For a Man Who Never Dies and Who Eats His Own : Revival of Clan in Local Communities of the Îgembe in Kenya

• Ishida, Shin-ichiro

Abstract

This paper focuses on clan revival movements in local farming communities of the Îgembe, one of nine sub-groups of the Kîmîîrû-speaking people or the Amîîrû (Ameru) in the Kenyan central highlands. As this paper describes, the significance of clan organisation in local contexts was rediscovered to meet local needs for a peaceful life and social unity, while, at the same time, accommodating the Kenyan government's introduction of a community-policing programme in 2013. The two collective cursing meetings I observed in August 2016 and describe in this paper were organised by the two agnatic clans of the Antûambui and Akachiû, respectively. The meetings were aimed at removing unidentified sorcerers from their neighbourhoods, and reorganising their groups into more active clans under the new leadership of the Mîrîti age group. The revival of clanships in the two communities was consonant with the community-policing programme initiated by the government, which was aimed at enhancing security at the grass roots, and also contributed to the rise of political autonomy in local communities. The socio-political power that is being achieved in the process, however, is decentralised in the local context.

postprint

Journal

• 人文学報. 社会人類学分野

  人文学報. 社会人類学分野 (514-2), 65-98, 2018-03-20

  首都大学東京人文科学研究科

Keywords

• clanship
• utaara ngeere collective cursing
• community policing
• Îgembe
• Kenya

Details

• CRID: 1050845763867793152
• NII Article ID: 120006546444
• NII Book ID: AA12376326
• ISSN: 03868729
• HANDLE: 10748/00010438
• NDL BIB ID: 029152726
• Web Site: https://tokyo-metro-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/7038
• Web Site: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I029152726
• Text Lang: en
• Article Type: departmental bulletin paper
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • NDL
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN