Kold, Cecilie

Kristiansen, Casper Bjerregaard

Larsen, Mathias Kalevi

Petersen, Emily Martha de Seze

It is widely understood that religion plays a big role in the day-to-day lives of African Families. However, the world is changing and the youth on the African continent can now gain access to other parts of the world through technology. This enables them to see the lifestyle and values of other cultures. This has caused many Africans, especially the youth, to question the traditional ap- proach to many things within their own communities, including the approach to religion. Our pro- ject seeks to examine the correlation between religion, Kenyan youth and their family dynamics. First, we wanted to fathom the religious practices and values within a typical Kenyan family. Sec- ond, we wanted to comprehend the impact of the local churches on the individual people in Kenya. And lastly, we wanted to for-seek the consequences with regards to the relationship between a young Kenyan and his/her family, if he/she were to retreat from the traditional religious beliefs.To seek answers to the three statements above we performed an anthropological fieldwork in Kenya, using a series of ethnographic interviews and participant observations. We analyzed the in- terview by applying the theories of Meredith B. McGuire and Anthony Giddens, especially their theories regarding globalization and the impact of religion on individual lives. Furthermore, we draw a connection between our project and Søren Kierkegaard’s critique of the Danish churches standing as institutions. Kierkegaard expressed his dissatisfaction with Danish churches’ ways of practicing religion, holding them accountable for using the churches platforms for profit. This phil- osophical critique was shared by several of our informants and therefore relevant in the analysis of our interviews.The analysis is followed by discussions, seeking to explore what the actual possibilities are for the Kenyan youth distancing themselves from the traditional religious beliefs, and whether there are other unknown factors that contribute into the Kenyan youths detachment, and if this detachment would be realizable

Kenyan youth and religion: An examination of Kenyan youths detachment from religious beliefs

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Roskilde Universitet