(750)The Masai Tribe: An analysis of Non-Kinship Traditions in African Tribes in Age, Skill, and Residence The importance of non-kinship traditions in African tribes is part of the way in which social and political organizations are formed through age, skill sets, and residency. The separation of members of the society can determine the age set of the individual, and the political power that they wield in certain social situations. The Masai tribe is sub-Sahara Africa defines the role of age sets for men, which determine boys, warriors, and elders in the community,. Often, these tribal members will be separated from the community to guard the herds as part of the non-kinship rites of passage for young men. More so, the Masai Tribe recruits …show more content…
The young men of the tribe must spend time alone and away from their community herders. The age of the individual defines if the boy has become a “Moran”, which rite of passage as a warrior in the tribe. These skill of the young warrior depends on their ability as a herder, which reinforces their role in the tribe as a warrior when they reach the age of 12-14 (Spencer 164). In this instance, the transition from boyhood to manhood is defined on the age and skills sets of the young person, which defines the non-kinship basis of this form of social and political status (Diamond 235). . In these ways, there is an age requirement that must be met to attain this authority, which negates lineage or kinship relationships. The skills of the Moran define the level of authority that they will wield, especially when it comes to the next rite of passage into elder status. In this age-group, the Moran will now pass into senior citizen status, which will give him the power to make political decisions about tribal customs, tradition, and law. These factors define the lifespan development of tribal members, which illustrates the age-specific transitions that make the Masai a non-kinship based society. Certainly, the qualifications for political leadership demand the experience and age of the person to be a qualifying factor in …show more content…
This tradition negates the necessity of residency as a prerequisite to join the tribe. In this instance, the non-Masai member must also go through the necessary age-specific rites of passages that tribal members must endure: “The Masai have for several generations recruited and accepted non-Masai into their communities” (Gulliver, 1969, p.237). The Masai have been able to do this in order to achieve the strongest and most able-bodied individuals that can take of the herder and protect the tribe from threats from other tribes. Therefore, it is no necessary to have a tribal origin in the community, which has made the Masai a powerful and adaptable group in sub-Saharan Africa. These are important aspects of the non-residential policy of allowing non-Masai into the community as a part of the non-kinship traditions that define the age and skill sets of the individual that is recruited in male population (Kressel 12). In this type of African society, the openness of tribal membership provides a way for the Masai tribe to be more flexible in the new recruits that they bring into the
“History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples ' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves” (Jared Diamond). In the book Guns Germs and Steel he accounted a conversation with Yali, a New Guinean politician that had asked “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”. Diamond tries to answer this by describing the difference in use of government throughout history by bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states.
The Zuñi are a large group of people formed by many clans. They are known as an exogamous clan (Page 245; Cultural Anthropology; 14th Edition; Ember), so within their tribal ways one does not marry within one’s own clan, and though one should not marry within the father’s clan, it does occasionally occur more than it seems necessary. (Theodore Frisbie; Encyclopedia) The Zuñi are al...
The Masai warriors are a group of semi- nomadic people who live on the border of Kenya and Tanzania. They are a relatively small group, with only about 300,000 people in their culture. They hunt for their food with spears, they live in small homes made out of cow dung, and their most advanced form of technology seems to be the bark shoes that they wear on their feet. They are fairly quiet, subdued people, and they seem to ignore the changing world around them. Their customs greatly differ from the outside world, and many of them would nowadays be called very inhumane and primitive. But these ways are the only ways that they know. But, unfortunately, it may not always be that way.
Have you ever heard of a tribe? Well this is about the Zuni tribe. There
Native Americans established primary relationships either through a clan system, descent from a common ancestor, or through a friendship system, much like tribal societies in other parts of the world. In the Choctaw nation, " Moieties were subdivided into several nontotemic, exogamous, matrilineal 'kindred' clans, called iksa." (Faiman-Silva, 1997, p.8) The Cheyenne tirbe also traced their ancestry through the woman's lineage. Moore (1996, p. 154) shows this when he says "Such marriages, where the groomcomes to live in the bride's band, are called 'matrilocal'." Leacock (1971, p. 21) reveals that "...prevailing opinion is that hunting societies would be patrilocal.... Matrilineality, it is assumed, followed the emergence of agriculture...." Leacock (p. 21) then stated that she had found the Montagnais-Naskapi, a hunting society, had been matrilocal until Europeans stepped in. "The Tanoan Pueblos kinship system is bilateral. The household either is of the nuclear type or is extended to include relatives of one or both parents...." (Dozier, 1971, p. 237)
Within these tribes the young men go through a process to become men. With this the young men go out with other warriors of the tribe to fight. Each man of the tribe has to show that they have individual merit (11). When a young man receives his...
to teach the young of the tribe the type of values they would have to
There is a diversity of tribes that the human society was once uninformed of its existence. Until the 1970, mankind was unaware of the Korowai society existence. The Korowai also known as Kolufu are from the southwestern part of the western part of New Guinea. The Korowai tribe follows a common language, economic system, and an exceptional lifestyle. They practice rituals and have incredible architectural knowledge. In the verge of extinction the Korowai tribe continues to practice their unique culture and traditional rituals.
In Ashanti tribe, family and the mother’s side are most important to this particular group. This tribe believe that child often inherit their father’s soul while flesh and blood is received from the mother. “Instrument such as talking drums are used for learning the Ashanti language and spreading news and used in ceremonies. This instrument is very important to the Ashanti and there are very important rituals involved in them”. (Vollbrecht, Judith A., 1979).
In the very different Zuni and Dobu tribes there is a common theme. The Zuni culture concentrates on the well being of community as a w...
Maasai have a relatively complex culture and traditions. In fact, for many years they were
In the Brazilian Amazon, the young men of the Xicrin tribe observe a rite of passage to prove their manhood and gain the right to be called warriors. The young females take on the nurturing role. They help prepare the feast ...
The !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert are one of the most highly researched groups by anthropologists. They refer to themselves as the Zhun/twasi, which means, “the real people”. The !Kung San people inhabit Southern Africa, and are commonly referred to as Bushmen. Being that the !Kung San are a nomadic people; their bands are usually only seen as being fairly low in population. These people, who also inhabit parts of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, and Mozambique, have a fascinating lifestyle due to the hostile environment that the Kalahari offers (Bushmen, 2011).
In village people were grouped according to families. In the families, the eldest man had the most power. On issues to deal with the community, a group of adult men decided courses of actions, and men could influence these assemblies by buying “titles” from tribal leaders. This method inspired hard work and the spread of
The Rift Valley in East Africa has been the home of pastoralists for over three thousand years. A number of different tribes migrated to Kenya, grouped by language they include the Cushites derived from Southern Ethiopia, the Nilotes, which include the Maasai, from Southern Sudan, and the Bantu. The Maa speaking people are the group from which the Maasai originated; their expansion southward into the Great Rift Valley began about 400 years ago. The second stage of Maasai expansion involved the emergence of a central Maasai alliance as well as the expansion and differentiation out of the Central Rift Valley. There are numerous Maasai tribes, and we will be primarily discussing the Arusha and Central Maasai.