Images of US as Others in Kenya, 2005

Abstract

What is the US through the eyes of Kenyans? How does this image vary through income level, geographic location, education level, and sex? Where do these ideas come from and how are they perpetuated? This study used free-list data to gather images and ideas of Kenyans about the United States. By analyzing these free-lists through the theories of Mead and Sartre about the Generalized Other, along with Tajfel and Turner's Social Identity Theory of group formation, I seek to find the answers to these questions, as well as how this relates to Kenya's history and the identity of its citizens.