THE SOCIAL and BELIEF SYSTEM of the RENDILLE CAMEL NOMADS of NORTHERN KENYA [Günther Schlee]
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE SOCIAL AND BELIEF SYSTEM OF THE RENDILLE CAMEL NOMADS OF NORTHERN KENYA [Günther Schlee] ENGLISH VERSION: HALLE 2014 (GERMAN ORIGINAL: BERLIN 1979) HALLE (SAALE) 2017 MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY DEPartment ‘IntegraTION AND CONFLICt’ FIELD NOTES AND RESEARCH PROJECTS VII In the FIELD NOTES AND RESEARCH PROJECTS Series the following titles have been published so far: (I) Schlee, Günther (ed.): Pastoralism graphic Project in South Africa and in Interaction with other Forms of Swaziland: Vol. II: Photo Essays and Land Use in the Blue Nile Area of Court Cases, 2007–11 the Sudan: Project Outline and Field (VI) Finke, Peter, and Günther Schlee Notes 2009–10 (eds): CASCA – Centre for Anthropo- (II) Schlee, Isir, Beleysa Hambule, logical Studies on Central Asia: Fram- and Günther Schlee: The Moiety Di- ing the Research, Initial Projects vision and the Problem of Rendille (VII) Schlee, Günther: The Social and Unity: A Discussion among Elders, the Belief System of the Rendille – Korr, 21st January, 2008 Camel Nomads of Northern Kenya: (III) Awad Alkarim and Günther English Version: Halle 2014 (German Schlee (eds): Pastoralism in Interac- Original: Berlin 1979) tion with other Forms of Land Use (VIII) Schlee, Günther: Das Glau- in the Blue Nile Area of the Sudan bens- und Sozialsystem der Rendille – II: Herbarium and Plant Diversity in Kamelnomaden Nord-Kenias: German the Blue Nile Area, Sudan Original of Volume VII, Reprint (IV) Lenart, Severin: The Complexity (IX) Isir and Günther Schlee: Rendille of the Moment – Picturing an Ethno- and Ariaal – A Linguistic and Cultural graphic Project in South Africa and Affiliation Census I: Logologo: Sabam- Swaziland: Vol. I: Photo Essays and ba, Odoola, Manyatta Juu; Namarei: Fieldwork Reports, 2007–11 Ong’eli (Lomorut, Harugura, Ilmon- (V) Lenart, Severin: The Complexity goi); Goob Lengima; Korr: Bosnia, of the Moment – Picturing an Ethno- Lorora; Laisamis: Rengumo; Lepindira For teaching purposes, all volumes are available as online PDFs under www.eth.mpg.de/dept_schlee_series_fieldnotes/index.html MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMent ‘IntegraTION AND CONFLICT’ FIELD NOTES AND RESEARCH PROJECTS VII The Social and the Belief System of the Rendille – Camel Nomads of Northern Kenya: English Version: Halle 2014/German Original: Berlin 1979 Second Revised Edition 2017 (with corrected side margin pagination) Published by Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale) P. O. Box 11 03 51 D - 06017 Halle /Saale (Germany) 9270 2׀0345׀Phone 49 http://www.eth.mpg.de ISSN 2193-987X Author: Günther Schlee Assisted by: Robert Dobslaw Cover Photo: Günther Schlee holding the German original from 1979, 2014 © Oliver Weihmann Printed 2017 by Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale) © 2014 Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology TABLE OF CONTENTS Series Editor’s Preface ................................................................................ iv Preface to the Translation ............................................................................. v THE SOCIAL AND THE BELIEF SYSTEM OF THE RENDILLE – CAMEL NOMADS OF NORTHERN KENYA: ENGLISH VERSION Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... 1 Table of Contents ......................................................................................... 3 0. Introduction .............................................................................................. 9 1. First Main Section: Age and Gender ...................................................... 99 2. Clan Structure ...................................................................................... 127 3. Persons in Special Ritual Positions ...................................................... 203 4. Chronology of the Conflict over the Marriage Rites of the Ilkichilli Age Set (1976) ..................................................................... 253 5. Context-Comparing Symbology .......................................................... 281 Summary in English ................................................................................. 295 Bibliography ............................................................................................ 307 Cirrculum Vitae ........................................................................................ 308 APPENDIX Selected Bibliography about Rendille ..................................................... 309 Book Publications .................................................................................... 310 SERIES EDITor’s PrEFACE (GÜNTHER SCHLEE) ABOUT THE SERIES This series of Field Notes and Research Projects does not aim to compete with high-impact, peer reviewed books and journal articles, which are the main am bition of scholars seeking to publish their research. Rather, contribu- tions to this series complement such publications. They serve a number of different purposes. In recent decades, anthropological publications have often been purely dis- cursive – that is, they have consisted only of words. Often, pictures, tables, and maps have not found their way into them. In this series, we want to devote more space to visual aspects of our data. Data are often referred to in publications without being presented system- atically. Here, we want to make the paths we take in proceeding from data to conclusions more visible by devoting sufficient space to the documentation of data. In addition to facilitating critical evaluation of our work by members of the scholarly community, stimulating comparative research within the institute and beyond, and providing citable references for books and articles in which only a limited amount of data can be presented, these volumes serve an important function in retaining connections to field sites and in maintaining the in- volvement of the people living there in the research process. Those who have helped us to collect data and provided us with information can be given these books and booklets as small tokens of our gratitude and as tangible evidence of their cooperation with us. When the results of our research are sown in the field, new discussions and fresh perspectives might sprout. Especially in their electronic form, these volumes can also be used in the production of power points for teaching; and, as they are open-access and free of charge, they can serve an important public outreach function by arousing interest in our research among members of a wider audience. ABOUT THE BOOK This book is not representative for this series because it is not about a project, nor is it a mere documentation of data. It is a translation of a book published a long time ago which has quite a long history of reception as well. One half of a book by another author is based on it. In Grundzüge einer Ethnologie der Ästhetik by Sylvia M. Schomburg-Scherff (Frankfurt/N. Y.: Campus, 1986) the Rendille are one of the two ethnographic cases presented. But with the growing numbers of scholars who are interested in Rendille and with the decline of German as an international language of anthropology, we came to the conclusion that time has come to plough this book back into the research process in an English version. iv Series Editor’s Preface PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION This book was part of my doctoral thesis, which was submitted to Hamburg University in 1976 and accepted in 1977. Originally, it comprised also parts on grammar, vocabulary and more linguistic samples, but these were pub- lished as a separate volume (Sprachliche Studien zum Rendille, Hamburg: Buske, 1978). My initial idea had been to write on linguistic anthropology, but the publishers only wanted one of the two, linguistics or anthropology. So I took my thesis apart again. This translation aims at being a very close translation (no later insights incorporated) of the major, the anthropological part of my thesis, which was published as Das Glaubens- und Sozialsystem der Rendille in 1979. Many of my later texts about Northern Kenya and other parts were inspired by my original doctoral work, although layers and layers of later field research settled on top of it. Unfortunately, being in an undeciphered Central European language, this earlier work of mine has never been accessible in full to a wider academic public. I think this justifies a mere translation rather than a new edition or re-writing of the book in the light of later experience. In any case, this later experience only adds to my findings from the 1970s rather than contradicting them. For an update of the refer- ences also to the valuable work of others, the reader can easily consult any of my more recent writings. The few corrections I made comprise things, which have been on errata sheets in the original publication (which usually get lost). Furthermore, the sister volume, Sprachliche Studien, has been announced under a different title. I here only use the title under which the book actually appeared. Apart from these details, I leave the text as it is, as a historical document. The translation was done by Astrid Finke to my full satisfaction. I have never been able to translate a text of my own. It bores me to tears. I always end up writing a new one. One chapter (2.10) has been omitted. It dealt with interethnic clan rela- tionships and anticipated elements of my later book Identities on the Move, which superseded the dissertation chapter. The latter was a first try and it comprised too many mistakes. A substantial part of chapter 4.5. has been omitted