The Maasai are a symbol of Kenyan culture because of their well-kept and traditional way of life (Kenya Information Guide). The Maasai people have been characterized as fierce, fearless, and proud of their culture (Imperato 79). The inkajijik or enkaji, a traditional Maasai hut, has helped the Maasai maintain their way of life and keep their history alive.
The Maasai tribe is located in southern Kenya (Kenya Information Guide). The Maasai tribe currently occupy about 160,000 square kilometers of land in Africa which is also a preservation of land called the Maasai Mara (Maimai 1). Although they originated in northern Africa, in the 15th century, the tribe migrated along the Nile River and stopped in Kenya (Siyabona Africa). From there, they traveled south and reached southern Kenya and northern Tanzania in the 17th century (Kenya Information Guide). Their love for cattle is the reason for these travels because they are looking for food and water for their vast amounts of cattle (Maimai 1).
Their deep connection with cattle is one of the fascinating aspects in which the Maasai is known for (Kenya Information Guide). The reason for this deep relationship is due to their belief that cattle are explicitly given to them by their god, Enkai (Kivulini Safaris).
Along with cows, the Maasai are interesting due to their inkajijiks. Inkajijiks are the houses in which the Maasai live (Siyabona Africa). The inkajijiks are arranged into circular kraals, in which men are in charge of
The Ashanti people live in central Ghana in western Africa approximately 300km. away from the coast. This is a major ethnic group of the Akans in Ghana, colonized by British until 1957. To this particular group, the family and the mother’s clan are most important. A child is said to inherit the father’s soul or spirit (ntoro) and from the mother a child receives flesh and blood (mogya). Instrument such as talking
Mi’kmaq and Abenaki people use their creation stories to tell how things came to be in the world. These traditional stories are shared from generation to generation to help natives help define who they are as a unique group of people. Art, sculptures, carvings, songs, stories, and spiritual rituals are all ways where both native groups celebrate their culture and tell their creation story.
The Kenyan feminist and environmental activist, Wangari Maathai, explores the legacy of colonialism and oppression in her native country through her moving 2006 memoir, Unbowed. Maathai explains that over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Africa experienced a massive influx of white settlers. In an effort to solidify control over recently acquired colonies, many European powers had encouraged large numbers of their ethnically white citizens to make a new home on the African continent. As a result, thousands of native Africans were displaced. Maathai’s ancestors, the Kikuyu and Maasai peoples were among them. The majority of these forced dislocations took
Maasai have a relatively complex culture and traditions. In fact, for many years they were
Chickasaw tribe has a rich tradition steeped in the arts, housing, food , language and society
“Remotely Global: Village Modernity in West Africa” by Charles Piot is a book based on the lives of the people of the remote village called Kabre located in Northern Togo. The author discusses the “vernacular modernity” of the people of Kabre village that has been influenced by a long tradition of encounters with outsiders that included the colonialists. The author provides an in-depth analysis with ethnographic details about the Kabre people as the author discusses a wide range of their culture and history that included houses and the structure of homestead, gender ideology, ritual like initiations, exchange system, and social relations (Piot 178).
Settled in Kenya and Tanzania, the Maasai enjoy a simple life with an abundance of culture. With roots in pastoralism, the Maasai live an intriguing life with traditions unlike any in the world. Language, marriage, societal statuses, the economy, religion, and health are fundamental in appreciating all that the Maasai have to offer. The warriors of the savannas’ red clothing signify power, and with that comes a powerful amount of knowledge that is still being learned.
While reading both ethnographies “The Hadza: Hunter-Gather of Tanzania” and “From Mukogodo to Maasai” it is easy to spot out differences and similarities between both these simple, yet complex, societies. People tend to believe that indigenous populations are always very similar, as I once did, but I would say while reading these ethnographies I found more differences between these communities and cultures than I did similarities. For my essay I am going to compare both the Mukogodo’s culture and life before and after the transition to Maasai to the life and culture of that of the Hadza. I am going to focus specifically on the similarities and differences between labor and labor
Commonly referred to as Bushmen by the general public and thought of as being harsh wild people that live in the “unlivable” Kalahari Desert. The Ju /’hoansi tribe native to the southern African desert, located along the border of Namibia and Botswana, have been misunderstood and stereotyped for a long time. This is until a man by the name of Richard B. Lee came along and wrote an ethnography about the local systems of the Ju and completely changed how an outsider might view this rural tribe, along with being a fine example of proper long-term field research in social anthropology. This highly regarded book on the Ju /’hoansi is titled “The Dobe Ju /’hoansi.” Although Lee states in the
Chapter one, “Fieldwork among the Maisin”, describes how anthropologist John Barker, author of Ancestral Lines, goes to Uiaku New Guinea to study the Maisin people. His specific goals were to study how a people can maintain a cultural identify in a modernizing world and how they can live without destroying their environment. Barker first arrived in New Guinea in 1982 where he examined “how the Maisin make a living, organize social interactions, conceptualize the spiritual world, and meet the opportunities and tragedies of life” (Barker 2016:2). He studied the tapa cloth, a fabric made from bark, that the Maisin use as a connection to their ancestral past and to help define their culture. Barker discovered that the Maisin have faith in traditional methods and do what they can to preserve that lifestyle. Barker‘s work went
The Maasai are a pastoralist tribe living in Kenya and Northern Tanzania. Much of their land falls within the Great Rift Valley. The main source of their livelihood remains livestock, consisting of cattle, sheep, and goats. Traditionally, Maasai do not feed on game meat as this is associated with the hunters-gathers (Dorobo people). They have relied on their livestock, mainly cows, for most of their nutritional needs. Milk, meat, and blood constitute the basic components of the Maasai diet.
The Mbuti people are known as foragers because their main source of survival lies on hunting and gathering as they move from one place to another. They originated from a region in Africa called Congo. The Mbuti people even with their fairly decent population prefer to be grouped into smaller groups or bands which are mostly made up of close relatives. They live in the rainforests of central Africa, where they have lived popularly for more than 6000 years now.
Moai /ˈmoʊ.aɪ/ (About this sound listen), or mo‘ai, are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500.[1][2] Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna).[3] The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island in 1722, but all of them had fallen by the latter part of the 19th century.[4]
Among the Mbuti, gathering as a mode of subsistence occupies a place of relatively little importance. But net hunting, in groups, takes up the greater portion of daily activity time. The Mbuti do not engage in much gathering of wild plants probably as a result of 400-500 years of contact with the agricultural Bantu. The Mbuti of today have little need to gather wild plants because they exchange game caught during their hunts for metal implements and agricultural produce [banana, cassava, sweet potato, rice, etc.]…The Mbuti divide into two groups; one is a group which uses bows, arrows, and spears as its basic method of hunting, and the second which uses nets. (Tanaka, 1978)
Maori religion is largely based on the ancient legend of Rangi and Papa. The religion promotes a deep connection and respect for nature. It is their belief that all life possesses mauri (life force), wairau (spirit), and mana (power, influence, and charisma).3 This universal life force is traditionally celebrated, passed down, and remembered