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Historical Background

Historical Background. Pre-Colonial History. Source: oral history, from older people Kisii settled around 200 years ago Question: who inhabited the area before? Gusii came from area N. of Mt. Elgon Moved from pastoral to agricultural climate Raided by Masai, Kipsigi, Juluo

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Historical Background

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  1. Historical Background

  2. Pre-Colonial History • Source: oral history, from older people • Kisii settled around 200 years ago • Question: who inhabited the area before? • Gusii came from area N. of Mt. Elgon • Moved from pastoral to agricultural climate • Raided by Masai, Kipsigi, Juluo • 1892 – Gusii united to repel Kipsigi attack • Question: beginnings of a state?

  3. Who was in charge? • Economic decisions: old men • Legal decisions: old men • Religious rituals: old men

  4. Division of Labor • Men: Cattle herding, cattle raids and warfare, hunting. • Women: Growing crops, cooking and brewing, gathering firewood and water • Men build hut frames, women plaster • Iron extraction: Men cut trees, dig pits • Women carry, dry, and sort soil • Also activity segregation by age group

  5. 3 Rules of Marriage • Interclan • Method of establishing/maintaining peace • Patrilocal/Patrilineal • Relocation of wife to husband’s clan • Children belong to husband’s clan • Bridewealth • Payments in the range of 20-30 cows • No choice/declination for women

  6. Women and Children • More wives = more land can be farmed • Up to 20 wives in some cases • More sons = more supporters in case of legal or military conflict, more male descendants to worship you • More daughters = more bride payments • Man with only one wife is shunned • Infertility is a tragedy, wives compete for husband’s attention • Widows continue to have children

  7. Early Colonial History • 1894 Gusiiland made a “Native Reserve” • 1914 put under full British Rule • Gusii couldn’t fight British firepower • Religious/cultural “Mumboism” repressed

  8. Cattle Camps • Young men trained in combat, and to work together in groups • Often raided other camps/villages • Abolished by the British between 1912 and 1927 • Raids caused instability • Seen as possible nucleus of rebel army

  9. Loss of cattle • Cause: abolition of cattle camps • Cause: land taken over by cash crops • Effect: fewer skins available for clothing, must use cash to buy modern clothes • Effect: fewer cattle available for bride price • Installment plans • Elopement • Less polygamy

  10. Taxation • Imposition of hut and poll taxes • Introduction of chiefs/headmen • No local white settlement (source of cash) • Forced men to migrate • Plantation work, railroad construction, construction of Nairobi, light industry • Taxes and resource exploitation increased as a result of WWI, depression, WW2 • Brits wanted low wage workers in Nairobi, who would retire back to their homelands

  11. Agricultural Changes • Plows and grinding mills introduced in the 1930s and 40s • This should have given women free time • Women expected to produce cash crops • Villages populated by women, children, and old men • Women took over traditional male task of milking cows

  12. Men lose respect • Western court system replaces their former legal role • Christianity replaces their former religious role • Military replaces them as “protector” of the cattle, village • They are now an economic “provider” • Change from warrior-hero to minimum wage worker

  13. Post WW2 • Population (labor supply) increasing • Possibly due to western medicine? • Industrialization reducing labor demand • = … • Unemployment • Mau Mau rebellion in 1952 • Independence in 1963 • Reverse male migration, back to Kisii

  14. Alcoholism • Pre-colonial source of alcohol • Beer brewed by your wives • Modern source of alcohol • Female-headed households, brewing beer as an occupation • Modern drinking establishments, convenience stores? • Question: could this be a major contributor to alcoholism?

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