Being Maasai: Ethnicity & Identity in East AfricaThomas T. Spear, Richard D. Waller J. Currey, 1993 - 322 pages Everyone "knows" the Maasai as proud pastoralists who once dominated the Rift Valley from northern Kenya to central Tanzania. But many people who identity themselves as Maasai, or who speak Maa, are not pastoralist at all, but farmers and hunters. Over time many different people have "become" something else. And what it means to be Maasai has changed radically over the past several centuries and is still changing today. This collection by historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and linguists examines how Maasai identity has been created, evoked, contested, and transformed from the time of their earliest settlement in Kenya to the present, as well as raising questions about the nature of ethnicity generally. Thomas Spear received his doctorate in history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He has written histories of Zwangendaba's Ngoni, the Mijikenda (The Kaya Complex), eastern and central Kenya (Kenya's Past), and The Swahili (with Derek Nurse); and is currently completing a social and economic history of the Meru and Arusha peoples of Tanzania. Formerly at La Trobe University and Williams College, he is now professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Becoming Maasai | 12 |
Dialects Sectiolects or Simply Lects? | 25 |
Copyright | |
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Being Maasai: Ethnicity and Identity In East Africa Thomas Spear,Richard Waller Limited preview - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
African age system age-set agricultural Ariaal Arusha assimilated Ateker Baringo beadwork becoming Maasai Berntsen bilingualism boundaries cattle central ceremonies Chamus Chieni clan colonial colour cultivation Cushitic DC/Ngong District drought East Africa economic elderhood elders Engaruka escarpment ethnic farmers frontier Galaty grazing groups herders herds highlands Iloikop interaction Kajiado Kajiado District Kalenjin Kaputiei Keekonyokie Kenya Kikuyu Kisongo Kratz labour Laikipiak Lake Baringo Lake Turkana Lamphear land language linguistic livestock Loitai Loodokilani Maa language Maa-speakers Maasai culture Maasai expansion Maasai identity Maasai sections Maasai society Maasailand manyata marriage Marsabit Matapato Meru Mount Meru murran murranhood Nairobi Narok neighbours Ngong Nilotic nineteenth century non-Maasai OIC Masai Okiek ornaments Oropom Parakuyo pastoral economy pastoral Maasai pastoralists plains political Purko raiding region relations Rendille Rift Valley ritual Samburu settlement shifting Siger Sirikwa Sobania social Sonjo southern Tanzania Telelia tion Torrobo traditions Vossen Waller wives women