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"Nyatiti Is My People": Music And The Reconstruction Of Culture Among The Luo Of Western Kenya, Ian Eagleson

Honors Papers

In this thesis I contend that experiencing music is a fundamental activity in the realization of cultural identity. Music reinforces cultural identity by enacting significant forms and practices that embody meaning, meaning particular to the identity of a culture. When people hear music that is significant in their culture it excites certain feelings in them which reinforce and regenerate their identity with that culture. Participation in music is a condition that evokes a vivid impression in the participant like no other activity in social life. Functionally, this impression may reinforce themes impressed on actors in other ways; however, the way …