Ariaal Pastoralists of Kenya Studying Pastoralism, Drought, and Development in Africa's Arid Lands (Part of the Cultural Survival Studies in Ethnicity and Change Series)

by Fratkin, Elliot M.

• ISBN13: 9780205391424
• ISBN10: 0205391427
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-13
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Based on over twenty-five years of research and fieldwork, the Second Edition of Ariaal Pastoralists of Kenya: Studying Pastoralism, Drought, and Development in Africa's Arid Lands,offers a highly readable and often humorous ethnographic description of the Maasai-speaking society of East Africa. This unique text details the story of how one society of livestock herders in northern Kenya has adapted to and survived both natural and human-induced disasters of recent times, including drought and famine, inter-pastoralist warfare, and the wide-scale intervention of international development and relief organizations. The Ariaal's determination to maintain their pastoral lifestyle while taking advantage of new health, employment, marketing, and education opportunities offered in the growing Kenyan towns provides a fascinating study of the dynamics of cultural change and the threat to cultural survival among East African pastoralists. This small, accessible ethnography offers a detailed look at pastoral ecology, life in an Ariaal community, the trials and tribulations of anthropological fieldwork, and problems of development and social change for Ariaal people.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	ix
Foreword to the Series	xi
Acknowledgments	xvii
Chapter 1 Ariaal: Studying an East African Pastoralist Society	1	(24)
Chapter 2 Drought, Development, and Kenya's Pastoralists	25	(18)
Chapter 3 Ariaal Identity and Culture	43	(32)
Chapter 4 A Pastoral Life: Livestock Production and Human Nutrition	75	(24)
Chapter 5 The Clan Settlement: Basis of Ariaal Social Organization	99	(20)
Chapter 6 Farms, Towns, and the Future of the Ariaal	119	(18)
Recommended Reading	137