A bit of interest in Nobel prizes, please

The first week of October is spiced up by announcement of Nobel prizes, the ultimate trophy every academic in hard sciences, economics, peace and literature dreams of. Beyond the great expectations that await the announcement, winners are awarded a cash prize that would make anyone burn the midnight oil or go beyond the call of duty.

The tradition that goes back more than a century usually ends with the economics Nobel Prize, which unlike the others was first given in 1968 and was not in the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. It is sponsored by the Swedish Central Bank. There was a twist this year; the literature prize was not announced due to allegations of sexual abuse. 

In Kenya, the Nobel prizes never make to the front pages of key newspapers or other media; neither do they trend on social media. The headlines as the prizes were being announced were about engrossing murder cases involving a leading media personality and another less known personality who got his day of infamy. The story dominated headlines of major newspapers, our conversations and radio talks. 

Make headlines

Why don’t Nobel prizes make headlines in Kenya? Have you heard your MCAs, senators, women rep or any other senior political leader talking about them? Did your CEO talk about them? Why was there no radio, TV or special pullouts on Nobel prizes? 

Remember we are country that has an annual music and drama festival with winners hosted at State House. We have an annual science and engineering congress that show cases innovations but has never attracted a State House invite.

Remember the fanfare that greets the release of KCPE and KCSE results? The top students are celebrated, adorning our headlines with households breaking into song and dance. Remember the graduation ceremonies that have even looped in nursery schools, the overflowing graduate classes and the relentless search for titles? 

Add baby showers, birthdays and other celebrations including the return of some ancient traditions in central Kenya like initiation ceremonies, with age sets getting exotic names like SGR. We seem to never run out of celebrations - except for Nobel prizes. 

The neglect of the prizes that celebrate men and women who reach the apogee of their intellectual fame and pinnacle of other achievement is perplexing, not just to economists but sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists and other disciplines that love studying human behaviour. 

We could argue that we have other distractions such as the sensational murder cases but they have not been there every year. Maybe too few Kenyans are at Maslow’s self-actualisation stage. We have other things occupying our minds depending on our socio-economic status.

For the lower echelons of the society, their main focus is basic needs from food to shelter. You do not expect a farmer from Shamata or Shamakhokho to lose his or her sleep over the next Nobel Prize winner when crops have not been tended to or cows have no fodder.

In urban areas it might be more about the next casual job or why the landlord can’t be late in collecting rent that month. The citizens at the bottom of the pyramid are more concerned about their neighbourhoods - who got married, who got a baby, who died and other local issues. The millennials of this socio-economic class are preoccupied with matters closer to nature or heart. Ever wondered why teenage pregnancy is more common in the rural areas despite predominance of religion? 

Race to the top

The middle class is absorbed in the race to the top, determined to catch up with neighbours. Seeking another job, another shilling. It is paradoxical that as you move up the socio-economic ladder you become busier but it becomes harder to explain what keeps you busy beyond your job, family and a few amorphous tasks.

The upper class is preoccupied with the fine things, more of lifestyle such as pets, fashion, health, holidays and how much one is appreciated by significant others. 

But our preoccupation with our lives does not fully explain our disdain for achievements like the Nobel. Could it be that schools failed to make us appreciate achievements? Rarely is performance in school natural; in primary and high schools, it often comes with threats, drills and exhaustion. University has its own stresses. By the time we leave school, we have lost interest in intellectual matters unless they will lead to promotions or higher social status.

Needless to say Nobel prize winners compete with other better known stars such as musicians, actors, football stars and politicians. Would you spend a Saturday afternoon watching a match pitting Arsenal against Manchester United or finding out how a laser works or what is endogenous growth model? Lack of curiosity should be declared a national disaster.  

Let me stop neglecting Nobel winners and give them their attention. What are their characteristics from nationality to age? The table above summarises all. Notice their nationalities and the age they got their PhDs, the ticket to lifelong research not a tool to intimidate neighbours.

Nobel prizes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics continue evading Africa, which has won a number of Nobels in peace and literature including our very own Wangari Maathai. Some argue that the upheavals in Africa make the continent fertile for peace making and creativity for writers.

Except the emotional investment in writing and peacemaking, you may not need lots of financial or physical investments in those two areas. That still leaves us asking why Africa has not won a Nobel in economics, which needs much less investment compared with the hard sciences.

In biology or medicine, physics and chemistry you need modern labs which are not cheap. You need special equipment and years of training. Some experiments take years to conclude, some passed over from one generation of researchers to the next.

Think of the number of researchers who have worked for a cure for HIV /Aids or cancer. Some of the research that won Albert Einstein two Nobel prizes could not be proved experimentally till years after his death. 

Basic needs

African countries focus more on taking care of basic needs from food to shelter. The percentage of GDP that goes to research and development is quite low and more of that money goes to paying salaries, not doing real scientific research. Add the fact that we get whatever we want as long as we have money. Why do research?  You can even get the product or service at the source, and it is prestigious. In Africa, ownership of the product or service matters more than who made it.

We hope with increased focus on research and innovation such as setting up a national research fund, awarding lots of points to innovations in promotion of university staff, we shall soon win more Nobel prizes beyond Maathai’s. 

We often forget that Nobel prizes go beyond cash prize and money. Whole industries are spawned by the discoveries winners come up with. Think of the money made from discoveries of lasers in physics or inhibitors in medicine and the promise of cancer drugs.

The money we pump into research and development may appear like waste, but it is an investment.

Nobels or awards are powerful incentives for thinkers and innovators. And we shall ask again; there are no Kenyans who can become our Nobel and sponsor such prizes while immortalizing their name?

Finally, when shall we stop our disdain for intellectual ideas? Does this disdain result from the fact that most intellectuals in Kenya come from a humble background, or ‘peasantry’? How many dons grew up in Muthaiga, Karen or other leafy suburbs? Or it will stop once we start winning Nobel Prizes?

- The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi

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