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Population, economy and domestic groups – the Kitui case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Michael O'Leary
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Extract

Major factors which influence the pace of change in rural districts of Kenya relate to the nature of the local environment and traditional economy, population density and the degree of integration with the national economy and polity. In general change takes place more rapidly in the better watered high potential areas than in the semi-arid or arid areas. Kitui is a district in the semi-arid zone of the Eastern Province, Kenya. Traditionally its residents – the Kitui Akamba – were agro-pastoralists. With the establishment of British rule they expanded cultivation into former rangelands, and grazed their animals‘cattle and small stock – in areas once the preserve of wild life. This generated a resurgence in the local economy mirrored in the fact that the young men adamantly resisted administrative pressure to induce them to become labour migrants.

Résumé

Population, économie et groupes domestiques – Le cas Kitui

L'article décrit l'impact de la croissance de la population et de la migration de la main-d'oeuvre sur la grandeur et la forme des families Akamba au Kitui, un district semi-désertique dans la Province Est du Kenya. Les matériaux tirent leur origine de deux communités voisines, la première Ngangani, située dans les plaines, et la seconde Syoyua située sur un plateau, toutes deux ayant des densités de population et des économies constrastantes. Les frères qui travaillent en dehors du district tendent à placer leurs femmes dans une commune agricole où réside de préférence un frère resté sur le territoire pouvant être responsable de toutes les femmes et superviser leurs travaux agricoles et la garde des troupeaux. Cet arrangement permet aussi aux femmes de partager les tâches domestiques ainsi que la supervision des enfants. Les travailleurs émigrants des pauvres families du Ngangani essayent de fonder des foyers loin de leurs pères afin de minimiser leur ingérence. Manque de confiance entre frères et accusations de sorcellerie entre femmes précipitent aussi la rupture des communautés agricoles. Au Syoyua où il y a une insuffisance de terre, les homines tendent à construire sur les parcelles de leurs pères, plutôt que de s'établir dans des fermes indépendantes, ce qui a engendré des ménages de quatre générations. Traditionnellement un homme jouit d'un certain prestige s'il possède beaucoup de femmes et d'enfants; de nos jours cependant la grande ferine communautaire comme signe de rang social élevé laisse place aux nouveaux symboles de prestige tel que le nombre d'enfants éduqués, les conditions d'habitat améliorées et la possession d'un magasin local.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 64 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1983

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