Uncertainty is an everyday aspect of existence for the Maasai of East Africa. They take ritual precautions against mystical misfortune in their small and dispersed villages, and place community life in the hands of elders whose collective wisdom is underpinned by a belief in a moral, supreme and unknowably provident god. This stability is, however, edged with concern for secret malcontents who might seek to create havoc through sorcery and whose elusive magic lies outside the elders' power. Time, Space and the Unknown follows on from The Maasai of Matapato and The Samburu to show how uncertainty and misfortune influence the social life of the Maasai.
Author(s): Paul Spencer
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 304
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
List of illustrations......Page 11
Preface......Page 13
Note on orthography......Page 16
Introduction......Page 18
The boundaries of time, space, and certainty......Page 30
The age system, and the social construction of time and experience......Page 32
Power and the social construction of space......Page 60
Providence and the cosmology of misfortune......Page 84
The Loonkidongi diviners and Prophets......Page 115
Loonkidongi oracles and cyclical reckoning among the Maasai......Page 141
Diverging models in space and variation over time......Page 162
The Purko Maasai in 1977: a northern model......Page 164
The Kisonko Maasai of Loitokitok in 1977: a southern model......Page 197
A pre-colonial model and the hub of power......Page 222
Alternative models of social control among the Arusha Maasai......Page 251
Conclusion: the interplay of power and providence, and the theory of dilemmas......Page 265
References......Page 289
Subject index......Page 296
Name index......Page 303
