The Gabra

The Gabra

Author: Paolo Tablino

Publisher: Paulines Publications Africa

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 9966214380

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When Men are Women

When Men are Women

Author: John Colman Wood

Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780299165949

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In this fascinating exploration of the cultural models of manhood, When Men Are Women examines the unique world of the nomadic Gabra people, a camel-herding society in northern Kenya. Gabra men denigrate women and feminine things, yet regard their most prestigious men as women. As they grow older, all Gabra men become d'abella, or ritual experts, who have feminine identities. Wood's study draws from structuralism, psychoanalytic theory, and anthropology to probe the meaning of opposition and ambivalence in Gabra society. When Men Are Women provides a multifaceted view of gender as a cultural construction independent of sex, but nevertheless fundamentally related to it. By turning men into women, the Gabra confront the dilemmas and ambiguities of social life. Wood demonstrates that the Gabra can provide illuminating insight into our own culture's understanding of gender and its function in society.


How Enemies Are Made

How Enemies Are Made

Author: Günther Schlee

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2010-03

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9781845457792

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In popular perception cultural differences or ethnic affiliation are factors that cause conflict or political fragmentation although this is not borne out by historical evidence. This book puts forward an alternative conflict theory. The author develops a decision theory which explains the conditions under which differing types of identification are preferred. Group identification is linked to competition for resources like water, territory, oil, political charges, or other advantages. Rivalry for resources can cause conflicts but it does not explain who takes whose side in a conflict situation. This book explores possibilities of reducing violent conflicts and ends with a case study, based on personal experience of the author, of conflict resolution. Günther Schlee was a Professor at Bielefeld until 1999. He currently is the director of the section Integration and Conflict at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, focusing on Africa, Central Asia, and Europe. His publications include Identities on the Move: Clanship and Pastoralism in Northern Kenya (International African Institute, 1989), How Enemies are Made (Berghahn, 2008), Rendille Proverbs in their Social and legal Context (with Karaba Sahado) and Boran Proverbs in their Cultural Context (with Abdullahi Shongolo) (both Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe).


Kenya, Bridging Ethnic Divides

Kenya, Bridging Ethnic Divides

Author: Nderitu, Alice Wairimu

Publisher: Mdahalo Bridging Divides

Published: 2018-12-12

Total Pages: 566

ISBN-13: 9966190317

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The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) was set up to facilitate and promote equality of opportunity, good relations, harmony and peaceful coexistence between persons of the different ethnic and racial communities of Kenya, and to advise the Government on all aspects thereof after the violence that followed the December 2007 elections. In Kenya, Bridging Ethnic Divides: A Commissioner’s Experience on Cohesion and Integration, Commissioner Alice Wairimũ Nderitũ looks behind the scenes at the NCIC’s efforts to ensure peaceful co-existence. Such as, working with elders, mediating confidentially between political leaders at the highest levels and co-founding and working as first Co-Chair of Uwiano Platform for Peace, a conflict prevention agency largely credited with leading efforts in ensuring peaceful processes during the 2010 Constitutional referendum and 2013 General elections. The book tells of NCIC’s efforts in grappling with the seemingly intractable problem of managing the negative consequence of ethnic differences on questions such as: Why is Kenya so ethnically polarised? Why is an ethnic group the key defining factor in Kenyan politics? What hope is there for an inclusive Kenya? The book shows that positive policies and intra- and inter-ethnic spaces can be used to counter negative influences that lead to fear, exclusion and violence. The diversity of Kenya’s ethnicities and races need not be a pretext for conflict, but a source of truly national identity. It proves that dialogue on understanding differences and commonalities leads to improved relationships and understanding on societal dynamics. This in turn, contributes to preventing and transforming conflicts through appropriate inclusion policies, identifying entry points for change as well as opportunities to tackle the norms and behaviours that underpin structural disparities.


Landscape, Process and Power

Landscape, Process and Power

Author: Serena Heckler

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 085745613X

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In recent years, the field of study variously called local, indigenous or traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) has experienced a crisis brought about by the questioning of some of its basic assumptions. This has included reassessing notions that scientific methods can accurately elicit and describe TEK or that incorporating it into development projects will improve the physical, social or economic well-being of marginalized peoples. The contributors to this volume argue that to accurately and appropriately describe TEK, the historical and political forces that have shaped it, as well as people's day-to-day engagement with the landscape around them must be taken into account. TEK thus emerges, not as an easily translatable tool for development experts, but as a rich and complex element of contemporary lives that should be defined and managed by indigenous and local peoples themselves.


Betrayal of the Paragon Cross

Betrayal of the Paragon Cross

Author: Georgina Zuvela

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2014-10-28

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1499028962

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Rosko Krystoffe lives in South Africa in 2084 when a civil war breaks out in the city of Paragonia. The Paragon people are driven away and embark on a journey of survival. Rosko meets the Gabra Shi in a speleothem cave where she reveals the mystery and purpose of his existence. Gretchen Tousard is Roskos potential bride. She is also torn from her loved ones and loses track of them. On her journey fraught with danger she escapes the civil war in Paragonia. When she is compelled to sail to Montenegro where she finds Rosko once more. He discovers Gerald Topovskis evil plan to manipulate the worlds resources through SEV.


Risk and Social Change in an African Rural Economy

Risk and Social Change in an African Rural Economy

Author: John G. McPeak

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2011-07-21

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1136650784

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Pastoralists’ role in contemporary Africa typically goes underappreciated and misunderstood by development agencies, external observers, and policymakers. Yet, arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL), which are used predominantly for extensive livestock grazing, comprise nearly half of the continent’s land mass, while a substantial proportion of national economies are based on pastoralist activities. Pastoralists use these drylands to generate income for themselves through the use of livestock and for the coffers of national trade and revenue agencies. They are frequently among the continent’s most contested and lawless regions, providing sanctuary to armed rebel groups and exposing residents to widespread insecurity and destructive violence. The continent’s millions of pastoralists thus inhabit some of Africa’s harshest and most remote, but also most ecologically, economically, and politically important regions. This study summarizes the findings of a multi-year interdisciplinary research project in pastoral areas of Kenya and Ethiopia. The cultures and ecology of these areas are described, with a particular focus on the myriad risks that confront people living in these drylands, and how these risks are often triggered by highly variable rainfall conditions. The authors examine the markets used by residents of these areas to sell livestock and livestock products and purchase consumer goods before turning to an analysis of evolving livelihood strategies. Furthermore, they focus on how well-being is conditioned upon access to livestock and access to the cash economy, gender patterns within households and the history of development activities in the area. The book concludes with a report on how these activities are assessed by people in the area and what activities they prioritize for the future. Policy in pastoral areas is often formulated on the basis of assumptions and stereotypes, without adequate empirical foundations. This book provides evidence on livelihood strategies being followed in pastoral areas, and investigates patterns in decision making and well being. It indicates the importance of livestock to the livelihoods of people in these areas, and identifies the critical and widespread importance of access to the cash economy, concluding that future development activities need to be built on the foundation of the livestock economy, instead of seeking to replace it.


Contested Power in Ethiopia

Contested Power in Ethiopia

Author: Kjetil Tronvoll

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2011-12-09

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 9004218432

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Drawing on nine case studies, this book offers a comparative ethnography of the contested powers that shape democratization in Ethiopia. Focusing on the competitive 2005 elections, the authors analyze how customary leaders, political parties and state officials confronted each other during election time.


Decentralization and the Social Economics of Development

Decentralization and the Social Economics of Development

Author: Christopher Brendan Barrett

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1845932706

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There has been broad agreement in recent years that decentralization is key in achieving democracy at local level. Examining the successes, failures, possibilities and limitations of efforts across rural Kenya, this book analyses the socioeconomic and institutional prerequisites for successful decentralization, and the role of community groups and producer organizations in reducing poverty and promoting empowerment. Original empirical studies explore the fundamental elements of coherent, inclusive and ultimately effective decentralization, and how these can be applied to efforts across the African continent and beyond.