Kenya

Cultural Profile

A comparison between American Culture and the Culture of the Masai Tribe based on Florence Kluckhohn's Value Orientations

In this analysis, I will employ Florence Kluckhohn’s Value Orientations to discuss American culture and the culture of one of Kenya’s indigenous tribes, the Masai. Specifically, I will be looking at two of the five values, relationship patters and man’s relationship to nature, and the ways in which the Masai culture and American culture are both similar and different.

Relationship patterns

In her research, Kluckhohn discusses three relationship patterns, individual, collateral, and linear. The two relationship patters that apply to the Masai and American cultures are individual and collateral. The individual pattern refers to cultures based on the importance of the individual and his or her success. According to Kluckhohn, this pattern also includes the importance of the nuclear family rather than on extended family members. An individual would place high importance on his or her success as it relates to caring for the members of the immediate family such as children and spouse.

This type of pattern is indicative of American culture and society.  Much emphasis is placed on personal goals and achievements relating to professional success, personal success, and familial support. Traditionally, the nuclear family consists of husband, wife, and children. The husband, and oftentimes the wife, will work to support the family. Decisions are made based on the welfare of the family, as well as the personal gain and social status of the individual. 

The American individualist society dictates communication campaigns. The message would be aimed at the individual and his or her potential for success and status. Successful campaigns tap into the individualist needs with respect to social status and family welfare.

Kluckhohn also discusses the concept of collateral cultures in which the family is also valued, but the focus is on the greater good of the group rather than the individual. The family in this instance extends beyond the nuclear family to extended family. The Masai tribe is an example of the collateral relationship pattern. Although many tribes would be considered linear (an extended version of collateral including ancient ancestors), the Masai people are more concerned with living relatives.

In Masai culture, families are organized into villages called manyattas consisting of between 50 and 100 family members. The Masai are a polygamist culture in which the men are permitted to take as many wives as they can afford and support. Each wife is responsible for building her own home for herself and her children within the thatched walls protecting the village. A hierarchy exists among the wives in which the first wife holds the most worth and power.

These villages sustain themselves on raising, tending and stealing cattle, which is their form of currency. As children, the Masai people stay within the walls of the village.  As they grow and experience set rites of passage, their duties within the village change. Boys become warriors, meaning they are able to tend cattle outside the village, and participate in raids in other villages to procure more cattle. After their time as warriors, men are expected to tend cattle and take wives. Girls are expected to participate in the female duties of caring for younger children in the village as well as tending to cattle while inside the village walls. Girls are also permitted to marry. In order to marry, men must be able to present their wife’s family with cattle to purchase a bride. In this sense, the herd is the legacy of the Masai family.

Because cattle are the only form of currency among the Masai, much f their lives are spent tending cattle.  The number of cattle a man owns directly relates to the size of the families because cattle are required to purchase their wives.  The larger the family, the more cattle they can tend. Thus the entire family depends on the health and number of cattle they own, and at all stages of life, the family works together to maintain family and cattle.

In this case, the communication campaigns aimed at Masai would have to focus around family, but must be aimed at or include men. Typically, each village defers to the oldest male, who would be the oldest living relative of everyone in the village.

Messages should be aimed at him but should be centered on a collective message that would benefit him and in turn his entire family. For example, a campaign on safe sex and birth control would be difficult to sell to the Masai people because they rely on large families to perform livelihood duties. Also, Masai men are seen as more prosperous when they have large families because of the number of cows they were able to trade for each of their wives. Thus they may reject the idea of safe sex using condoms.

Man's relation to nature

In Kluckhohn’s discussion of man’s relations to nature she offers three categories: man is subjugated to nature, man in nature, and man over nature. The American culture would fit into the third category in which man attempts to control nature’s impact.

In American society, people tend to try to control nature and its impact on daily life. Americans rely on weather forecasts to determine everything from travel to wardrobe. Also, Americans consume products ranging from sunscreen to insurance to protect them from nature and control its impact. The role of American culture is very active in its relationship with nature.

The larger concept to consider within communication campaigns is the idea of control. American culture is accepting of campaigns about weather and other natural occurrences because the American culture supports the idea of man controlling nature.

In her three categories of man’s relationship with nature, Kluckhohn does not discuss the belief that a supra-natural force can control man and nature.  The Masai culture would fall into this “fourth” category because of their belief in god, or Ngai.

In the Masai culture, people believe that Ngai is an omnipotent god that controls nature. Ngai is believed to exist and live either in the sky or high in the mountains. Ngai is the creator of both man and nature and presides over everyday life.  The Masai people relate Ngai to colors in nature to determine his mood. For example the color red signifies anger, and the color black signifies a good mood.

Kenya today is approximately three quarters Christian, primarily Protestant and Catholic, as a result of Christian missionary and evangelical efforts. Ngai is similar to the Christian God in that Ngai is a creator and an omnipotent force. However, Ngai is not seen as a male god. In fact, Ngai is praised for both male and female characteristics.

With regards to nature, the Masai people believe Ngai dictates rain. Although the Masai are not an agrarian culture, they rely on rain to maintain feeding grounds for their cattle. In this sense, they rely on Ngai for the health and well being of their cattle, and thereby their own prosperity. Lack of rain also brings about drought, famine, and disease.  Beyond weather, the Masai believe Ngai exists in the sky, stars, thunder and lightening. 

Although the Masai do pray to Ngai on an individual basis, they will often celebrate Ngai in group demonstrations. They perform ceremonies and sacrifices that include dancing and chanting. The Masai people typically perform sacrifices to Ngai in the form of meat. Again, their cattle are vitally important to their existence, and thus it is the most precious gift they can offer to Ngai.

In terms of communication campaigns, messages should not be focused on nature or any type of control that would conflict with their beliefs.  Messages and projects must be sensitive to the Masai belief in an omnipotent god, and should not assume power over anything within Ngai’s scope of influence. Campaigns should be designed around ways of enhancing the influence or ways in which the Masai can please their god. Again, the example of a safe sex campaign would be difficult to sell because the Masai may see childbirth as a natural occurrence dictated by their god. They may not want to assume power over childbirth because it would be negating their belief system.

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Laura Bonavia (Master of Arts, 2005) lb8364a@american.edu; R.S. Zaharna, International Public Relations, American University