Maasai

The great rift valley is a fault in East Africa that is over 3600 miles wide ranging from southern Kenya to north central Tanzania. This rural area experiences about 500 to 800 mm of rainfall a year. It has various temperatures ranging from 80 to 100 degrees. The variance in temperature is due to different elevations of the area. It can be up to 1300 ft above seal level or 6000 ft below sea level. The area does not experience seasons, it has wet and dry periods. Has some of the finest wildlife parks in Africa. It is home to species such as the black rhino, the Columbus monkey, antelopes, giraffes,hippos and gazelles. It also harbors many different exotic plants for example: landscape consists of patches of evergreen forest separated by wide expanses of short grass forest has survived human encroachment, it includes economically valuable trees such as cedar. In this vast land lives the Massai people. Which has The Maasai population has been estimated to over 400,000. Cattle plays a central role in the life of the Maasai. Cattle represents food and power; the more cattle a Maasai has, the richer he is and therefore the more power and influence he will have within his tribe. However, Due to the dry seasons, there are restrictions of grazing lands which has reduced the Massai's reliance on cattle raising, and has forced some to engage in limited cultivation, growing maize for food, some vegetables, and barley for selling

Physical adaptation : Since Kenya is closer to the equator, they are exposed to a lot more sun. Being exposed more to the sun means Sunlight is the main source of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can damage the genes in your skin cells. UV light is thought to be the major risk factor for most skin cancers. People who live in places with year-round, bright sunlight have a higher risk. For example, the risk of skin cancer is twice as high in Africa. The highest rate of skin cancer in the world is in places that are closer to the equator. Spending a lot of time outdoors without covering your skin and using sunscreen increases your risk, as well as why the maasai people are very dark in skin color. However another reason is that the sun makes the land dry, and difficult to farm and/ harvest crops. In which, this may dry up the water as well. During the time of drought the maasai people try to preserve the water, and if need be they stock up on water, meanwhile if they don’t have enough they sell and trade goods. Overall, this doesn’t stop them from living there traditional customary way of life. They may struggle hard, but the maasai people really are determined and strong willed people.

Cultural adaptation:

Kenyan government, along with some conservationist groups, have come close to eradicating the Maasai way of life. Traditional means of sustenance, medicine, water, and education have been labeled as inefficient by western influences and newly empowered Kenyan government. The Maasai people have found it hard to maintain their cultural traditions and their need to adapt to a changing social, political and economic background. Due to influence from other cultures (mostly western), the traditional Maasai way of life is increasingly threatened. Over the years, many projects have begun to help Maasai tribal leaders find ways to preserve their traditions while also balancing the education needs of their children for the modern world. The emerging forms of employment among the Maasai people include farming, business (selling of traditional medicine,running of restaurants/shops, buying and selling of minerals, selling milk and milk products by women, embroideries), and wage employment (as security guards/ watchmen, waiters, tourist guides), and others who are engaged in the public and private sectors. This again, has proven to be hard for the maasai people since they still want to keep there traditional ways of living, but with today day and age cant since the world today keeps evolving.

1. Language:

The Maasai, Masai or Maa language is a member of the East Niolitic branch of the Nilo-Saharan
language family spoken by about 900,000 people in southern Kenya. The term Maasai refers to "one
who speaks the Maa language".
Maasai is taught in schools some extent, though the languages of instruction are Swahili and English.



There is a Maasai dictionary, a Maasai translation of the Bible, and a few other publications, Some
unique traits the maasai langauge has 30 contrastive sounds, Maasai has advanced tongue root vowel
harmony. but generally the language is not used in writing very much.

2. Gender Roles: There are two specific genders in the maasai culture such as male:female, no other form of gender is accepted in this society.

 Identify general gender roles: What are the defining roles for the genders in your culture? Age and gender among the Maasai determined by social interactions, household duties, political power, and rituals. Men and women, as in any world society, have different rights and responsibilities. For women, there are only two groups: married and unmarried. For men, They herd small stock and calves then move up to cattle. responsible for protecting the village, serving as messengers for the elders, and going on raids to steal livestock from neighboring villages. 

 How strictly defined are these roles? Are there strict delineations of these gender roles or can there be crossover, with one gender being permitted to perform the roles of the opposite gender? Younger uncircumcised men endure hunger, physical hardships, and continual ridicule and hazing from their family. They have to be circumcise. Circumcision represents a transformation from a weak boy to a warrior. As they grew older, men attained more and more responsibility. Once the men become senior elders, the level of village duties and decisions go down. once a warrior, they need to accumulate wealth in order to with hold there women. As for the women, they as well have to get circumsied but are allowed to cry. Once this is done, the women are allowed to start a family. And expand there sexuality with only the elders.

 Are there negative repercussions (social/financial/physical) for one gender performing the roles of another?

If a man was to do any of the women work then the tribe ridicules him. He then looses his status in his tribe.

 How do the young of this culture learn their appropriate gender roles? Describe the process of how the culture’s gender roles are passed on from generation to generation.

The Maasai- young women helped their mothers with household chores and caring for the younger children in preparing for whats ahead. As for the younger men they get to do what they want until they are ready to be circumcised and be initiated into becoming a warrior.

 Discuss the relationship between biology and gender roles. In the massai culture the men are viewed

as the stronger and more powerful sex. Hence, their roles as warriors and elders for guidance. The men

are allowed to have multiple wives, and the women are then beaten forty strokes and fined nine cows for

adultery. Women are only as powerful as the massai man she marries. Hence, roles such as building the

house along with other chores such as tending to the children and cleaning up after the men. Going into adulthood, massai males are allowed to act as they wish while females are to trained to be obedient.

From what I read in the article in “blessed cursed” I feel as though what had happened to her in her own culture, would happen to her in the maasai culture, reason being, is they are very religious people and the maasai would take it as a negative aspect. As they have struggled so would have them if they were an maasai.

1. Subsistence: Maasai have grown dependent on food produced in other areas such as maize meal (unga wa mahindi), rice, potatoes, cabbage (known to the Maasai as goat leaves), etc. The Maasai who live near crop farmers have engaged in cultivation as their primary mode of subsistence. Kenya selling, not just goats and cows, but also beads, cell phones, chacoal, grain among other items. Most of these are seasonal items. As for the massai gender roles, For example: Age-younger males have the most work and younger females work with the older women, sex-males are warriors, elders, women do chores such as building the house, cleaning, milking the cows, making clothes and beading for the husband and children, and tending to the children. social class-elder men have the most power and do the least amount of physical labor. Married women have the most work and are beaten for disobedience. As for the Younger males when they are uncircumcised males are starved .

2. Economic systems: The Maasai economy is increasingly dependent on the market economy. Livestock products are sold to other groups in Kenya for the purchase of beads, clothing and grains. Cows and goats are also sold for uniform and school fees for children. More recently, the Maasai have grown dependent on food produced in other areas such as maize meal (unga wa mahindi), rice, potatoes, cabbage (known to the Maasai as goat leaves), etc. The Maasai who live near crop farmers have engaged in cultivation as their primary mode of subsistence. In these areas, plot sizes are generally not large enough to accommodate herds of animals; thus the Maasai are forced to farm. Our people traditionally frown upon this. Maasai believe that utilizing the land for crop farming is a crime against nature. Once you cultivate the land, it is no longer suitable for grazing. The concept of private ownership was, until recently, a foreign concept to the Maasai. As far as labor is concerned, the massai people specialize in cattle herding, bead making, and trading of milk. She can sell milk to buy other items for her household; like maize, potatoes, and beans. The money from the sale of milk is kept by her, while the money from the sale of livestock is kept by her husband. As a type of currency, massai people use cattle. However the negative effects on there culture, sometimes they might not produce enough in order to trade.

1. Marriage: The maasai culture would be considered polynamorous. The massai do not participate and paracticing in cousin marriage, they practice exogamy. Marriages are arranged by the elders, without consulting the mothers or the girls being handed off. If they were to say no, they would be beaten. Women are married off young often 20 to 30 years younger than their husbands. The bride price is cattle. Males are viewed as more valuable than females in the massai culture. Women are viewed as property, much like the cattle and are left nothing to inherit. A women is usually sold to a man from a different homestead who she does not know. This is called exogamy for although she is raised in a community where she may have relationships with other young men, when she is to marry it is to someone she does not know, from outside her homestead. it is considered taboo to look back towards her old home after a girl is married and on her way to her new one. In fact, to ward off bad omens it is common for the women of the groom's family to insult her as she walks. Certain types of same-sex activity were tolerated in tribal tradition, but only as childish behaviors unworthy of an initiate. In tribes where initiation involves long periods of separation from female contact along with powerful emphasis on male group bonding (Maasai), situational homosexuality is not uncommon. When limited to mutual self-pleasuring, it is regarded as merely unmanly. Oral or anal intercourse can, however, result in expulsion from the age set, severe beatings, and disgrace. One finds some nonpenetrative homosexual behavior among Maasai askaris (guards) who have migrated to Nairobi or the coast. There are no homosexual gender roles, it has been tabooed to the point that subcultural social norms have never developed .

2. Kinship:

Patrilineal kinship, the descent is traced through the male line to establish group membership, when the

maasai parents die, the daughters don’t inherit nething. Property is only left to the son's, and the

daughters do not inherit anything. When they are married off they are sent to live with another tribe and

cutting off the linkage of there own. The maasai emphasizes the importance of the male linage, and

ignores the female linage. Elder males exhibit most authority in the maasai culture. Some examples of there

unique naming patterns are :

daughters=intoyie

ilayiok, or uncircumcised boys

illmuran, or warriors

ilpayioni, or junior elders

a girl (en-kerai) into a woman (en-tito)

A Maasai homestead (manyatta

Nditos (uncircumcised girls)

1. Social Organization:

For maasai people, the tribal society is stratified. The reason it is not is because women do not have a

voice in decisions making it is generally made by the elders, and they are the ones that hand out tasks by

the tribe. Gender and age define social levels in the Masaa tribe. Also, the amount of cattle is an indicator

of status. A masaai male becomes a changes his status as he ages, obtains more wives and cattle.

2. Political Structure

Masculinity was defined by different stages of life, including that of boy, warrior, elder and ancient

elder. The most exalted stage of Maasai manhood was the warrior stage though the elders held more

power emanating from the patriarchal structure of power relations.

the amount of cattle a masaai male has tells his social status. The more cattle he has, the more powerful he is viewed by his tribe.Maasai men gained social status through being herdsmen with the size of herds having much subsistence and social value, thereby denoting wealth and status. As far as power being transferred, for being in the maasai tribe it would depend on your status. The elders determine the laws of the Masaai. Punishment is delivered in the form of beatings. For example, A circumcised woman was forbidden from having sex with anyone but the elders. Both the woman and warrior would be beaten severely if an elder caught the transgression.

The Role of Violence

If a women commits adultery, she then gets Beats her 40 strokes and fines her 9 cattle. She will still go

back to her lover. Very common. If a woman does not, she is ridiculed by the other women. Another

example would be that Circumcisions for both sexes. They have to endure the pain for males and the

women are allowed to cry.

1. Religion: Provide the following information on your culture’s religion.

The Maasai god is called Enkai. Enkai is seen as male and female at the same time. In the Maasai religion, Enkai is believed to manifest in many forms, including in mountains, colours and the moon. A religious leader of the Maasai is called a Laibon. They are believed to descend from Enkai and therefore have religious authority. They are believed to have the power to heal and to give prophesies. A Laibon isn’t a political leader but he does have the right to declare wars. This religion would be considered monotheistic.

c. Does their religion have an origin story of how their culture/people came to be? Summarize the story.

<><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><>

The Maa speaking peoples of East Africa believe that at the beginning sky and earth were one, and the Maasai did not have any cattle. God (Enkai) then let cattle descend from the sky along a bark rope (or leather strap or firestick), and the Maasai received all cattle that currently exists in the world. The Dorobo (Ildorobo people), a group of hunters and gatherers, did not receive any cattle, and therefore proceeded to cut the rope, producing a separation between heaven and earth, and stopping the flow of cattle from God. From that belief, it follows that there is a direct link between God and cattle, and that all cattle in the world belong to the Maasai.

Also frequently misunderstood in the West is the concept and practice of sacrifice, which often accompanies communal prayers and important social occasions, and is in fact an integral part of the ceremonies. In its most basic form, sacrifice involves a person or people giving something that is valuable to them (such as food or animals) to God, in the hope that God repays the attention paid Him by blessing the people in whatever form requested, for example by bringing rain to end a drought, or calling off a flood, or quelling disease, or simply blessing a newly married couple or their child - whatever the people have a need of at the time.

2. Art

a. Artwork:

The Maasai art is dominated with bead work. The bead work is slightly different from section to section.

The collection of artwork includes a full Maasai bridal costume, elders’ traditional objects, and a warrior's outfit. The specific art pieces includes jewelry, a shield, a warrior’s spear, ceremonial headdress, ceremonial clothing made of leather, tribal game board, among many other art pieces. These are not the usual Maasai artworks found in curio shops or in commercial art galleries. They are authentic pieces found only in Maasailand.

b. Music:

<><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><>

Maasai music traditionally consists of rhythms provided by a chorus of vocalists singing harmonies while a song leader, or olaranyani, sings the melody. Women chant lullabies, humming songs, and songs praising their sons. Nambas, the call-and-response pattern, repetition of nonsense phrases, monophonic melodies repeated phrases following each verse being sung on a descending scale, and singers responding to their own verses are characteristic of singing by females.When many Maasai women gather together, they sing and dance among themselves.

100. Performance: The Masai dance that is repeatedly seen in African documentaries is usually called the "jumping dance". This particular dance is performed by the men of the village, who leap into the air to show their strength and stamina as tribal warriors.

Conclusion: Cultural Change

Impact of the world outside your culture: Today it seems as though that we are trying to industrialize Africa all together. But, they are trying there hardest to keep it very traditional, and preserve there customs. The maasai people are definitive endangered of loosing there culture identy. We also today, set tours to go through and see how they live, since there culture is so different then ours. But at least it creates jobs and revenue to go back into there country. Although it has also created active charitable projects to fund the country to help them get on track, for example cleaner water, and schools. The plus side is that they can decrease the amount of people that are sick as well as getting more people better educated. ALthough a lot of the maasai people want where they live to stay very traditional, as well as there customs, it seems to really mean a lot to them.

Works Cited

Code, African. "Beja." PEOPLE OF AFRICA. Unknown, 2001. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.africanholocaust.net/peopleofafrica.htm>.

Finke, Jens. "Maasai Introduction - Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya." Maasai Introduction - Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya. Traditional Music and Culture of Kenya, 2000. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/maasai/>.

Kate. "The Maasai: East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania)." The Maasai: East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania). About.com, 2012. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://goafrica.about.com/library/bl.maasai.htm>.

"Kenya Tribes." - The Cultures and Lifestyles of the Tribes of Kenya. Kenyas Information, 2012. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.kenya-information-guide.com/kenya-tribes.html>.

"Kitumusote." History of the Maasai. 2006. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.kitumusote.org/history>.

"Maasai Age-sets - Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya." Maasai Age-sets - Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya. 2003. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/maasai/agesets.htm>.

"Maasai Culture | Ceremonies and Rituals." Maasai Culture | Ceremonies and Rituals. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.maasai-association.org/ceremonies.html>.

"Maasai Primary School | Kenya." Maasai Primary School | Kenya. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.maasai-association.org/primary-school.html>.

"The Masai: Maintaining Culture." The Masai: Maintaining Culture. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/cultures/masai.htm>.

Tribes, African -. "African Tribes." African Tribes. African Tribes.org, 2008. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.african-tribes.org/index.html>.f

Web.

Williams. "Maasai American Organization - Dedicated to the Promotion of Education and Community Health." Maasai American Organization - Dedicated to the Promotion of Education and Community Health. Web Weavers. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.maasaiamerican.org/people.htm>.