The Kipsigis Identity and History in the Trans-Mara District in Kenya, 1940s €“ 2013
Abstract
This paper examines the emergence of the Kipsigis ethnic group and their ensuing ethnic identity in Trans-Mara District in Kenya. It relies on secondary, archival and oral sources collected in Kenya and Tanzania between October 2012 and December 2013. Based on those sources, the paper shows that the Kipsigis who are sometimes called the ' Lumbwa ' are part of a large group of people called the Kelenjin which have been in Kenya for more than seven centuries. It further shows that the Kipsigis have stayed in Trans-Mara District for less than seven centuries; they have actually been there for about seventy-five years only. The paper argues that the emergence of Kipsigis ethnic group and identity is a result of the influence of both the colonial and post-colonial states as well as the politics that have been taking place in the area. The Kipsigis identity and consciousness manifested itself in political violence and division of the Trans-Mara District into two ethnically based districts: East for the Kipsigis and West for the Maasai. The paper concludes that ethnic identity, consciousness and sentiments are increasing tremendously in Trans-Mara as is the case in other parts of Kenya. This state of affairs threatens the unity of Kenya as a nation.
Keywords: Kenya, Kipsigis, Maasai, identity, Trans-Mara District
Iddy R. Magoti, Lecturer, University of Dar es Salaam; Email: iramagoti@yahoo.com
References
Ahluwalia, P. and A. Zegeye, eds. 2002. African Identities: Contemporary Political and Social Challenges. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Atkinson, R. R. 1999. "The Re-construction of Ethnicity in Africa: Extending the Chronology, Conceptualization and Discourse", in Yeros, P, ed. Ethnicity and Nationalism in Africa: Constructivist Reflection and Contemporary Politics. London: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Bath, F, ed. 1969. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Cultural Difference. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc.
Berman, B. J. 2010. "Ethnicity and Democracy in Africa", JICA-RI Working Paper No. 22.
Boesen, J. 1979. "Tanzania: From Ujamaa to Villagization", in Mwansasu, B. U. and C. Pratt, eds. Towards Socialism in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Publishing House.
Bulow, D. V. 1992. "Bigger than Men? Gender Relations and Their Changing Meaning in Kipsigis Society, Kenya", Journal of the International African Institute 62, 4: 523-546.
Donovan, M. (1996). "Capturing the Land: Kipsigis Narratives of Progress", Comparative Study in Society and History 38, 4: 658 -686.
Du Toit, B. M, ed. 1978. Ethnicity in Modern Africa. Colorado: Westview Press
Fearon, J. D. 1999. "What is Identity (As We Now Use the Word)? https://web.stanford.edu/.../what-is-Identity as-we-now-use-theword, accessed: 30. 7. 2016.
Fedders, A. and C. Salvadori(n.d). People and Culture of Kenya. Nairobi: Transafrica.
Feierman, S. 1968. "The Shambaa", in Roberts, A, ed. Tanzania Before 1900. Nairobi: East African Publishing House.
Fosbrooke, H. A. 1948. "An Administrative Survey of the Masai Social System", Tanganyika Notes and Records 26: 1 - 50.
Gallagher, J. T. 1974. "The Emergence of an African Ethnic Group: The Case of the Ndendeuli", The International Journal of African Historical Studies 7, 1: 1 €“ 26.
Geertz, C. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books,Inc. Publishers.
Green, E. D. 2006. "Redefining Ethnicity", A Paper Presented at the 47th Annual International Studies Association Convention, San Diego, March 2006, http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3b21, accessed: 14. 11. 2018.
Gulliver, P. H. 1959. "A Tribal Map of Tanganyika", Tanganyika Notes and Records 52: 61- 74.
Hobsbawn, E. and T. Ranger. 1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, J. H. P. and U. Warner. 2010. "The Concept of Ethnicity and its Operationalisation in Cross €“ National Social Surveys", Metodoloski Zvezki, Vol. 7, No. 2.
Inac, H. and F. Unal. 2013. "The Construction of National Identity in Modern Times: Theoretical Perspective", International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 11.
Isajiw, W. W. 1992. "Definition and Dimensions of Ethnicity: A Theoretical Framework", a Paper Presented at Joint Canada €“ United States Conference on the Measurement of Ethnicity, Ottawa, Ontario €“ Canada, April 1-3, 1991.
Jerman, H. 1997. Between Five Lines: The Development of Ethnicity in Tanzania with Special Reference to the Western Bagamoyo District. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
Kenya National Archives (KNA), File No. DC/NRK.2/2,"Handing Over Report €“ Trans-Mara Division, October 1960".
KNA, File No. DP/1/97 €“ Nyangusu- Maasai Border Committee.
KNA, File No. DP/1/111- ' Movement of Natives €“ Kikuyu, Lumbwa e.t.c".
KNA, File No. DP/1/65 €“ "Movement of Kikuyu, Embu and Meru". Lake Zone Archives (LZA) - Mwanza, Acc. No.1, File No. R1/ 2 €“ "Registration, Settlement of the Kikuyu, e.t.c."
Little, P. D. 1998. "Maasai Identity on the Periphery", American Anthropologist, New Series 100, 2:444 €“ 457.
Lynch, G. 2008. "Courting the Kalenjin: The Failure of Dynasticism and the Strength of the ODM Wave in Kenya ' s Rift Valley Province", African Affairs 107/ 429: 541 - 568.
Lynch, G. 2011. "Becoming Indigenous in the Pursuit of Justice: The African Commission on Human and Peoples ' Rights and the Endorois", African Affairs 111/442: 24 €“ 45.
Lynch, G. 2006. "Negotiating Ethnicity: Identity Politics in Contemporary Kenya", Review of African Political Economy 33, 107:49 €“ 65.
Mafeje, A. 1971. "The Ideology of Tribalism", The Journal of Modern African Studies 9, 2:253 -261. Manwelo, P. S. J. 2009. "The Root Causes of the December 2007 PostElection Crisis in Kenya", in Tarimo, A. and P.
Manwelo, eds. Ethnicity: Conflict and the Future of African States. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.
Michalopoulos, S. and E. Papaioannou. 2014. "On the Ethnic Origin of African Development Chiefs and Pre-colonial Political Centralization", National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) €“ Cambridge, Working Paper 20513.
Morning, A. 2005. "Ethnic Classification in Global Perspective: A Cross €“ National Survey of the 2000 Census Round", http://as.nyu.edu/.../Morning -2008_Ethnic_Classification_in_Glo..., accessed: 14. 11. 2018.
Mpangala, G. P. 2000. Ethnic Conflicts in the Region of the Great Lakes: Origin and Prospect for Change. Dar es Salaam: Institute of Kiswahili Research.
Mpangala, G. P. and B. U. Mwansasu, eds. 2004. Beyond Conflict in Burundi. Dar es Salaam: The Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation.
Mwanzi, H. A. 1977. A History of the Kipsigis. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau.
Nagel, J. 1994. "Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and Culture", Social Problem, 41, 1: 152- 176.
Ndyoo, N. 2000. "Ethnicity and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa", Journal of Social Development in Africa, Vol. 15, No. 2.
Orchardson, I. Q. 1961. The Kipsigis . Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau.
Osaghae, E. H. 1994. "Ethnicity in Africa or African Ethnicity: The Search for a Contextual Understanding" in Himmelstrand, U., K. Kinyanjui and E. Mburugu, eds. African Perspectives on Development: Controversies, Dilemmas and Openings. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota.
Osaghae, E. H. 2006. "Ethnicity and the State in Africa", African Centre for Peace and Development Studies, Working Paper No. 7
Peristiany, J.G. 1939. The Social Institutions of the Kipsigis. London: George Routledge and Sons LTD.
Ranger, T. 1989. "Missionaris, Migrant and the Manyika: The Invention of Ethnicity in Zimbabwe", in Vail, L, ed. The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa. London: James Currey.
Ranger, T. 1999. "The Nature of Ethnicity: Lessons From Africa", in Mortimer, E. ed. People, Nation and the State: The Meaning of Ethnicity and Nationalism. London: I. B. Tauris.
Redmayne, A. 1968. "The Hehe", in Roberts, A, ed. Tanzania Before 1900. Nairobi: East African Publishing House.
Schlee, G. and E. Watson, eds. 2009. Changing Identification and Alliances in North €“East Africa. New York. Berghahn Books
Shils, E. 1957. "The Primordial, Personal, Sacred and Civil Ties: Some Particular Observation on the Relationships of Sociological Research and Theory", British Journal of Sociology 8, 2.
Spear, T. 2003. "Neo-Traditionalism and the Limits of Invention in British Colonial Africa", The Journal of African History 44, 1: 3 €“ 27.
Steeves, J. S. 2002. "Ethnic Clashes in Kenya and the Politics of Ethnic Enclave: The Ruling Party, The Opposition and the Post-Moi Succession", in Ahluwalia, P. and A. Zegeye, eds. African Identities: Contemporary Political and Social Challenges. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
TANU National Executive Committee. 1967. The Arusha Declaration: Socialism and Self-Reliance -Reprinted in 2010 by The Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan- Africanism, Dar es Salaam: University of Dar es Salaam.
Tarimo, A. and P. Manwelo, eds. 2009. Ethnicity: Conflict and the Future of African States. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.
Toweett, T. 1979. Oral (Traditional) History of the Kipsigis . Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.
UNESCO. 1974. Two Studies on Ethnic Group Relations in Africa: Senegal and the United Republic of Tanzania. Paris: UNESCO.
Vail, L, ed. 1989. The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa. Londo: James Currey.
Waller, R. 1993. "Acceptees and Aliens: Kikuyu Settlement in Maasailand", in Spear, T. and R. Waller, eds. Being Maasai: Ethnicity and Identity in East Africa. London: James Currey.
Willis, J. 1992. "The Making of a Tribe: Bondei Identities and Histories", The Journal of African History 33, 2: 191 €“ 208.
Yeros, P, ed. 1999. Ethnicity and Nationalism in Africa: Constructivist Reflection and Contemporary Politics. London: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Young, C. 2002. Ethnicity and Politics in Africa. Boston: Boston University African Studies Center.
Young, C. 1982. "Patterns of Social Conflict: State, Class and Ethnicity", Daedalus 111, 2: 71 €“ 98.
Zeleza, P. T. 2010. "The Developmental and Democratic Challenges of Postcolonial Kenya", James S. Coleman Memorial Lecture Series, James S. Coleman African Studies Centre €“ UCLA, 05 October 2010.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright © by Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Dar es Salaam
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for short extracts in fair dealing, for research or private study, critical scholarly review or discourse with an acknowledgement.
The African Review: A Journal of African Politics, Development and International Affairs [ISSN 0856-0056 (Print) & ISSN 1821-889X (Online)] is published bi-annually, June and December by the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35042 €“ Dar es Salaam €“ Tanzania
