Cattle, Kraals and Pastures: The

Politics of the Pastoral Maasi

Adrian Leftwich

Presented by

Marlou M. Tangalin
 Introduction
 A major feature of the long 'neolithic revolution' was not only the
addition of crop-growing to the range of agrarian productive activities
undertaken by human societies, but also the herding of livestock.

 During that time and right into the present, many different societies
have combined different forms of hunting and gathering,
agriculture and herding.

 The adoption of herding has had important implications for the

politics of these societies, adding new factors to their activities of
cooperation and conflict.
 One such pastoral society is that of the Maasai of East Africa, who
grow no crops.
 II. Historical Background

 'Pastoralism' refers to the husbandry of animals, from which pastoralists directly or

indirectly derive their subsistence.

 'Nomadism' refers to the pattern of movement, of people and stock, which is usually
seasonal, whereby pastoralists distribute themselves and their herds around more or
less regular and known territorial beats

 Nomadic pastoralism as a distinctive way of life seems to have emerged some 3000
years ago, long after the domestication of animals which goes back 10,000 years.

 Nomadic pastoral societies display certain broadly common features in their systems of
pastoral production, most obviously their dependence on the use of animals to exploit
marginal resources. Their survival depends on their herds.
 Generally, they have done little to improve the rangelands or water
supplies, but have usually been concerned to ensure the conservation
of pastures against destructive over-grazing, both by distributing
groups of people and their herds between local herding areas, and by
movement within them.
 While stock is usually owned by the constituent families of herding
groups, all herders who are members of such communities have equal
rights of access to their communal pastures and watering points.
 But conflict between groups may break out if trespassing occurs.
 Their systems of decision-making and power have tended to be
decentralized and dispersed, based on the local groups of herders
 Moreover, it has been common for animals to pass between families in
the course of establishing marriage bonds and other social relationships.
 Moreover, it has been common for animals to pass between families in the course of
establishing marriage bonds and other social relationships.

 This background to the account of the
Pastoral Maasai is necessary for two reasons

 First, it is important to place the politics of the Maasai

within the context of this rich tradition of pastoral
nomadism.

 Secondly, such societies have often been regarded by

settled peoples, Europeans and more latterly colonial
administrators and independent governments, as being
wild, unruly and apparently structureless
Geography
 Today, there are roughly a quarter of a million Pastoral Maasai, some two thirds of
whom live in Kenya and the rest in Tanzania.
 They are divided into a number of autonomous sections, 'tribes', which have their own
names and territories. The two main ones are the Kisonko of Tanzania and the Purko of
Kenya.
 Territory is regarded as belonging to the 'tribe', and it is in turn divided into smaller
areas, called 'localities', each of which may be about 200-300 square miles in size.
 Each locality is inhabited by about 600-700 persons, on average, who live in some
fifteen to twenty semi-nomadic 'kraal camps'.
 Each 'kraal camp' is composed of perhaps eight families, some fifty to eighty people,
who have found that they get on well with each other and hence choose to live
together and herd their stock together.
 In any one kraal camp there may be between 400 and 700 head of cattle, plus sheep
and goats. These networks of kraal camps constitute the focal points of herding
activity.
 IV. Cultural Practices

• They use donkeys to help them in their work, for instance in

more recent times to transport water.

• The Maasai grow no crops and only a minor portion of their

diet is derived from agricultural produce.

• They hunt and kill predators which attack their herds, and
they also recognize that the plains game competes with their
cattle for dry season grazing
 They regard elephants, for instance, as useful for making paths and enlarging water
holes.
 The bulk of their diet is derived from the milk of their cows, prepared in various ways,
sometimes fresh, sometimes fermented, and sometimes mixed with the blood of steers.
 They rarely slaughter their cattle simply to eat the meat. But they do kill cattle, usually
bullocks, for ceremonies and rituals, such as marriages, births, circumcisions, age-set
initiations and so on. Since such events are fairly regular, it is reasonable to assume that
their intake of meat from this source is also regular, but slight.
 Most herding is done by young boys, supervised and instructed by the elder men of the
camp, and watched over by the young warriors, while most milking is done by the women
and girls. Usually the families who compose the kraal camps herd their cattle together,
but not always.
 Control and use of individual family herds is firmly under the authority of the family, and
especially the male head of the family.
 V. Government of the Masai
 There is no central 'government', nor concentration of power, within
Maasai society, nor are there 'chiefs' or 'headmen' at the level of 'tribe',
locality or kraal camp.
 Cooperation is promoted by the spirit of friendship between the families in
the camp.
 There are no formal procedures for settling disputes within the camp.
 Relations between camps (and between localities within the 'tribe') are
regulated by the elders.
 Between the ages of about fourteen and eighteen all males become
members of an 'age-set', to which they belong for life.
Junior Warrior Grade

 expected to live for a while in a special warrior village in the locality.

 Junior Warriors spend their time learning about the resources of the locality,
amongst other things.
 During this period their knowledge of the grazing value of many different grasses is
increased from the time they were herdboys.
 They get to know the territory of the locality, and, in doing so, they begin to learn
the relevant components of the science of herding as understood in their society.
 They also carry out socially useful jobs (like keeping an eye on the young
herdboys); they enforce rulings from the Elders; they fight for and defend local
territory and herds, if necessary; they hunt down predators, and they begin to
develop that sense of corporate solidarity which they will have for life as an age-
set.
Senior Warrior

 (a formal ceremony, as are other such major graduations through the grades), they usually
return to their own kraal camps, may marry and start the process of learning to be Elders,
while still carrying out their duties as warriors which may involve fighting and raiding.
 They become Elders when, in due course, they graduate out of Senior Warrior status.
 They then begin (initially as Junior Elders) to assume responsibilities for watching over the
affairs of the locality.
 They participate (at first mainly by listening) in the discussions of the Senior Elders, who have
to handle the important matters which affect the welfare of all camps in the locality.
 And it is at this level, that of the locality, where the duties of the age-set when it enters the
grade of Senior Elders become most important.
 For this is the level where most cooperative activities (like ceremonies or defence) or
disputes (for instance over pasture or raiding) occur, and hence need to be organized or
settled.
 The members of the sets form strong bonds amongst themselves, and have
their own spokesmen. As age-sets they regulate their own internal affairs,
except where the issue or problem is one which has implications for the wider
society.
 Such issues as these, and many others, are then discussed and resolved by the
'council' of Elders of the locality, composed of the Junior and Senior Elders'
age-sets.
 It is not so much a formal 'council' but a gathering of members of those age-
sets for the specific purpose of discussing and sorting out a problem.
 The spokesman for the Elders' age-set summons the other Elders when such an
issue arises.
 The kind of problem which they have to deal with varies from time to time,
season to season, and place to place, and issues also arise from relations
between Maasai and other societies.
 There is no council of Elders at the level of the 'tribe', but common tribal affairs
(for instance an age-set ceremony) are discussed by ad hoc meetings of
representatives from local councils.
 While women are not included in the age-sets (except indirectly as indicated
above) and hence not in these judicial and decision-making matters, they have a
very firm grip on the affairs of their own homes. Just as men may be said to 'own',
or rather control, the herds, their wives 'own' their homes and they control the
affairs of the domestic economy, looking after the calves, milking the cows and
other activities.
 Membership of these clans is not acquired by 'joining' them. One is born into the
clan of one's father, and both men and women remain in them for life.
 Ideally, Maasai men do not marry women of their own clan, or women of their
mother's clan, or even women of their wife's or wives' clans.
 Overall, then, while there are no formal or institutional bonds which
link the whole society together, these looser kinds of relations - such as
the clans to which everyone belongs - their common lifestyles and
beliefs, and their particular form of pastoralism, enable all Maasai to
recognize each other and to identify as Maasai.
 VI. Culture and Ideology of Masai

 In Marriage they practice polygamous, however it would only formalized when the
groom give a head of cattle to the brides father.
 Education of the young in the science of pastoralism have given a greatest
importance in maintaining their way of life and as an integral part of their politics.
 Domestic economy, looking after the calves, milking the cows and other activities. They
have rights and responsibilities which may not be ignored or infringed by their husbands,
or any other males in the kraal camps.
 The social organization of Maasai society through which their politics are expressed, there
are other non-territorial groups to which all Maasai belong.
 Each clan has its own name, like Laiser, Lukamai and Makesan.
Membership of these clans is not acquired by 'joining' them.
 One is born into the clan of one's father, and both men and women
remain in them for life.
 Ideally, Maasai men do not marry women of their own clan, or
women of their mother's clan, or even women of their wife's or wives'
clans.
 Overall, then, while there are no formal or institutional bonds
which link the whole society together, these looser kinds of relations
- such as the clans to which everyone belongs - their common
lifestyles and beliefs, and their particular form of pastoralism,
enable all Maasai to recognize each other and to identify as Maasai.
 VII. Challenges
 More recently, national boundaries have been drawn between Kenya
and Tanzania, thereby officially slicing Maasailand in half, with
implications for the structure, mobility and relations of groups,
though Maasai have not always paid too much attention to these
frontiers.
 More seriously, invasion on their land and dispossession of some of
it - in Kenya for example, during and after the colonial period -
has had grave effects.
 Some 10,000 square miles of Maasai territory, over which they
once freely moved, has been turned into gameparks.
 Population pressures have served to exacerbate the problems
under these conditions, and rangelands have deteriorated too in
consequence.
 Some Maasai have begun to cultivate crops to supplement food
supplies. Others have become involved in the livestock trade,
while yet others have been drawn into casual wage-labour to make
ends meet.