Female Genital Mutilation: Its Physical-Social Effects on Individuals and Reasons for Its Persistence among Communities

Over the years, women have experienced discrimination in many parts of the world. Besides being regarded as the weaker sex, women have endured workplace discrimination, sexual harassment and even domestic violence. Among some communities, wife battering which is perpetrated by their husbands is considered to be an art. Other discriminatory practices include pornification of women in advertisements, victim-blaming, where women rape victims are accused of dressing provocatively, and general marginalization and misogynistic practices. Other undesirable practices include forced marriages and child marriages where underage girls are married off to old men who pay bride price. When bride price is viewed from this angle, it acquires a different significance as it commercializes women and the marriage institution. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is another practice that demeans and dehumanizes women depending on the reasons advanced for its practice.   FGM is one of the major human violations meted against women. This paper looks at female genital mutilation (FGM) and attempts to outline some of the reasons for the persistence of the practice in many parts of the world despite concerted efforts to eradicate the practice. Although the practice is criminalized in many countries, the perpetrators receive low sentences for the crime thus failing to act as a deterrent. This paper is significant in that it gives an insight into the socio-cultural justification and hence perpetuation of FGM. Keywords: Female Genital Mutilation, women’s rights, human rights, cultural practices, Alternative rite of passag

Pragmatics in Parenting: Language Strategies in Communicating Issues of Sexuality to Teenagers by Kenyan Parents.

This study sought to examine the features that characterize parents’ talk when they attempt to speak matters of sexuality to their teenage children. It identified and described various features of style which were analyzed in light of theories of pragmatics such as Brown and Levinson’s Politeness theory, Austin’s Speech Act theory and the theory of Cooperative Principle by Grice. The study sample consisted of parents of teenage children who were interviewed to give accounts of the kind of talk that took place between them and their children on matters of sexuality.  The results showed that features of indirectness abound in parents’ utterances with only occasional direct utterances. The study provides some interesting linguistic insights into the pragmatic choices of language that people make in ordinary conversation to meet their communication needs when faced with sensitive topics such as those to do with sexuality. Key words: communication, indirectness, pragmatics, sexualit

Textuality of English Composition Writing by Form Two E.S.L. Students

The performance of English at KCSE level has been improving over the years. There was need to find out if this improved trend was reflected in the composition writing of students in Kiini Secondary School in Maara District in Kenya. This paper looks at the adherence to the standards of textuality in composition writing by form two students in Kiini Secondary School. It also investigates students’ written texts to establish the extent to which they conformed to the standards of textuality. It further examined the structure of students’ written texts to find out whether they applied the standards of textuality as they wrote their compositions. This paper establishes the effects which the standards of textuality had on the performance of the students in composition writing. The findings of this paper contribute to scholarly material in text linguistics which is within the field of Discourse Analysis. Keywords: Textuality, E.S.L.,Cohesion(Cs.),Coherence(Cc.), Informativity (Info.), Acceptability (Acc.), Situationality (Sit.), Intentionality (Int.), Inertextuality (Inter.

Implementation Status of Kenya’s Language in Education Policy: A Case Study of Selected Primary Schools in Chuka Division, Meru South District, Kenya

Language-in-education policies in many developing countries are constantly an issue of discussion in scholarly circles. This paper looks at the language-in- education policy in lower primary in Chuka Division, Meru-South District, Kenya. The paper evaluates the teachers’ awareness of the language policy and actual implementation in the classroom. It also analyses the problems that teachers experience in implementing the policy and gives the teacher’s recommendations in case the language policy were to be restructured. The paper establishes that teachers are aware of the policy but they do not always implement it in the classroom. The findings in this paper are of great benefit to all stakeholders in the ministry of education in Kenya and contribute to scholarly literature in the area of language planning and policy. Keywords: Language-in-Education Policy (LiEP), Policy Implementation, Language of Instruction (LOI), mother tongue (MT

Osteogenic lineage restriction by osteoprogenitors cultured on nanometric grooved surfaces – the role of focal adhesion maturation

The differentiation of progenitor cells is dependent on more than biochemical signalling. Topographical cues in natural bone extracellular matrix guide cellular differentiation through the formation of focal adhesions, contact guidance, cytoskeletal rearrangement and ultimately gene expression. Osteoarthritis and a number of bone disorders present as growing challenges for our society. Hence, there is a need for next generation implantable devices to substitute for, or guide, bone repair in vivo. Cellular responses to nanometric topographical cues need to be better understood in vitro in order to ensure the effective and efficient integration and performance of these orthopaedic devices. In this study, the FDA approved plastic polycaprolactone, was embossed with nanometric grooves and the response of primary and immortalised osteoprogenitor cells observed. Nanometric groove dimensions were 240 nm or 540 nm deep and 12.5 μm wide. Cells cultured on test surfaces followed contact guidance along the length of groove edges, elongated along their major axis and showed nuclear distortion, they formed more focal complexes and a lower proportions of mature adhesions relative to planar controls. Down-regulation of the osteoblast marker genes RUNX2 and BMPR2 in primary and immortalised cells was observed on grooved substrates. Down-regulation appeared to directly correlate with focal adhesion maturation, indicating the involvement of ERK 1/2 negative feedback pathways following integrin mediated FAK activation