The Anthropology of Death and Dying Among the Bukusu of Kenya C. 1895

Abstract

Precolonial African communities were endowed with cultural tenets observed without external and internal meddlers attempting to modify them. Death, for instance, constituted significant rituals whose operations were meant to appease gods and the dead, as well as make a smooth entry into the spiritual world for the souls of the dead. Further, such rituals were conducted to shield and absolve the living from impurities that accompanied death. In other words, the living observed such rituals to clean themselves from the impurities occasioned by death and other bad omens and evil spirits that were to be kept at bay. Hence, the anthropology of death and dying among African communities before colonialism was very complex, with several rituals that were observed to fulfil the demands of their culture. Among the Bukusu of Kenya, the occurrence of death provided the platform upon which many rituals were expressed to demonstrate their beliefs regarding the afterlife. Hence, this paper examines significant rituals that were related to the anthropology of death and dying, outlining why such rituals were important to the deceased and the living. It has been observed that death was not an end to the earthly life. It was a stage at which human life was transformed into immortal that was expected to last forever. This, in essence, signified the belief in life after death, thus explaining why such death rituals were developed to enhance the transition from earthly life to immortality. The findings in this paper emanated from extensive field interviews (abbreviated as O.I. in the text), which were corroborated by existing secondary sources.