Africa is a rich continent and has for many years provided the world with its rich culture, art, wealth and natural resources. It is also the cradle of mankind as fossil evidence and early tools dating from almost two million years ago from archeological sites such as Olduvai Gorge indicate that human beings originated from here. The Maasai tribe is one of the predominant peoples residing close to this archeological site and they are one of the most unique and popular tribes in East Africa and Africa in general, due to their long-preserved culture despite western cultural influences, education or modern civilization. This paper will discuss the Maasai people, describing their social and economic life, as well as their leadership style and religion.
Social Stratification
The Maasai are a Maa-speaking people much like their neighbors, the Jemps, Samburu and the Parakuyo (Zeleza, 1994) . Very little is known about their origins but scholars believe that they originated from North Africa and settled in the northern parts of Kenya around Lake Turkana before migrating southwards to settle around the Serengeti; northern Tanzania (Zeleza, 1994). Being a warrior community, it is believed that as they migrated southwards, they attacked the indigenous communities raiding them cattle and eventually displacing them. Their social life is mainly nomadic or semi-nomadic up to date, despite government interventions for a change of lifestyle. Being nomadic pastoralists means that they rarely settle in one area or land and constantly move from one place to another in search of food and water for their animals and themselves. They mainly keep livestock which typically comprises of goats, cows, and sheep, and to the Maasai people, having lots of cattle is a symbol of wealth. It is therefore not uncommon to find a Maasai who owns hundreds of cattle as a form of status, and cattle are also used when paying bride-price. Their whole social and economic lifestyle revolves around their animal stock as in addition to paying the bride-price, cattle is the source of their livelihood as it gives them food; both meat and milk and also blood which is used for sacred rituals. They live in houses called manyattas and these are dome-shaped hut structure which is built using cow dung, mud, and sticks. The mud-walls are mixed with cow dung with sticks providing vertical support and their roofs are also made from the mud and dung used to make the walls. The Maasai believe that their god, Enkai, gave all cattle in the world to them, and it is a common belief to them that other tribes possessing cattle must have stolen from them leading to social altercations in the past to try and regain their “property” (Project, 2017). They have a unique social system which determines a persons' maturation and progression. The age-set set system is used as members of different ages are placed into different age-groups which distinguish children from adolescents, adults, and morans (elders). This system influences a Maasai’s life cycle as adolescent boys are circumcised at the age of fourteen and experience an intense period or warriorhood into adult life (Saitoti, 1986). Circumcision is a process every male has to undergo before becoming an adult having rights to marry and own property. During this training period, young men live outside the village, raiding, and hunting and even killing a lion (Barnard & Spencer, 2012). It was only after undergoing the circumcision ritual, that a man was considered brave and fierce, which is highly valued in their community.
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Leadership and Religion/symbolic culture
Like all communities, the Maasai have their own religion and symbolic culture as well as a unique form of leadership. Having able leadership is the reason behind their success, growth, and expansion especially when they were settling into their current location. The Maasai leadership position has been consolidated to comprise both political and religious functions led by the Laibon (Saitoti, 1986). The Laibon is tasked with performing religious functions such as sacrificing animals to their supreme being Enkai. To the Maasai , Enkai is the creator of the earth and provider of all cattle (Kessler & Wong-MingJi, 2010). The Laibon was also a chief who controlled warriors and had powers of appointment and removal of other tribal leaders in the council of elders. Leaders were chosen from prominent families making up clans and they were very wealthy individuals. They often shared their wealth for social and traditional functions such as drinking the blood of cows or pouring libations and power stemmed out of such leaders (Kessler & Wong-MingJi, 2010).
Gender Equality
In the Maasai community, both women and children were considered as property with could be owned by an adult male. Gender was a prestigious structure known to every member of the community as males and females played completely different roles. Whereas females were required to do house chores, cook, build houses, and give birth to lots of children (which was one of the primary roles of a woman), the males were seen as protectors/warriors of the community. Males were trained to fight and defend against external aggression, as well as herding and taking care of cattle. Males were regarded highly and could become morans (ultimate warriors), unlike women who could never even dream of having this role. Women also underwent circumcision to achieve maturity and be ready for childbearing and fertility. They also paid great attention to their bodies by wearing magnificent feathers, beads and plaiting their hair or painting their heads (Barnard & Spencer, 2012).
Conclusion
It is true that Africa is the cradle of mankind with numerous discoveries made over the past years but there are still unique cultures residing in this great vast continent. The Maasai are such people, residing close to the Olduvai Gorge and have a social and economic life never seen before. They are pastoralists up to this date despite western civilization and modern influence and represent a great deal of the African culture. Their leadership revolves around their religious practices and it is evident they have a unique social stratification system.
References
Barnard, A., & Spencer, J. (2012). The Routledge encyclopedia of social and cultural anthropology . London: Routledge.
Kessler, E., & Wong-MingJi, D. (2010). Cultural mythology and global leadership . Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Project, J. (2017). Maasai in Tanzania . Joshuaproject.net . Retrieved 25 October 2017, from https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/13177/TZ
Saitoti, T. (1986). The worlds of a Maasai warrior . Berkeley: University of California Press.
Zeleza, T. (1994). Maasai . New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.
