Culture Shock?

My brief post the other day about playing Alanis Morisette with a Kenyan band was meant to be a longer essay reflecting on the exportation of American culture, the possibility of “authentic” local culture and the implications for our understanding of globalization (or ontologies thereof, as my friend Luc would say). However it didn’t happen for the following reasons:
1) ) Wireless internet is 3 shillings per minute- which doesn’t seem like a lot (it’s slightly over 2 dollars an hour), but it means that I generally am going to want to have any kind of substantial post written before I go to the purveyor of internet.
THIS IS COMPLICATED BY THE FACT THAT:
2) I’ve made a bunch of friends here: not surprisingly I’ve found that you’re a lot less likely to spend a few hours a night reflecting, writing, and reading when you’re not forced to by the fact that you’re all alone in your hotel room.
IN ADDITION,
3) The bus to ILRI leaves at 7:45 AM. That means As this is the first thing resembling an actual real 9-5 job that I’ve had since my time at the National Center for Health Statistics (JPSM IN THE HOUSE), I’ve had a bit of trouble adjusting, and as a result, have been tired kind of all the time (I swear, this is even more of a shock to my system than jet lag was-it makes me realize how ingrained my habit of rolling out of bed and heading straight to Koffee was).

All this adds up to mean that as I settle into more off a rhythm of “everyday life” here, the posts will probably come a little less frequently (I suppose that you could say that I was blogging 2 fast and 2 furious- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA). All idiotic references aside, it seems pretty clear to me now that the first two weeks of blogging were a coping strategy that was helping me deal with the loneliness and isolation that can be typical of traveling alone in a new place. Interestingly, this isolation stemmed more from the fact that I didn’t have any kind of compelling place to be at night time other than my hotel, rather than from some kind of larger “culture shock”.

As I’ve hinted at in previous posts, one thing that has repeatedly struck me since I’ve been here is the widespread incidence of American culture. Its impossible to walk 10 paces without seeing a logo of some kind of American sports team, and the matatus (Nissan minivans which fill most roads here and serve as cheap public transportation) are emblazoned with the iconography of American hip hop. Standing by a major road for 15 minutes, you’re quite likely to see images of Tupac, Biggie, Luda, and Fitty flitting by in quick succession. In addition, he nightly TV lineup here is almost all American- and its generally a mediocre cross-section of mainstream American TV: Alias, Joey (is that even still on?), some idiotic sit-com with Amanda Bynes (however they are still airing Arrested Development here, in syndication, I guess. for those keeping score at home: Kenya 1, America 0) There’s also a Tanzanian channel that specializes in hip-hop music videos; the first thing I saw when I turned on the TV here was not any kind of home grown artist (although there are a lot of really awesome low production-value Kenyan and Tanzanian dance-hall and reggae videos), but Houston’s own MIKE JONES (those of you who don’t follow hip-hop, just be assured that that is funny). And it seems that anywhere you go here, you’re bound to find a kiosk selling Coke (in glass bottles, which is just better).

At the same time, this penetration is neither exhaustive nor complete; for instance there are no McDonalds here at all. And there are interesting intersections that I’m only beginning to make sense of… my favorite of which is a fast food chain called Steers, which is a Halal American-style burger joint. That’s right folks, Jihad and McWorld- ALL IN ONE!!!

As I’ve used my allotted writing time for the day, I think I’m going to leave a more detailed discussion of how western culture is ignored, appropriated, and ultimately chaged here and on why culture matters for politics (both in the day to day sense and in the study thereof) for a later time.

Tune in tomorrow for my report from my first trip down to Maasailand (which I leave for shortly)!! Meanwhile, here's the living room of the apartment where I'll be living for the remaining six weeks (if anyone has any bright ideas about how to take pictures of small rooms, let me know) and the view from my balcony (lens flares are fun!).