Christian Missionary Education and Its Impact on Abagusii of Western Kenya - 1909 - 1963

Sorobea Bogonko’s Christian Missionary Education and Its Impact on Abagusii of Western Kenya - 1909 - 1963 focuses on Christian missionaries’ education in Gusii, western Kenya, between 1909 and 1963. It examines the socio-economic and educational aspects of Gusii society in the pre-Christian period. A key observation is that traditional African education was practical, mnemonic, and real; it was worthwhile for the culture of Abagusii. The missionaries introduced a largely theoretical education that was alien to Gusii.

Missionaries, through condemnation of the ways of life of Abagusii, inflicted a deadly blow to traditional education. Gusii educational processes (e.g. rites of passage such as circumcision) and venues of education (e.g. ebisarate) were termed ’heathen’. Colonial government support of missionary education further weakened indigenous African education, rendering traditional Abagusii education helpless.

This alien education destroyed traditional structures and systems and enabled the first modern elite classes to emerge. It produced clerical and administrative cadres for the colonial administration, in addition to commercial and political elites. Mission schools, further, produced teachers who, though not well educated, spread and planted modern education in Gusii society. All this submerged the old elites, the rainmakers, medicine men, seers, and other elders.

The changes brought about by missionaries and the colonial government’s actions shaped Gusii society anew. Impacted, irreversibly, were Gusii culture, economy, healthcare and administration, among others.

What would have been the trajectory in Gusii had the foreigners integrated indigenous education into their schemes? To what degree would Gusii society, its culture and knowledge have been preserved? How prominent, for instance, would indigenous ways of life (e.g. medicine) be part of modern Gusii society?