I’m a mutt among my peers — a touch of German, a little Scottish, some Native American — but my heritage is basically irrelevant when I mingle with a mix of people from other backgrounds. But in many parts of the world, ethnic and tribal lines are still being drawn, and they’re taking entire countries down as a result.
Michela Wrong’s book, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower, is as much about tribalism as it is on calling out the corrupt. In fact, it’s due to the deep-seeded tribal feuds that corruption in the Kenyan government even exists. Kenya has always been the home of many tribes, but it wasn’t until the time of British colonialism and the decision to partition the land up into 24 native reserves — each named for the tribe that was placed there — that tribal lines were literally drawn. Once placed in competition with each other, Kenyans viewed their land as mini-nations and the British reinforced these communities by turning “negotiable ethnicity into competitive tribalism.“
