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     🍌 Introduction     Bananas occupy a central role in the daily life, agricultural practices, and cultural symbolism of the Kikuyu people—Kenya’s largest ethnic group. The Kikuyu are predominantly settled in the fertile highlands of Central Province. Among Kikuyu households, the presence of banana plants is more than a horticultural choice; it is a deeply rooted tradition and a practical necessity. These resilient plants thrive in the region’s climate, offering year-round nourishment and economic stability. For families with ample land, banana groves are cultivated extensively, serving as both a food for adults and the first solid food for babies as well as a reliable cash crop.Bananas are consumed in various forms—boiled, roasted, mashed or allowed to ripen and consumed as fruits —and its leaves are used in to lay down meat and durign ceremonies, packaging, or as livestock feed when coupled with the stems. In Kikuyu society, a home without bananas is consid...

   West and East of the Nile. Left and Right are synonyms of West and East respectively Introduction: The Kikuyu people of Central Kenya, while not explicitly claiming Egyptian origins in their traditions, bear linguistic and cultural threads that hint at a deeper connection. Building upon previous explorations of a potential migration from Egypt, this article delves into the intriguing prevalence of the suffix "Isu" (and its variants like "Gishu" and "Osu") across Bantu and Nilotic languages in East Africa, extending even to the Ibo of Nigeria. This widespread linguistic marker suggests a shared ancestry linked to ancient Egyptian concepts, potentially tracing back to the veneration of the goddess Isis and her associated deities.  The Etymological Link Between Isis and Other Words The proposed link between the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis and the East African suffixes like "Isu," "Gishu," and "Osu" hinges on poten...

                                                                        Sizzling Nyama Choma - Wikipedia commons Disclaimer: This article contains high levels of satire. Proceed with an open mind and a full stomach. Nyama Choma makes it to Oxford, finally A rigorous peer-reviewed investigation into meat and the ethics of munching your research variable. Published in the Journal of Edible Epistemology, Vol. 1, Issue 1. Introduction  It’s official. Nyama choma —Kenya’s iconic roast meat—has entered the Oxford Dictionary. A moment of national pride? Absolutely. But as any serious researcher knows, we must ask: did it get there through merit, or was there a smoky backroom deal involving skewers, salt, kachumbari and suspiciously well-fed lexicographers? This article explores the epistemology of meat...

                                                   A pipe smoking Meinertzhagen : Wikipedia commons Meinertzhagen's task - to protect the settlers Meinertzhagen, British to the core despite his German surname, was the son of a powerful banker and a career soldier. After stints in India and Burma, he lobbied hard for an African posting — a desire that, history shows, came with a readiness to treat Africans as game to be hunted. In 1902, he arrived in the British East Africa Protectorate, serving four years with the King’s African Rifles. Under Commissioner Sir Charles Eliot, the Protectorate became a settler’s paradise and a nightmare for its indigenous peoples. Eliot scrapped immigration limits, recruited white farmers from South Africa, and declared that the Maasai and other tribes “must go under.” By 1904, settlers numbered over 300. Meinertzhagen’s job wa...