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The Mbeere: Adapting to Change in Kenya
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12062 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
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12 / 1987 |
5,736 Words |
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David Bokensha; photography by Bernard Riley
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The Mbeere live in Embu district, about one hundred miles northeast of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, in an area of 620 square miles. The higher lands, near the foothills of Mount Kenya, have rich soil and a high population density, but the majority of the people live in the drier parts that go down to the Tana, Kenya's major river. Historically, the area (especially near the Tana) has teemed with wild animals; even in 1970 huge herds of elephants, buffaloes, antelope, and hippopotamuses abounded.
Numbering some eighty thousand today, the Mbeere are one of Kenya's smaller ethnic groups, ranking twentieth in population size. In its responses to the complex forces of "modernization," the Mbeere region can be regarded as a microcosm of many other parts of Africa, and, in some ways, similarities to communities in Asia and Latin America can also be observed.
At the beginning of this century the Mbeere population totaled less than fifteen thousand. They were neither an isolated nor a self-sufficient people, and trading networks--with the Mbeere trading livestock and honey for blankets, beads, and other goods--were well established by the middle of the nineteenth century. The people lived in small thatched houses, made of poles and mud, scattered among their herds of goats and cattle, their chickens, and their crops. Millet was the staple crop, although maize was already grown in some areas. A wide range of beans, peas, and other minor crops supplemented the staple, providing an adequate diet when the rainfall was good.
The overwhelming importance of rainfall is basic to any understanding of Mbeere: As one of our informants said, "rain is very certainless." The oral history of Mbeere shows that, as far back as memories go, severe famines have occurred about once a decade, and food shortages at least once every four years. Rainfall determines whether or not Mbeere farmers and their families have enough to eat each season. Despite all the changes that have taken place, especially over the last twenty years, farmers still anxiously scan the sky each April and October, when the bimodal rains are due.
At the turn of this century the main tool used in agriculture was the wooden digging stick. Such simple technology does not imply, however, that the Mbeere were in any way backward or "primitive." In fact, they had a remarkably accurate and detailed knowledge of their environment, especially of the woodland vegetation that supplied nearly all their material culture. Living as they did in an infertile and unpredictable environment, this knowledge was vital to their survival. Their environment was unpredictable not only with regard to rainfall, but also concerning dangerous wildlife and persistent human enemies.
Mbeere history is filled with accounts of battles against the neighboring Embu or Kamba, and, more frequently raids by marauding Masai. We were shown a huge fig tree "where our ancestors hid when the Masai came." Among the heroes remembered in folklore is a famous woman warrior called Cierume-Ika ("woman-man"), who led the people into battle against the neighboring Kamba. An authentic historical figure from the late nineteenth century, she eventually became one of the early colonial chiefs. She is particularly noteworthy, since few women achieved any prominence in those days.
Colonial intervention and
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