Paper short abstract:

I examine approaches and strategies of creating secular and public spaces in contemporary Kenya and conclude that ethnicity is propelled in Africa through tensions that are continuously created between political and religious or sacred spaces

Paper long abstract:

Over the last decade or so, one event has surprised observers of Kenyan politics-the increased participation of the clergy in political sphere and their role in ethnic and electoral conflicts. This development presents an intriguing puzzle in the nature and dynamics of religion in Kenya. One might well say that the traditional public spaces are irreversibly shrinking and collapsing. Even more so, one might argue that the loss of traditional 'form' secular engagement with the public or ways of spatial experience would definitely affect the role of traditional public space in building up a civic identity, and even destroy the very sense of 'traditional Christianity. Consequently, cultural factors such as ethnicity and religion have become more important in people's search for fundamentals on which to build their hopes for the future. The paper examines both the sacred and secular spaces as sites of conflict: conflicting memories, conflicting values, conflicting interests, conflicting narratives of place and so on. I examine approaches and strategies of creating secular and public spaces in contemporary Kenya and conclude that ethnicity is propelled in Africa through tensions that are continuously created between political and religious or sacred spaces.