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Online Catalogue:BROWSE BY COUNTRY AND REGION:Kenya:Culture, Peoples and Anthropology

AGIKUYUAGIKUYU
Kabira, Wanjiku Mukabi

The people who produced Jomo Kenyatta, first president of independent Kenya. Full colour illustrations. USA, ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1995 0823917622 Hardback 


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AKAMBA
Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe

A survey of the origins, the society, history, and religious beliefs of the Akamba of Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1995 0823917681 Hardback 


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AKAMBA


AMERUAMERU
Wangari, Esther

A survey of the society, history, customs and rituals of the Ameru of Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1995 0823917665 Hardback 


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BANTU OF WESTERN KENYA: With Special Reference to the Vugusu and Logoli, Volume 1 and 2
Wagner, Gunter

A study of the Bantu peoples of the North Kavirondo District in Western Kenya records the extensive field research carried out by the author between 1934 and 1938. Collects volumes 1 and 2. Index, 695pp, UK. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

1970 194. 197241816X Hardback 


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BANTU OF WESTERN KENYA: With Special Reference to the Vugusu and Logoli, Volume 1 and 2

BEING OROMO IN KENYABEING OROMO IN KENYA
Aguilar, Mario I.

Study of the Oromo religion in Kenya that portrays the dynamics of pastoralism there as an important phenomenon for our understanding of the modern African nation-states, and the challenge it poses to the centralization of the modern post-colonial state in Kenya. The author explores religion and ritual, which have tended to be among the less researched aspects of cultural, political andnational identity. Notes, bib, index, 286pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

1998 0865435693 Paperback 


Price (paperback):   £13.99 


BEWITCHING DEVELOPMENT: Witchcraft and the Reinvention of Development in Neoliberal Kenya
Smith, James Howard

Presents a close ethnographic account of how people in the Taita Hills of Kenya have appropriated and made sense of development thought and practice, focusing on the complex ways that development connects with changing understandings of witchcraft. Similar to magic, development's promise of a better world elicits both hope and suspicion from Wataita. Smith shows that the unforeseen changes wrought by development - greater wealth for some, dashed hopes for many more - foster moral debates that Taita people express in occult terms. 272pp, USA. CHICAGO U P.

2008 9780226764580 Paperback 


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BEWITCHING DEVELOPMENT: Witchcraft and the Reinvention of Development in Neoliberal Kenya


CATTLE BRINGS US TO OUR ENEMIESCATTLE BRINGS US TO OUR ENEMIES
McCabe, J. Terrence

Based on sixteen years of fieldwork among the pastoral Turkana people, McCabe examines how individuals use the land and make decisions about mobility, livestock, and the use of natural resources in an environment characterized by aridity, unpredictability, insecurity, and violence. The Turkana are one of the world's most mobile peoples, but understanding why and how they move is a complex task influenced by politics, violence, historical relations among ethnic groups, and the government, as well as by the arid land they call home. Index, bib, notes, xvii, 301pp, USA. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS.

2004 0472068784 Paperback 


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CONTEMPORARY WITCH-HUNTING IN GUSII, SOUTHWESTERN KENYA
Ogembo, Justus M.

Focuses on a spate of witch-killings that has been underway in Gusii, southwestern Kenya, since 1992. It integrates the testimony of participants of and witnesses to the incidents of witch-killing with other ethnographic and socio-economic information in order to understand what led to the sudden rise of this violence in November 1992 and its rapid decline in July 1994. Offers an analysis of the interface between the global and the local that is at the crux of individual experience. Demonstrates how, in this era of globalization, the forces of the free market that are set into motion in one part of the world are experienced and interpreted in another as the workings of the supernatural. 204pp, USA. EDWIN MELLEN PRESS.

2006 0773457224 Hardback 


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CONTEMPORARY WITCH-HUNTING IN GUSII, SOUTHWESTERN KENYA


CULTURE, PERFORMANCE AND IDENTITY: Paths of Communication in KenyaCULTURE, PERFORMANCE AND IDENTITY: Paths of Communication in Kenya
Njogu, Kimani (Ed.)

Brings together essays on a wide variety of the forms of local, national and global identities: Gender, Disability, Media, Sports, Literature, Religion, Land, Youth and Music. 180pp, KENYA. TWAWEZA COMMUNICATIONS.

2008 9789966724410 Paperback 


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CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN KENYA: Building Bridges
Njogu, Kimani & Oluoch-Olunya, G. (Eds.)

First in a planned series of books on the relationship between art and society, with special reference to Kenya. This volume brings together important reflections on the arts and is amajor step in encouraging dialogue on the relationship between creativity and the human condition in the region. Significantly, it creates a space for university-basedacademics to engage in dialogue with artists and writers based outside institutions of higher learning. Their conversations hope to bridge the gap between the two domains for knowledge production and enrich creative enterprise in Kenya, in theory and practice. 260pp, KENYA. TWAWEZA COMMUNICATIONS.

2007 9789966974372 Paperback 


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CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN KENYA: Building Bridges


CULTURE AND CUSTOMS OF KENYACULTURE AND CUSTOMS OF KENYA
Sobania, Neal

A volume assessing contemporary life in Kenya and the history of the country, looking especially at ethnic and cultural diversity and cross cultural influences. Illustrated with b/w photographs and includes a chronology and a glossary. Index, xx, 233pp, USA. GREENWOOD.

2003 0313314861 Hardback 


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ELMOLO
Gaertner, Ursula

A survey of the history, society and traditions of the ElMolo of northern Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1995 0823917649 Hardback 


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ELMOLO


FACING MOUNT KENYAFACING MOUNT KENYA
Kenyatta, Jomo

An anthropological classic. Bib, maps, 325pp, USA. VINTAGE USA.

1965 0394702107 Paperback 


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FROM MUKOGODO TO MAASAI: Ethnicity and Cultural Change in Kenya
Cronk, Lee

Can one change one's ethnicity? Can an entire ethnic group change its ethnicity? This book focuses on the strategic manipulation of ethnic identity by the Mukogodo of Kenya. Until the 1920s, the Mukogodo were Cushitic-speaking foragers (hunters, gatherers, and beekeepers). However, changes brought on by British colonial policies led them to move away from life as independent foragers and into the orbit of the high-status Maasai, whom they began to emulate. Today, the Mukogodo form the bottom rung of a regional socio-economic ladder of Maa-speaking pastoralists. Index, bib, gloss, 172pp, USA. WESTVIEW.

2004 0813340942 Paperback 


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FROM MUKOGODO TO MAASAI: Ethnicity and Cultural Change in Kenya


THE GABRA: Camel Nomads of Northern KenyaTHE GABRA: Camel Nomads of Northern Kenya
Tablino, Paul

A study of the Gabra, a small group of pastoralists who live in the arid, lava strewn lunar landscape of northern Kenya. Like other people living in that desert area, they are nomads, but they have a unique culture that distinguishes them from their neighbours, the Borana, Rendille, Samburu and Somali. Index, botanic gloss, line drawings, app, bib, xxi, 434pp. KENYA. PAULINES PUBLICATIONS AFRICA.

1999 9966214380 Paperback 


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GIRL CASES: Marriage and Colonialism in Gusiiland, Kenya, 1890-1970
Shadle, Brett L.

Examines the impact of mature colonialism in East Africa on the Gusii and on their strategies to maintain wealth in a era of rapid social change. Girl Cases is a marvelous social history of the epidemic of girl cases that seemed to challenge the very nature of Gusii concepts of wealth and security. In an era of increasing bridewealth and stagnating wages, Gusii elders increasing turned to the native courts to control both young women and young men. Index, bib, photos, 304pp, USA. HEINEMANN USA INC.

2006 9780325070940 Paperback 


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GIRL CASES: Marriage and Colonialism in Gusiiland, Kenya, 1890-1970


KENYA: Minorities, Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic DiversityKENYA: Minorities, Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Diversity
Makoloo, Maurice Odhiambo

Minorities and indigenous peoples in Kenya feel excluded from the economic and political life of the state. They are poorer than the rest of Kenya's population, their rights are not respected and they are rarely included in development of other participatory planning processes. This report discusses the abuse of ethnicity in Kenyan policies, arguing that ethnicity is a card all too often used by Kenyan politicians to favour certain communities over others in the share of the nation's wealth. 40pp, UK. MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP.

2005 1904584241 Pamphlet 


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KIPSIGIS
Bangura, Abdul Karim

A survey of the society, history, initiation ceremonies and family life of the Kipsigis of Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1994 0823917657 Hardback 


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KIPSIGIS


THE LAST OF THE MAASAITHE LAST OF THE MAASAI
Amin, Mohamed; Willetts, Duncan & Eames, John

An illustrated portrait of the rituals and lives of the Maasai. The author show how the Maasai have resisted European encroachment over 100 years but since independence of Kenya and Tanzania and the creation of a modern nation state, have been forced to make difficult choices about their collective futures. Well illustrated with over 100 colour photographs. Foreword by Elspeth Huxley. Chapters include Initiation, Manhood, Womanhood and Dilemma. 192pp, KENYA. CAMERAPIX.

2004 2000 1987 190472213X Hardback 


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LUO
Odhiambo, E.S. Atieno

A survey of the society, traditions, history and culture of the Luo of Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1996 0823917584 Hardback 


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LUO


THE MARAKWET OF KENYA: A Preliminary StudyTHE MARAKWET OF KENYA: A Preliminary Study
Kipkorir, B.E.

Study of a sub-group of the greater Kalenjin community, the majority of whom live in the Rift Valley Province, a community in transition, both from its belief systems and in its broad structure and organisation. 102pp, KENYA. EAST AFRICAN EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS.

2008 9789966255327 Paperback 


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MIJIKENDA
Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe

A survey of the society, customs, history, and rituals of the Mijikenda of the coastal region of Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1995 0823917673 Hardback 


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MIJIKENDA


MIRACLES AND EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE IN NORTHERN KENYAMIRACLES AND EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE IN NORTHERN KENYA
Straight, Bilinda

The Samburu of northern Kenya struggle to maintain their pastoral way of life as drought and the side effects of globalization threaten both their livestock and their livelihood. Mirroring this divide between survival and ruin are the lines between the self and the other, the living and the dead. Mostly written in the field, this is the first book-length ethnography completely devoted to Samburu divinity and belief. 320pp, USA. UNIVERSITY PRESS OF PENNSYLVANIA.

2006 0812239644 Hardback 


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THE NATURE OF ENTRUSTMENT: Intimacy, Exchange, and the Sacred in Africa
Shipton, Parker

Drawing on extensive research among Luo people in western Kenya and abroad over many years, this study focuses on non-monetary forms of exchange and entrustment, moving beyond anthropology's traditional understanding of gifts, loans, and reciprocity to propose a new view of the social and symbolic dimensions of economy over the full life course, including transfers between generations. Examines how Luo assess obligations to intimates and strangers, including the dead and the not-yet-born. Borrowing, lending, and serial passing along have ritual, religious, and emotional dimensions no less than economic, and insight into these connections demands a broad rethinking of all international aid plans and programmes. 312pp, USA. YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

2007 9780300116014 Hardback 


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THE NATURE OF ENTRUSTMENT: Intimacy, Exchange, and the Sacred in Africa


NGECHA: A Kenyan Village in a Time of Rapid Social ChangeNGECHA: A Kenyan Village in a Time of Rapid Social Change
Pope Edwards, Carolyn (Ed.)

An intimate study of modernisation and nationalisation in rural Kenya in the early years of the country's independence, as experienced by the people of Ngecha, a village outside Nairobi which was a research site of the Child Development Research Unit from 1968 to 1973. The study documents how families adapted to changing opportunities and conditions as their country became a modern nation, and the key role that women played as agents of change as they became small scale cash crop farmers and entrepreneurs. Includes long term reassessments of the observations and conclusions of the research team and a description of Ngecha today as viewed by Kenyans who participated in the original study. BNS, 280pp, USA. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS.

2004 0903248091 Hardback 


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OVERTLY MUSLIM, COVERTLY BONI: Competing Calls of Religious Allegiance on the Kenyan Coast
Faulkner, Mark

Explores the way of life of the Boni community, a hunter-gatherer people that straddle the Kenya/Somali border in East Africa. The Boni converted to Islam some fifty years ago and the reasons for this, both internal and external to the community, are identified. The book argues that former indigenous religious activity, far from having died out, is now being renegotiated so as to reflect an evolving Boni self-identity in a multi-ethnic setting as well as allowing the fermentation of resistance in the face of attempts at cultural hegemony advanced by outside forces. 298pp, NETHERLANDS. BRILL.

2005 9004147535 Paperback 


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OVERTLY MUSLIM, COVERTLY BONI: Competing Calls of Religious Allegiance on the Kenyan Coast


PASTORALISM ON THE MARGINPASTORALISM ON THE MARGIN
Markakis, John

A report arguing that the material base of pastoralism has all but been eliminated in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya through climate change, conflict, disease, drought and famine. Bib, 36pp, UK. MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP.

2004 1904584233 Pamphlet

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POKOT
Swinimer, Ciarunji Chesaina

A survey of the society, history, culture and daily life of the Pokot people of Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1994 0823917568 Hardback

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POKOT

RENDILLERENDILLE
Parris, Ronald

A survey of the society, history, customs and rituals of the Rendille of Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1994 0823917630 Hardback 


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THE SAMBURU: A Study in Gerontocracy
Spencer, Paul

A detailed ethnographic study examining the society of the Samburu, a nomadic Kenyan people. First published in 1965. Index, bib, notes, maps, xxxiii, 341pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

2003 1965 0415317258 Paperback 


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THE SAMBURU: A Study in Gerontocracy


SAMBURUSAMBURU
Holtzman, John

A survey of the society, history, religion and rituals of the Samburu of northern Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1995 0823917592 Hardback 


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SOUTH ASIANS IN KENYA: Gender, Generation and Changing Identities in Diaspora
Herzig, Pascale

For more than a century a substantial South Asian minority has been living in Kenya. Within a few decades a majority of the Kenyan Asians has managed to transform their living conditions from an impoverished rural background in South Asia to a globalised and economically successful middle class in East Africa. This study, based on empirical data collected with South Asians in Kenya, who were differentiated by gender, age, migratory generation and other social boundaries, is divided into three levels of analysis: inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic relations, i.e. the relations within the South Asian minority, as well as the relations within families. What emerges is a complex 'geography of intersectionality', which demonstrates that migration has an impact on the relations between genders, age groups and migratory generations and leads to changing identities and new lifestyles. Apps, bib, tables, b/w photos, 299pp, GERMANY. LIT VERLAG.

2006 9783825800529 Paperback 


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SOUTH ASIANS IN KENYA: Gender, Generation and Changing Identities in Diaspora


TRADING PLACES: The Merchants of NairobiTRADING PLACES: The Merchants of Nairobi
Bloom, Steve

For this latest project, Steve Bloom has stepped away from the magnificent wildlife and landscape photography with which he made his name to create a unique portrait of the small traders of Nairobi. This is a place where slick advertising has made few inroads and shopping malls and supermarkets remain a rarity. As across Africa, that is an opportunity for an outpouring of creativity. Businessmen and women paint their own hoardings and signs, or call in friends who happen to be handy with a paintbrush. 144pp, UK. THAMES & HUDSON.

2009 9780500543818 Hardback 


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TURKANA
Ifemesia, Chieka

A survey of the society, history, economy, culture and contemporary life of the Turkana of north-eastern Kenya. Richly illustrated with colour photographs. Includes a guide to further reading and a glossary. Index, map, 64pp, USA. ROSEN PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1996 0823917614 Hardback 


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TURKANA


WHEN WE BEGAN THERE WERE WITCHMEN: Oral History from Mount KenyaWHEN WE BEGAN THERE WERE WITCHMEN: Oral History from Mount Kenya
Fadiman, Jeffrey

Based on extensive interviews, the author describes the history of the Meru people of Mount Kenya from the earliest times. Told through narrations, songs, chants, riddles and personal recollection. Index, bib, notes, map, xi, gloss, 395pp, USA. CALIFORNIA U P.

1993 0520086155 Paperback 


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WORRIES OF THE HEART: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya
Mutongi, Kenda

Growing up in the Maragoli community in Kenya, Kenda Mutongi encountered a perplexing contradiction. While the young teachers at her village school railed against colonialism, many of her elders, including her widowed mother, praised their former British masters. This account explores how the challenges and frustrations of both colonial rule and independence shaped the lives of Maragoli widows and their complex relations with each other, their families, and the larger community. Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, rates of widowhood have been remarkably high in Kenya. Yet despite their numbers, widows and their families exist at the margins of society, and their lives act as a barometer for the harsh realities of rural Kenyan life. Mutongi argues that widows survive by publicly airing their social, economic, and political problems and concludes that this strategy has led to the development of a new language of citizenship and a demand for greater political recognition that would have been unthinkable under colonial rule. 240pp, USA. CHICAGO U P.

2007 9780226554204 Paperback 


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WORRIES OF THE HEART: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya

Online Catalogue:BROWSE BY COUNTRY AND REGION:Kenya:Culture, Peoples and Anthropology