the questions on the origin of death and its meaning; what will come after death. It should be emphasized that the concept of death, the destiny of human being and life after death, has been, among the Luo, a part of an orally transmitted wealth of proverbs, songs, myths, prayers, religious ceremonies and various rituals of daily life. The insight I have in order to write this essay is basically to explain that the Luos conceive death as a departure and not a complete annihilation of a person. The person moves to join the company of the departed, and the only major change is the decay of the physical body, but the spirit moves on to another state of existence. Some of the words describing death imply that a person goes "home", which means that this life is Ile a pilgrimage, the real "home" is in the hereafter, since one does not depart from there. Death is cruel, it "stiffens", "cuts down" or "evaporates" a person, even if he / she continues to exist in the hereafter. This explanation doesn't contradict any Christian teaching. In this case, the way the Luos view death is in line with biblical understanding of death. My main concern is the question of rituals. Some rituals are "beautiful" and in line with Christianity. The problem is that of feasting at the time of death, levirate union, the question of where someone is to be buried and the famous present epidemic AIDS. Feasting after the death of someone brings poverty not only to the deceased's family, but also to the whole society. Due to the expense in transporting the body when someone dies should be looked at because it also brings poverty and misunderstanding in the community. AIDS is a serious problem that should be dealt with in a careful way. The mass spread of AIDS in Luoland is mostly due to levirate union and the society being adamant in accepting the real essence of it. Levirate union which most people call "wife inheritance", violates the biblical standard of marriage, which is one — man — with — one — woman affair. It also conflicts with the Christian belief that death means the end of the marriage union. It denies a widow's right to decide her own future and also puts a heavy financial burden on the widow. This is because the way levirate union was practised in the past is totally different to how it is contemporarily practised. I have tried to give some pastoral approach in various issues and some biblical references, which I do hope can bring several Sights in dealing with this problem.