on final - masaih women film (sex/gender roles in east africa)

part 1 discussion notes

• parallels between massai and other groups we have seen in videos: cattle is significant for them (like neur), men have multiple wives (like kawelka/paupa new guinea), up to 60 kids (ongka had 9 children, 4 wives).

• the libond (which means the prophet - but we dunno if they can predict future) is similar to big man among kawelka and leopard skin chief in the nuer - they have some kind of authority but not power, can only influence people with persuasion cannot give orders

• wealth stems from cattle and amount of wives and children and sheep

• massai despise hunting, they do not hunt

• massai do not farm crops

• to what extent does massia notion of wealth differ from western notions? in western world, wives are considered an expense - but in the messai they are considered wealth

• rural communities often described as third world, but when you watch these vids they have lots of prosperity, they are considered third world to westerners because they do not reach western standards. notions of “third world” are very ethnocentric

• villiage is structured as a circle, essentially a quarrel to keep the cows inside. outside the circle they have

• massai: land is not a form of wealth because land is common, cows are a form of wealth - differs from kawelka (where ppl like ongka can control the flow of pigs but is not the owner of pigs) and along massai someone is the true owner of the cows. women look after the cows, just as women in paupa new guinea look after the pigs

• massai do not have the notion of private property and that is why they are prosperous society because anyone has access to it

• warriors are important in massai society because they protect

• marriage has nothing to do with romantic love, it is arranged by fathers - not the girls choice. age difference between wife and men is considerable as men must be warriors 18-30 first and women can marry 14-16 - men can also have numerous wives

• woman must undergo rite of passage of being insulted by the other wives - but they were not serious about it. this behaviour is explained/they pretended to insult her to she could understand life is hard but she is welcome - and to yap to other established women about her anxieties

• woman is happy to get married because she at least will have cows and not get mistreated by brothers, as cows are passed through men

my notes

• mans riches reflected in the size of his villiage

• abundance of natural resources

• libon is villiage head with 12 wives and 60 children

• sign of prosperity to have roof of just cow dung and not cow dung and mud

• woman needs a man as women cannot own any living man, to survive they need to attach themselves to a man and be a mother of a son

• after age 18 men become part of the army - warriors do not marry or live in elder village, they are in the forest/country

• both boys and girls are circumsised

• until circumcision the girls belong to the warriors

• girls anxiety is that she cannot get pregnant until formally initiated

• circumcision's ceremony begins as a family affair - is a rite of passage - transforms giggly girl to woman - head shaved, jewels given to younger sister - marks total shedding of prior identity. after circumcision she is considered fertile and can become pregnant. part of ritual is to brew mead - parents happy cuz daughter is not pregnant and are drinking mead

part 2 discussion notes

• the masai women - african tribes

• among the masai women are not jealous of other woman, this is because they need more people as there is lots of work to be done - which is why women have many children

• friendship is very important among the masai because the women around you are your friends/allies + husband is not always someone you want to be around, sometimes women will give a child to their friend if they cannot have kids or lost a kid

• emphasis placed on ritual called enoldo (rite of passage at end of video which is a ritual that turns warriors into elders) prior to this ritual, warriors/elders to be are blessed by other elders, which is necessary

• time in military service also important in other countries

• for a married woman without children, when her husband dies, it is considered a tragedy - because 1. always a tragedy when husband passes, 2. because among the masai a woman is very dependent on her husband

• how are inequalities between men and women explained among the masai? it is explained by myth

• woman must marry - they say that she will come to love him, if not she is tied and beaten - there is a big

• age difference between men and women cuz men cant marry till after they are a warrior and women marry young