The Maasai are one of the many southern-most tribes located in Kenya. They are physically related, and also in many other forms related to the Samburu and Turkana. The Maasai have a relatively complex culture and traditions. In fact, for many years they were unheard of. By the late 1800’s we soon discovered more about the Maasai, mostly from their oral histories. It is presumed that the Maasai came from the north, probably from the region of the Nile Valley in Sudan. Also presumed
Within the Maasai culture there are several political decision makers. One decision maker is the father in a family unit. The father can decide where his children live within the kraal, which is an enclosed settlement. Another part of the decision making process in the Maasai culture are the elders of the clan. Another group that participates in the Maasai’s process of making decisions are the warriors. Warriors are the young men of a tribe; boys become warriors after they are circumcised. Thus
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. Environmental Aspects
countries established in Africa it causes this continent to be very diverse within peoples skin color, religion, and language. Throughout this paper, I will be focusing exclusively on the similarities that are found amongst the Maasai and Tuareg people. In the books, The World of a Maasai by Tepilit Ole Saitoti and A Nomad in Two Worlds by Ahmed Kemil, they both try to dissect the cultures between these two communities. Both of these authors execute this by looking at the herding practices, gender relations
ANT 153 11/4/14 Perspective on Maasai Male Initiation The Maasai, a nomadic tribe that resides in Kenya are sensitive to their culture and rituals that have been around for hundreds of years and still continue to this day. There are some rituals that nations outside of the Maasai tradition disagree on. But some customs vary from country to country, or even religion to religion. One of these customs happens to be circumcision which is performed widely in the Maasai tribe and throughout the world
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead Volunteerism, in its conceptual form, includes the individual or collective efforts of willing individuals, known as volunteers, to act in ways which work toward the betterment of oneself, other individuals, communities, and/or society. This definition remains subjective in its ambiguity regarding the meaning of betterment, as well as in the sense
Interview This is an interview with a Maasai Tribe member found in a tribe in Kenya. The Maasai are a tribe located in southern Kenya and their way of life is much different from the rest of Kenya. What is your definition of Culture? Maasai are known for being powerful warriors. We are taught since we are young that we need to protect our people and our cattle. To be in the Maasai tribe is to be part of close community that work together and rely on each other. Our culture is much different than
(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
Introduction Paragraph Did you know that lions, leopards, elephants and buffalo can all be found roaming free throughout Kenya? It has some of the most beautiful cities in the world which are frequented by many visitors, not just because of its beauty but also for business opportunities. Kenya is an interesting country because of its location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and the region. Location Paragraph A very important thing to learn about the country of Kenya
In the September 1999, issue of National Geographic Magazine, there is quite an interesting article that has been written by Carol Beckworth and Angela Fisher. It deals with the Masai Warriors of Kenya, and how their culture recognizes an adolescent male that is becoming a man, or entering manhood. 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
Maasai Society The Maasai People from Kenya represent a pastoral society. They rely on the taming and herding of livestock as a means for survival. Those responsible for herding livestock are the Maasai warriors and boys, especially during drought season. They had cattle, goats and sheep as their livestock. I did notice a social transformation in their society. Each individual has their job to complete daily. For example, the women formed the houses, milked the cattle, cooked for the family and
The two human adaptive strategies I chose to focus on are pastoralism and hunting and gathering. Specifically, I will be looking at the case studies of the pastoral society Maasai and the hunter-gatherer society Nuu-Chah-Nulth; who are also called the Nootka. The differences between the two are vast though there are similarities in how their strategies connect with the natural world. Furthermore, both strategies include complex cultural systems that are maintained though resource guided social organizations
In the Maasai society, genital cutting is a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood, and both men and women go through the process of circumcision. As society ages, opinions on cultural norms change. This is true for the Maasai society, where the views on female circumcision have and are changing. Female circumcision is classified into three categories, and defined by the World Health Organization, Type I is the removal of the foreskin on the vagina, Type II is the removal of the clitoris, and
belonging to the Maasai, but also installing their beliefs of economics and cultural construction brought on by private conservative companies in East Africa, more specifically Tanzania. Issues that are explained is the regulation of land that Maasai call home. Westerners did so by creating national parks, Maasai Mara, Amboseli Reserve, and Tarangire National Park. Igoe explains in the first chapter in his book of how the Maasai lived. Before colonialism, conservation, and regulation, the Maasai were pastoralist
in the Catholic Diocese of Arusha in the Arusha Diocese Development Office and later taught at Oldonyo Sambu Junior Seminary. She worked with Maasai in a religious context and so was led to her research. She wrote her book “The Church of Women” after noticing the gendered differences in evangelization. In her book Hodgson first addresses the history of Maasai religious practices. Women were imperative to most religious ritual and even nonritual practices. Their God was often referred to with female
Every society has a way to acknowledge an important event or act that serves as the passage from one stage of life to another, such as when a boy becomes a man or when a girl becomes a woman. Rite of Passage is the official term for this; a ceremony performed to mark a person’s change of status upon several highly important occasions, as at the onset of puberty or upon entry into marriage or into a clan. While most passages are from childhood to adulthood, it can also pertain to life transition
The Main Features of a Savanna Ecosystem For most of the year in this part of Kenya, the climate is very warm and very dry. However for a short season of three months (April, May and June), there is abundant rainfall and then a shorter period known as the 'little rains' (November and December). Both of these periods of rain follow quite soon after the overhead sun has past right over the equator. The temperatures throughout the year are generally high, the cooler part of the year occurs
forest into pasture lands is causing considerable damage. The Maasai of East Africa provide us with an example of properly managed pastures. The Maasai burn brush to create pasture land, when the herd must be moved so that the pasture can regain its strength, other animals such as deer and small wild pigs enter the fallow fields, thus creating another resource of food for them. The governments of Kenya and Tanzania took about 75% of the Maasai lands to use for tourism. The land soon began to grow over
What do body modifications signify in people's culture? Some cultures force body modifications as a right of passage into a new stage in a person's life. Body modifications are associated with many things, for example, commitment, social rank, and ways to control people's lives. Waris Dirie, Tepilit Ole Saitoti, and Enid Schildkrout talk about body modifications and what they mean in different cultures. Cultures have different forms of body modifications with their own meaning and background. Men
“poorest of the poor.” Destroyed by a “rhetoric of hate,” genocide and mass murder are the tools of nation states to control the unwanted obstacles in economic development (Niezen 55). Colonialism transformed the indigenous life of the Yanomami, the Maasai, the Hawai’ians, the Aborigines and hundreds of other indigenous peoples. Industrialization moved humanity beyond the “world in which people mattered to a world in which they are expendable” (Wolfe). Today, still entrenched in the imperialistic ideology