Chagga Culture

Chagga culture in Mt. Kilimanjaro is based primarily on agrarian lifestyles. As years go by, people tend to adapt new ideas such as the importance of schooling. However, schooling is not accepted among some people, especially elders, as they believe education is an agent of change in society. In Stambach’s work, she expresses how she views education and how education can change society. To start off, parents choose to sell their banana groves to pay for their children’s education. This is a huge sacrifice considering the fact that the banana groves in Chagga culture are sacred and represent the hard work of ancestors as well as future generations. Banana groves do not only symbolize patrilineality but they also provide families with fruits …show more content…
According to Stomach, “some female school students and graduates use education to argue for new family models”. Many believe that education is the only way to be independent and have a better future. As a consequence, women do not want to be married and instead focus on their education in order to be able to support themselves financially and not have to depend on a man to provide for them. However, although they do not want to marry they do want to have children. This idea can have an impact in women’s lives as they struggle for independence and social expectations. As a result, some women compromise and marry educated men. In the case of Eshimuni, she married a man with a higher education which required him to travel and not be home as often. In return Eshimuni had the independence she wanted, a child, and she did not have to worry about her husband beating her. It is clear that educated women generate views that go against tradition and although many fall short, others are able to successfully accomplish what they want for …show more content…
Now this also traces back to the school curriculum. The domestic science lessons teach schoolgirls that sharing razors and knives is risky and using these objects during circumcision is more dangerous than remaining uninitiated. As a response, women who circumcise girls state “Why is it we didn’t have problems like AIDS around when everyone was getting circumcised? … Circumcised girls don’t fornicate.” This shows that being initiated is not about health or the unsanitary issues related with it, instead it is about culture and following tradition. The fact that many educated women refuse to go through the initiation process shows a change in society as a result of schooling and what is taught to the