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Fishermen Herders: Subsistence, Survival and Cultural Change in Northern Kenya1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Neal Sobania
Neal Sobania
Affiliation:
Hope College, Holland, Michigan
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Extract

This article examines the unique role played by fishing, hunting and gathering groups in the survival strategy of the pastoralist societies in whose midst they live. During periods of extreme adversity, these groups acted as a refuge for destitute herdsmen and their households by absorbing population in periods of hardship and releasing individuals back into pastoralism when conditions once again allowed the accumulation of stock. Extensive quotations from the historical traditions of the peoples of the Lake Turkana region of northern Kenya are used to detail the recent history of two such fishing communities, the Elmolo and the Dies, the latter being a fishing group within Dasenech society. The epizootics that decimated the cattle herds of East Africa at the end of the nineteenth century are background for examining the interactions of the Elmolo and Dies with their pastoralist neighbours, the Samburu and Rendille, and the cultural changes initiated during this period. The subsequent changes inaugurated by the imposition of colonial rule are documented and the Elmolo are shown to be a ‘dying tribe’ in the sense that the traditional cultural features of their society are giving way to a more pastoral existence based on that of their herding neighbours.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 29 , Issue 1: Special Issue in Honour of ROLAND OLIVER , March 1988 , pp. 41 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

2 See, for example, Sutton, J. E. G., ‘The aquatic civilization of Middle Africa’ J. Afr. Hist., XV (1974), 527–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Phillipson, D. W., ‘Lowesera’, Azania, XII (1977), 1–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, ‘The origin of prehistoric farming in East Africa’, in B. A. Ogot (ed.), Ecology and History in East Africa (Nairobi, 1979), 41–63; Robertshaw, P., ‘Prehistory in the Upper Nile Basin’, J. Afr. Hist., XXVIII (1987), 177–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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4 Spencer, Paul, Nomads in Alliance: Symbiosis and Growth Among the Rendille and Samburu of Kenya (London, 1973), 199–219Google Scholar; this is based upon research done in 1958.

5 Sobania, N. W., ‘The historical tradition of the peoples of the eastern Lake Turkana Basin, c. 1840–1925’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis (University of London, 1980)Google Scholar, with further elaboration in Man, Millet and Milk: Shifting Boundaries of Ethnicity in Pre-Colonial Kenya (forthcoming). Cf. Berntsen, J. L., ‘The Maasai and their neighbors: variables of interaction’, African Economic History, II (1976), 1–11CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Waller, R., ‘Ecology, migration, and expansion in East Africa’, African Affairs, LXXXIV (1985), 347–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Anderson, D. M., ‘Cultivating pastoralists: ecology and economy among the Il Chamus of Baringo, 1840–1980’, in Johnson, D. and Anderson, D. M. (eds.), The Ecology of Survival: Case Studies from Northeast African History (Boulder, Col., and London, 1988).Google Scholar

6 Despite earlier attempts to draw a distinction between ‘pure pastoralists’ and ‘semi-pastoralists’, pastoralism has never been a closed economic system. See, for example, H.Jacobs, A., ‘African pastoralists: some general remarks’, Anthropological Quarterly, XXXVIII (1965), 144–155CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Berntsen's, J. L. reassessment in ‘Economic variations among Maa-speaking peoples’, in Ogot, B. A. (ed.), Ecology and History in East Africa (Nairobi, 1979), 108–27.Google Scholar

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8 Spencer, , Nomads, 199–200.Google Scholar

9 Spencer, , Nomads, 282–6.Google Scholar Spencer argues that this pattern has encouraged a large degree of permanency among the Ndorobo.

10 Sobania, , ‘Historical tradition’, 132–71.Google Scholar

11 Lenatitai Barantis (and others) at South Horr on 25 Sept. 1976, Samburu Historical Text (hereafter SHT) 37. Transcriptions of historical texts are cited as follows: the name of the informant(s), interview location, date, and interview number. Interviews with Rendille, Elmolo and Dasenech informants follow the same format, but with ‘RHT’ to indicate Rendille Historical Text, ‘EHT’ for Elmolo Historical Text, and ‘DHT’ for Dasenech Historical Text.

12 Lesachari at Wamba on 20 Sept. 1976, SHT 32.

13 Sobania, , ‘Historical tradition’, 173–4.Google Scholar

14 Nanalepishu (and others) at Maralal on 19 March 1976, SHT 22, and interviews including SHT 28, 35, 36, 37; RHT 6; Chanler, W. A., ‘East Africa – Mr Astor Chanler's Expedition – Lieut, von Höhnel’, Geog. J., II (1893), 535Google Scholar; Stigand, C. H., To Abyssinia Through an Unknown Land (London, 1910), 78.Google Scholar

15 Lengkatuk (Ite) at Korangapa Island on 15 July 1976, EHT 6; also EHT 3, 13; SHT 36. Donaldson Smith, who observed these communities in 1895, concluded that‘ Elmolo’ was the name given to those people of Lake Turkana who lived by hunting and fishing, just as the Maasai applied ‘ Ndorobo’ to the poor people in other parts of the country; see his Through Unknown African Countries (London, 1897), 327.Google Scholar The name ‘Elmolo’ is of unknown derivation. The Elmolo, whose own referent for themselves is Gurapua, are known to the Samburu as Ildes, to the Rendille as Dehes, to the Dasenech as Hereny, and to the Turkana as Ngimoile.

16 Almagor, U., Pastoral Partners (Manchester, 1978). 52Google Scholar; idem, ‘Tribal sections, territory and myth: Dassanetch responses to variable ecological conditions’, Asian and African Studies, VIII (1972), 185–206.

17 Assura (lorar) at Bubua on 13 Feb. 1976, DHT 18, and interviews including DHT 31;. 33, 39, 50.

18 Iesho (and others) at Ilkamerreh on 4 Sept. 1976, DHT 50; also DHT 22, 24.

19 Lengero at Korangapa Island on 14 July 1976, EHT 3, and interviews including EHT 2, 12; DHT 38, 39.

20 In the accounts of early travellers these two fishing communities can often be distinguished by the transport they used on the lake.

21 See, for example, EHT 1, 4, 6.

22 Interviews including SHT 1, 6, 7, 11, 13; EHT 3, 4, 8; and DHT 18, 50.

23 Lengkatuk, EHT 6.

24 See, for example, EHT 1, 2, 3, 5; RHT 5, 9, 10; SHT 33, 76; Cf. Spencer, , Nomads, 216.Google Scholar

25 Ngtaliyou at Korangapa Island on 14 July 1976, EHT 2; also EHT 1, 3, 4, 6, 11. Further details on the variety of exchange relations that existed in the Lake Turkana basin in the nineteenth century can be found in Sobania, ‘Feasts’.

26 The seven Elmolo segments with their ‘related’ section shown in parentheses are: Orikaiya (Longeli ?-Samburu), Orikaltite (Gabana of Sale, Rendille), Orikaltito (Loro-kichu-Samburu), Orikara (Masula-Samburu), Orisaiyo (Longeli-Samburu), Orisiole (Masula-Samburu), and Marie (Dasenech). See interviews, including EHT 1, 5, 6, 7; SHT 40; RHT 5, 7. Cf. Schlee, G., ‘Interethnic clan identities among Cushitic-speaking pastoralists’, Africa, lv (1985), 17–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27 See especially EHT 5, 14.

28 Lenapir at Loiyangalani on 17 July 1976, EHT 9; also EHT 5, 7, 14.

29 von Hohnel, L., Discovery of Lakes Rudolf and Stefanie (London 1894), 11, 109–16, 127–8, 132–40, 212.Google Scholar The conclusion that it was the Dies at Alia Bay would not of course preclude the presence of absorbed Samburu and Rendille herders and households among them.

30 See, for example, EHT 6.

31 Lgilikwi at Loiyangalani on 16 July 1976, EHT 7, and interviews including EHT 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 13; SHT 33, 40; RHT 7.

32 Paul at Loiyangalani on 18 July 1976, EHT 11; see also SHT 33.

33 Karato at Korangapa Island on 15 July 1976, EHT 5; also EHT 13, 18.

34 See EHT 5, 8; Höhnel, von, Discovery, 11, 111Google Scholar; idem, ‘The Lake Rudolf region, its discovery and subsequent exploration: 1888–1909’, J. Royal Afr. Soc., XXXVII (1938), 29; Smith, , African Countries, 294n, 332Google Scholar; Cockburn, N. C., ‘Route from Baringo to Addis Ababa along the east shore of Lake Rudolf, 21 December 1909–20 April 1910’, 3 05 1910Google Scholar; Officer-in-Charge to Chief Secretary, Nairobi, 14 April 1911, both in Kenya National Archives (hereafter KNA)/DC/MBT/s/i.

35 Lengkatuk, EHT 6, and interviews including EHT 2, 5, 7, 11, 16; SHT 33, 40.

36 There are indications that the Elmolo later acquired stock from bridewealth in this fashion; see, for example, Lt. A. W. S. Lytton, Samburu Handing Over Report 1924, n.d., KNA/DC/NFD/1/9.

37 See, for example, EHT 1, 4, 7, 9. The Elmolo have traditionally circumcised their women.

38 See EHT 6, 7, 10; SHT 75, 76.

39 Every fourteen years a Samburu age-set is inaugurated with the circumcision of all members. Spencer, , Nomads, 33.Google Scholar

40 EHT 7, 10; Spencer, , Nomads, 214.Google Scholar During the lead-up to the initiation in 1976 of the Kurroro age-set, the young men of the Elmolo called themselves warriors, dressed in the black skins of precircumcision youth and in general followed Samburu customs up to and including the initiation ritual of circumcision.

41 Karato, EHT 5; also EHT 2, 3.

42 EHT 2, 3, 5, 10, 11, 15; Neumann, , Elephant Hunting, 265Google Scholar; Stigand, , To Abyssinia, 224Google Scholar; Lytton, A. W. S., Samburu Handing Over Report 1924, n.d.Google Scholar, KNA/DC/NFD/1/9; Fuchs, V. E., ‘The Lake Rudolf Valley Expedition (1934)’, Geog.j., LXXXVI (1935), 122.Google Scholar In 1976 only four, or possibly five, people had any real knowledge of the old language. Cf. Heine, B., ‘Vokabuläre Ostafrikanischer Restsprachen, Teil ii: Elmolo’, Afrika und Ubersee, LVI (1973), 276–83.Google Scholar

43 Lemuren Lenaititai at South Horr on 17 Oct. 1978, SHT 76.

44 Lenapir at Loiyangalani on 9 Oct. 1978, EHT 13.

45 Cockburn, ‘Route from Baringo’, and Officer-in-Charge to Chief Secretary of the Administration, 14 April 1911, as cited in n. 34; EHT 2, 6, 10, 13; SHT 76.

46 Lengkatuk, EHT 6; interviews including EHT 7, 13, 16, 18; Major Muirhead, ‘NFD Annual Report, 1922’, n.d., KNA/PC/NFD/1/1/2; Capt. E. N. Erskine, ‘Samburu handing over report, 1921’, n.d., KNA/PC/NFD/1/9/1; A. W. S. Lytton, ‘Samburu handing over report, 1924’, n.d., KNA/DC/NFD/1/9.

47 Lengkatuk, EHT 6.

48 See interviews including EHT 5, 7, 8, 11, 15; SHT 76; H. G. Oldfield, ‘Marsabit Annual Report, 1931’, n.d., KNA/PC/NFD/1/2/2.

49 Spencer, , Nomads, 214Google Scholar; Dyson, and Fuchs, , ‘The Elmolo’, 330.Google Scholar The 235 people in my 1976 census included 137 adults and 98 children not yet old enough to marry.