Academic literature on the topic 'Kalenjin (African people) – Social life and customs'

This project is interested in investigating the construction of the fraternal sibling relationshipwithin the South African context from a narrative perspective. In particular, this study is interested in the ways in which middle aged isiXhosa men narrate experiences of brothering and how social class, as one particular context, mediates these narratives. This project is particularly interested in brothering within the isiXhosa culture and is concerned with both middle class and working class men within this cultural context. The project takes as its particular focus the meaning of brothering, and specifically how masculinity, intimacy and money or class influence the brothering practices constructed by the men in the sample. The project employs a social constructionist perspective, using a thematic narrative analysis to analyse the data. This project uses secondary analysis of data, as the data was collected for the primary use by Jackson (2009), Peirce (2009), Saville Young (Saville Young & Jackson, 2011) and Stonier (2010). The analysis reflects emergent themes of the importance of fraternal sacrifice, care-taking and sibling responsibility, honouring the family, and challenge to traditional masculinity. These themes emerged within the prior themes of masculinity, intimacy and class within brothering. The men spoke of keeping the family prosperous and united as an important duty in their brothering role. Affection was expressed more practically and symbolically, and closeness constructed through shared experiences, proximity and similarities. My findings reflect that family expectations, culture and social context had key influences on brothering, based on the men's narratives. Findings are discussed in relation to literature on brothering, masculinity and intimacy, and the influence of money in close relationships.

Bibliography: pages 134-166.<br>Southern African archaeology has experienced several changes in theoretical perspectives over the past few decades. More recently there have been renewed calls for a more social and theoretical approach to the analysis of the prehistoric past, especially the Late Stone Age. This thesis is an account of the last 4000 years in the southwestern Cape, where material culture is analysed in terms of contextual meaning. Contextual meaning is used in conjunction with social identity theory to analyse the interaction between Khoi herders and San gatherer-hunters. I use the active processes of identity formation and maintenance to argue that both the isolationist and revisionist arguments have simplified the concepts of identity, where identity is seen to have a passive role in interaction. I argue that identity is dynamic and changeable, and that individuals have several social identities which are made salient according to the context of interaction. I use specific fine line images in the rock art to argue that these images, in conjunction with scraper styles, were used as strategies by San males to increase their self-esteem. I further argue that interaction would result in unequal gender relations and San females used specific adzes to reassert their gender identity within San society. I further argue that finger paintings and handprints may have been painted by Khoi females as part of their menstruation and/or menarche rituals. I use both the gender and social identities from the Khoi and the San to argue that these are interrelated and cannot be separated. I argue that interaction would result in unequal gender and social practices and these practices would be expressed in the material culture of that group.

This study explores severe mental illness in a South African ru~al district, moving, as with a zoom lens, from the macroperspectives of (i) Xhosa culture, and (ii) biomedicine, to the lived experience of the individual. Its methodology, predominantly qualitative, employed anthropological and psychological procedures. The fieldwork (1988-1989)encompassed a three month stay in the village of Msobomvu. Patients continued to be tracked informally until June, 1995. The empirical research has three parts. In part one, the person with a mental illness was contextualized within Xhosa cosmology and social attitudes. The cognitive and social ecologies were tapped through the narratives of high school and university students at different stages of a Western-biased education. Social attitudes regarding mental illness, and confidence in treatment by traditional healers and the hospital, were also evaluated. Traditional attitudes and supernatural beliefs of illness causation persisted in spite of Eurocentric education, with a concurrent increase in the acceptance of Western-type causal explanations commensurate with continued education. Part two considered the the patients in relation to (i) the biomedical framework (the mental and local hospitals), and (ii) their readjustment to the community after hospitalization. Data came from patient charts, interviews with medical staff, and follow-up visits in the villages. Socio-political and economic issues were salient. Part three case-studied people identified by the village residents as having a mental illness. Resources for treatment - traditional healers, mobile clinic, and village health workers - were the focus. The traditional healing system, and biomedicine, were compared for effectiveness, through the course of illness events. While biomedicine was more effective in containing acute psychotic episodes than treatment by the traditional healer, lack of appropriate resources within the biomedical setting had disastrous results for patient compliance and long-term management of the illness, particularly in people with obvious symptoms of bipolar disorder. The mental hospital emerged as an agent of control. While Xhosa culture provided a more tolerant setting for people with a mental illness, the course of severe mental illness was by no means benign, despite research suggesting a more positive outcome for such conditions in the developing world.

The dissertation aims to provide an understanding of the relation between political-economic power and the attribution of social value in twentieth-century Sefwi (Ghana). The existing literature on relations of dominance amongst the Akan has flaws: works examine single relations of dominance in isolation; studies focus mostly on discontinuity and change; peripheral areas are neglected. In the dissertation these issues are addressed. Hierarchy is used as an analytical tool which enables one to link diverse expressions of dominance; the persistence of certain hierarchical patterns throughout the twentieth century is analysed alongside transformations; and the focus is on Sefwi, a marginal region of the Akan world. The dissertation is divided into five sections. The introduction presents the methodological and theoretical approach adopted in the work. Part one is concerned with change in hierarchical patterns: twentieth-century dynamics are analysed to determine the extent of change with reference to chiefly power, capitalist.relations and gender issues. Part two shows that unequal relations inform three hierarchical domains -ancestry, gender and seniority. Part three addresses the issue of the coherence and unity of hierarchy by examining modes of organization of experience that cut across the three domains of inequality: reference is made to the use of kinship terms; concepts of ownership, caretakership and help; recourse to the supernatural; food and drink transactions. In the conclusion, Sefwi hierarchy is examined in a wider comparative and theoretical perspective with reference to the notions of 'encompassing of the contrary' (Dumont) and 'fetishization' (Marx).

This is a study of 'beer drinks' among Xhosa people living in the Shixini administrative area of Willowvale district, Transkei. Beer drinks are defined as a 'polythetic' class of events distinguishable from other kinds of ceremonies and rituals at which beer may be consumed, and an attempt is made to outline their major characteristics. A detailed description of the way in which beer drinks are conducted is provided in Chapter 3, with emphasis on the symbolism involved in the allocation of beer, space and time, and on the speech events (including formal oratory) that occur. The main theoretical argument is that beer drinks may be regarded as 'cultural performances' in which social reality or 'practice' is dramatised and reflected upon, enabling people to infuse their experience with meaning and to establish guidelines for future action. This is achieved by relating social practice to cultural norms and values, in a dynamic rather than a static manner. It is demonstrated that the symbolism involved in beer drinking is highly sensitive to the real world and adjusts accordingly, which means that 'culture' is continually being reinterpreted. Despite poverty, a degree of landlessness and heavy reliance on migrant labour, Shixini people maintain an ideal of rural selfsufficiency and are able to partly fulfill this ideal, thereby maintaining a degree of independence and resistance to full incorporation into the wider political economy of southern Africa. They achieve this largely by maintaining a strong sense of community and of household interdependence, linked to a sense of Xhosa tradition. It is this aspect of social practice, manifested in a variety of forms - work parties, ploughing companies, rites of passage, and so on - that is dramatised, reflected upon and reinforced at beer drinks. In a definite sense then, beer drinks may be regarded as a response and a way of adapting to apartheid, and this study one of a community under threat.

This thesis is concerned with the impact of Western education on the social life of the members of a Transkeian village. Various authors in the locally relevant literature, have for a long time commented that, due to Western education and Christianity, African societies became divided into 'school'people, who readily accepted Western education and culture, and 'red' people, who initially resisted these. Whilst the terms 'red' and 'school' became used as analytical constructs for the differing responses to Western culture, they were also used by African people. My findings at Qhude, Transkei, confirmed such a social division. I argue that this social division does not present an absolute distinction, but may best be conceived in terms of a continuum. Whilst the thesis considers interaction between the 'school' and the 'red' people of Qhude in various fields of life such as politics, law, religion (see Chapter Two) and education (see Chapter Six), the main emphasis is on the 'red' people. Thus, the thesis concerns itself, to a large degree, with an analysis of the 'red' people's experience and interpretation of Western education and Western educated people. The main argument is that the 'red' people's perception of Western education and Western educated people is ambiguous. That is, they see them in both positive and negative terms (see Chapter Five). This ambiguity is looked at here as a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the 'red' people in adjusting to an institution (i.e Western education)that was initially foreign, and to which they were initially opposed. The perception of Western education as positive follows from the fact that it is seen as leading to economic empowerement by the 'red' people of Qhude, who are facing poverty, due to an economic decline (see Chapter Three). However, the economic contribution of the young (who are the ones receiving western education) and the knowledge they gather from school, threaten the authority of elders, as the young become increasingly independent from the elders. As a result of such independence, and other factors, Western education is seen in negative terms by the 'red' people. Such potential dangers of Western education are well recognised by the 'reds' of Qhude, and are dealt with culturally. That is, it is made clear to the young, in particular during occasions such as circumcision rituals, that education has to be made relevant to the building of the homestead, which is under the overlordship of parents whom the young are called upon to respect (see Chapter Six). In conclusion, it is argued that the use of culture in this way, shows how 'tradition' is employed to deal with crisis. Such use of culture necessitates a clarification of the opinion that uneducated Africans rejected Western education (see Chapter Seven).

This thesis outlines the changing role of the Xhosa imbongi in contemporary South African society. The changing socio-economic and political scenario in South Africa, and the way in which the imbongi is adapting in order to accommodate new pressures created by these changes, form an integral part of this thesis. The effects of education and increasing literacy on the tradition are outlined. The interaction between oral and written forms is explored in chapter 2. The role of the imbongi within the religious sphere is included in chapter 3. Xhosa preachers within the independent churches often make use of the styles and techniques associated with oral poetry. Iimbongi who are not necessarily preachers also operate within this context. The relationship between the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the African National Congress and iimbongi has also been researched and forms part of chapters 4, 5, and the epilogue. The modern imbongi is drawn towards powerful organisations offering alternative leadership to many of the traditional chiefs. In the epilogue collected poetry is analysed in the context of Mandela's visit to Transkei in April 1990. Interviews have been conducted with chiefs, iimbongi attached to chiefs as well as those attached to different organisations. Poetry has been collected and analysed. In chapter 5, three case studies of modern iimbongi are included. The problems facing these iimbongi in their different contexts, as well as the power bases from which they draw, are outlined. Finally, an alternative definition of the imbongi is offered in the conclusion

Thesis (M.A. (African languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2004.<br>In this research an attempt has been made to assess, evaluate and examine the role of chiefs as characters in Matsepe's novels. The need for this study was found to be necessary because no in-depth study of the role of chiefs in Matsepe's novels has as yet been undertaken. This study demonstrates how Matsepe portrays chiefs as characters in his novels, what their duties are and how they help in developing his themes.

Among the Xhosas, the healing sickness called intwaso is interptreted as a call by the ancestors to become a healer. Transpersonalists also see these initiatory illnesses as spiritual crises, while according to the widely accepted Western psychiatric view, illness is purely perceived in physical and psychological terms. A case study was conducted where a single participant who has undergone the process of ukuthwasa and is functioning as a traditional healer was interviewed. A series of interviews were done where information was gathered about significant experiences related to ukuthwasa process. Tapes were transcribed and a case narrative was written and interpreted using the traditional Xhosa beliefs, the western psychiatric and the transpersonal psychology perspectives. Strengths and weaknesses of each perspective were then examined.

Bibliography: leaves 166-172.<br>Isihlonipho Sabafazi (the Xhosa women's language of respect) is a language in which syllables occurring in the names of menfolk are avoided by women. Thie thesis attempts to place the practice in it social context by applying both descriptive and analytical methodologies. The thesis include a literature survey and a critique on the dynamics of gender and language. The results of interviews conducted in three areas, one urban and two rural, are analysed and tabulated. A glossary of substitute words is included.