Anthropos: Anthropos, 92.1997,1/3

Anthropos, 92.1997,1/3

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschrift

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistenter Identifier:: BV043334262

Titel:: Anthropos

Erscheinungsort:: Fribourg

Verlag:: Ed. St. Paul

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1906

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Allgemeines

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenband

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711886

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711886

Persistenter Identifier:: 1513768301723

Titel:: Anthropos, 92.1997,1/3

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1997

Signatur:: LA 1118

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenheft

Titel:: Bd. 92, 1997, Heft 1-3

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenartikel

Titel:: Gender Inversion in Nandi Ritual

Sonstige Person:: Tapsubei Creider, Jane; Creider, Chet A.

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Anthropos 92.1997: 51-58 Gender Inversion in Nandi Ritual Jane Tapsubei Creider and Chet A. Creider Abstract. - An interpretation of the meaning of girls’ initiation rituals in Nandi society is presented in which emphasis is laid u pon the role of cheerseet “encouragement” and in which it is shown that the element of transvestism previously claimed to be present (Langley 1979) is in fact not present. In addition, b is argued that girls’ initiation is one of the ways in which Nandi women have struggled to achieve gender equality with m en. [Kenya, Nandi, ritual, girl’s initiation, gender equality] Jane Tapsubei Creider received a traditional upbringing as a Nandi and is the author of two books dealing with the Nandi: Two Lives. My Spirit and I (London 1986), The Shrunken Dream (Toronto 1993); and two stories: The Woman in the Pit, The Elephant’s Trunk (Toronto 1994). Together the Creiders have written A Grammar of Nandi (Hamburg 1989) and are currently working on a dictionary of the Nandi language. Chet A. Creider, Ph.D. (University of Minnesota, 1973), is Professor, Dept, of Anthropology at the University of Western Ontario. - Fieldwork has been undertaken in the Central Andes (1965/66 and 1967), western Kenya (1970/72, 1979/80, 1987), Canadian Arctic (1976), and Norway (1985). - Areas of aca demic specialization: anthropology, linguistics. - Publications include: Studies in Kalenjin Nominal Tonology (Berlin 1982); The Syntax of the Nilotic Languages. Themes and Variations (Berlin 1989); and many articles in journals and books. 1 Introduction Our primary aim in this paper is to present the details of Nandi girls’ initiation in sufficient de tail to be able to refute an incorrect analysis of these ceremonies in the literature. We also present and argue extensively for an analysis of our own. Finally, we briefly consider the function of these initiation ceremonies in the context of Nandi soci ety and particularly in the context of male-female relations. We begin with a short sketch of Nandi society, then describe the initiation rituals, present the er roneous analysis, and give our own analysis. The rituals discussed here were first described nearly a hundred years ago (Hollis 1909). They were a central part of the growing up experience of the first author in the 1950s and 1960s, and they continue to play an important, although diminish ing, role in Nandi society today. 2 The Nandi: An Ethnographic Sketch The Nandi are the major cultural and linguistic group living in Nandi District, Uasin Gishu Dis trict, and Tranz Nzoia District in western Kenya. In the 1969 census the Nandi numbered about 260,000. Nandi country ranges in elevation from about 3,000 metres up to 3,200 metres. In most areas there is an abundance of rainfall, and the temperature is neither excessively hot nor extreme ly cold. In the past and also in the present, the Nan di had an economy based on cattle-keeping and the growing of cereal grains (formerly finger mil let, nowadays maize). Until recently, cattle-raiding was a major preoccupation, if not occupation, of young adult males, and although they were egal itarian and lacked a highly centralised political organization, the Nandi were an effective military force against Arab slave traders (who carefully avoided their territory), their traditional enemies the Maasai, the British, and also their Bantu and western Nilotic neighbours (the Luhyia and the Luo tribes) (Matson 1972). In the anthropological literature, the Nandi were first written about by Sir Claude Hollis, whose work, written in 1909, although dealing primari ly with the language, contains some ethnographic reporting. Later the Nandi were studied by G.W.B. Huntingford (1950, 1953). More recently, mono graphs have appeared by Langley (1979), focus sing especially on ritual, and by Oboler (1985), focussing on the economic situation of women in contemporary Nandi society. Despite this comparative wealth of anthropo logical attention, there has been very little actual analysis and interpretation of Nandi culture. Hol lis’ work is very descriptive, and in any event predates the work of Malinowski and Radcliffe-

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