Our first Siena society talk of the term saw King’s College
Geography post-graduate Briony Turner give a fascinating account of the time
she has spent living and working with the Maasai tribe on the Tanzania/Kenya
border in Africa.
Her particular area of research concerns the effect of
agricultural expansion on the livelihood of the Maasai and how it affects these
people who lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle. To help her gain a deeper
understanding she went to visit them in person. A self-taken video on the day
she left ‘civilisation’ in the town of Arusha before heading out to meet the
Maasai showed us how much trepidation she was feeling: how many of us have met
a group of tribal warriors on their turf and on their terms, without the comfort-blanket
of western-based ideals to look after us if it all goes wrong?!
In the event we got the impression that Briony had nothing
to fear, apart from the disgusting cup of ‘tea’ she was obliged to drink on
arrival as part of the welcoming ceremony, overseen by the chief. Most of her
tales described the stark differences in culture: the typical marital age for a
Maasai is between 15 and 18 with young girls growing up simply copying their
mothers, walking for miles just to collect water for their families. The young
boys in contrast grow up tending their herds of cattle before being trained up
as warriors between the ages of 16 and 30. We got the impression that when he
gets to a certain age, the average Maasai male simply spends his days drinking
mead (a honey-based alcoholic drink).
It was quite apparent that ceremony, tradition and rites of
passage play an integral part in this people’s way of life, with rigid rules
concerning the sacrifice of the precious cows and whether men can eat meat in
sight of a woman (he can’t!) It was also clear that Briony forged a profound
appreciation and love for these people and it was a privilege to hear her
account first hand.
For another opportunity to see this lecture please click on this link.
For another opportunity to see this lecture please click on this link.