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Running Head: Intercultural Competency Research Paper 1
Running Head: Intercultural Competency Research Paper 1
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INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY RESEARCH PAPER 2
“Nairobi Half-Life”
Nairobi Half-Life will be one of the movies I will use for this assignment. “Nairobi Half-
Life” is a 2012 Kenyan film produced and directed in Kenya with all the setting and casting done
in Kenya and the Kenyan actors. It was directed by David Tosh Gitonga, produced by Sarika
Hemi, Tom Tykwer and Ginger Wilson. It was written by Billy Kahora, Potash Charles, Samuel
Munene and Serah Mwihaki. The movie highlights the life of a young man called Mwas, who
lives in the countryside, born and raised in the village, has a big dream of being a successful
actor. He sells DVDs for a living but believes in making a successful career in acting. In pursuit
of his dreams, he sets off to Nairobi, the city of opportunities, but he is faced with the harsh
realities of urban life in Nairobi, a city that operates on every man for himself and survival for
The movie gives a two-dimension image of the actual life of Kenyans that is the
countryside life and urban life. It gives a visual representation of Kenyans' everyday life living in
different environment setups in the country. The spheres of egocentric and socio-centric societies
are presented in the movie where the countryside life presents a socio-centric society while the
egocentric society being presented in Nairobi. The Kenyan perspective of ego-centrism and
socio-centrism presented in Nairobi Half-Life is totally different from the Canadian perspective,
An acting freelance set performs short plays in his village, and the whole village is
gathered in the village square enjoying the new set of entertainment. The spirit of togetherness
and togetherness among the village people is evident in how they have all come to have the
INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY RESEARCH PAPER 3
theatre experience. The villagers are jovial and social with one other, which shows the close-
knitted relationship as a society. This is a socio-centric society because every village member's
interests are protected by the other, and instances of exploitation and theft are unfamiliar
concepts to the villagers. This explains why Mwas easily trusts the Nairobian actor Jose, who
lies, misleads and exploits him without him noticing. The movie portrays Nairobi as an
egocentric society where the principle of 'every man for himself, God for us all' is in play.
Therefore, Kenya has integrated both societies, that is, the rural socio-centric society and
the urban egocentric society, into her system, and that is her identity. Unlike Kenya, where half
of her population lives in rural upcountry socio-centric societies, Canada is a developed nation
with urbanization spread to almost every country. Therefore, this makes Canada primarily an
egocentric society but with strong bases of socio-centrism in every part of the country.
Through an acting group from Nairobi that performs short plays in his village, the
socialization aspect is fostered since the whole village is gathered in the village square, enjoying
the new entertainment set. The spirit of togetherness and togetherness among the village people
is evident in how they have all come to have the theatre experience. The villagers are jovial and
social with one other, which shows the close-knitted relationship as a society. The acting group
is called the Vultures and is a Nairobian set with its actors coming from Nairobi.
Mwas believes that the village people and the actors are all the same and all share the
same values, and that is why he approaches one of the actors thinking that they are friends
already. He talks to Jose, who seems friendly to him. Mwas shares his aspiration to the actor of
how much he wishes to be a great actor too and would love to join the acting set, and this gives
INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY RESEARCH PAPER 4
Jose insight into how naïve, primitive and uninformed he is. He pretends to have Mwas’s interest
at heart and uses nativity in friendship as an opportunity to exploit him. This is a classic Nairobi
view of friendship where if one is not benefitting from you in one way or another, then there is
no point in being friends. Mwas sets forth to Nairobi with the same mentality and is met with the
Nairobi reality of friendship being treated as a liability. Trust is not something to be accorded to
perspective though there are some aspects they share-alike. Canadians believe that friendship is a
strong relationship like that of siblings, but free of competition and ambiguity. It is a chosen
relationship different from love where one falls without planning or sibling relationship, where
one becomes part of the family whether they like it or not. Unlike the Nairobi aspect in the
movie, a friendship does not have to be parasitic but could be symbiotic. This, however, does not
define a good friendship as that where each party must have something they bring to the table in
Kenya’s official language is English, while Kiswahili is her national language. The
movie's language is English, Kiswahili, and Sheng, a spin-off language used among the urban
youths in Kenya's major towns. Nairobi gave rise to sheng's language, which is a combination of
English, Kiswahili, and some native language terms that all combine to form the spin off. It is a
language used among youths with a hidden meaning unknown to the elderly and the rural area.
Using this language is a sign of urbanization and digitalism among the Kenyan youth. The movie
presents a different language in the courtside where the village people speak their native
INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY RESEARCH PAPER 5
language. Canada has English as its official and national language, which brings a unified nation
that speaks one language, which helps her achieve a socio-centric society.
Rafiki
This second section of the essay will explore a Kenyan TV show called "Rafiki." It is a
tale of a lesbian affair between two ladies Kena and Ziki, in the center of family and political
heat together with the LGBT issues in Kenyan society. As a result of this, the show was banned
for promoting gay relationships (Dirkes, 2017). We aim to outline how this show and its
characterizations have been used to bring out the relationship and friendships, verbal
communications together with sociocentric and egocentric nature of the Kenyan community .in
the end it also has compared the findings to that which is happening in the Canadian community
in Canada.
The theme of egocentrism comes in in the entire show putting in mind that Kenyan
society has over a long time and to date has been against the idea of homosexuality at any cost
measures are put in place to prevent moral erosion as a result of the gay promotion, the movie,
on the other hand, has a main theme exploring on gay relationships where the two main
The author of the show or director does not think about the bigger Kenyan community
but rather thinks that those attributes about gay relationships could be bought in by the larger
Kenyan society and emulate. Similarly, in the church, when the pastor starts to talk about the
homosexuality issues, and we see Kena walk out as a result of being agitated by the pastor, it is
evident that the pastor portrays an egocentric character as he does not think about the diversity of
INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY RESEARCH PAPER 6
the congregation he is serving. Kena dares to publicly stare at Ziki, as she stares back at her, they
today's society. Blacksta extends the normality of the public understanding of an affection.
Comparing the Kenyan perception of romance and relationship to the Canadians, we can
conclude that this way different as in Canada, men and women, have that freedom to make their
own decisions on that person they wish to engage in a relationship with. Furthermore, they are
Friendships Differences
Ziki and Kena become very close friends after an ordeal between their fathers in politics.
The father is the main rival in the political arena. This puts more pressure on this relationship. It
is widely known that it is very unusual for parents from two different families not seeing eye to
eye to create perfect working relationships. It has expected that in most cases, the children are to
emulate the parents and extend the poor relationship among themselves (Arasaratnam-Smith,
2017). Due to community stereotyping, we see "Mama Atim," who is also a cast and a store
owner ready to start joking about the escalating connection amongst daughters of the political
competitors.
When Kena's mother says, "folks who can elevate you." the point the group on the
financial basis rises where Kena’s dad “John” is considered to be in a lower class compared to
the “Okemis” who are seen to be economically powerful. "Blacksta" tends to desire to make a
relationship with Kena. However, she turns him down .he is seen to stand for a one-sided
connection as one man considered engaging in homosexuality being harassed with intolerant
rants. Comparing this Kenyan situation to the occurrences in Canada, in most cases, the
INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY RESEARCH PAPER 7
relationship between parents or families does not really have to be of concern to their young
ones. Parents may be big enemies, but children make fines connections and no big issues from
the same.
Non-Verbal Communication
The show contains some silent acts and then closes with a spirit of hope together with
much uncertainty. Walking out of the church by Kena when the pastor brings up homosexuality's
topic of homosexuality was to send the message that she was getting very much agitated about
the whole issue of evil comments and thus walked out. In the Kenyan, there is the freedom to
speech provided by the community, but due to fear of one's safety and lack of protection
assurance to anyone who aims to express what they really think and may spell it out if it
Kenya. Comparing to Canada, it is almost the opposite, putting in my mind that Canada is
already a developed economic nation with a well-matured democracy. In the country, the right to
speak of its citizens is held with high esteem, and thus use of non-verbal cues to pass the
Inclusion is very obvious that due to this difference in culture between these two nations,
Kenya and Canada, one may find it very hard living in another from the one they are used to. For
instance, a Canadian used to voicing their views openly against the oppressor. The government
may find it hard doing the same in Kenya as their security may be compromised. Similarly, those
having a gay relationship in Canada may not express themselves happy while in Kenya, just as a
References
Dirkes, J. (2017). Volume I. Synchretic Analysis and Storyboard Scores: The Musical Rhythm of
Filmic Elements. Volume II." The Nightingale": Piece for Orchestra and Narrator," The
Twins": Score to the Film by Daniela Hoyos," April": Score to the Film by Ann