The Gendered Roles in Household Economy

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Chapter Two The Gendered Social, Historical and Cultural Context of the Maragoli Folktale Texts

 Introduction

If the world of the folktale performers is largely defined by their culture and the social, economic, geographical and historical conditions of existence, and if they draw on the world they know, for plot, characterisation and setting, then these ethnographic details are important to the critic of oral literature. The fact that oral literature is the image of the producing society validates interest in understanding the society whose oral literature is under study. Na’allah (1997:125) reminds us that an understanding of oral works depends upon an appreciation of the totality of their historical essence. It is with this in mind that the following overview of the gender aspects of the social, historical and cultural context of the Maragoli Folktale texts is given in a bid to establish gender relations, roles and statuses in this society.

The Construction of Maragoli and the Abaluhyia Identity

The Maragoli people, the owners of the tales under study, are part of the partrilineal Luhyia Community who inhabit the Western Province and parts of the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. The Luhyia are a diverse group of Bantu-speaking people whose sense of common identity seems to have grown largely out of the colonial experience and has gained momentum in the years following World War southern border is on the equator. Its northern limit is the southern slopes of Mount Elgon. To the east, there are the Nandi escapements. To the west are Lake Victoria and the eastern boundary of Uganda. It averages a height of 5000 feet above sea level with the highest point above 7,500 feet on the slopes of Mount Elgon and the lowest at the lakeshore, approximately 2600 feet. The area largely forms the present administrative unit of Western Province. According to the 1999 national census in Kenya, the Luhyia constitute the second largest tribe in Kenya after the Kikuyu and they speak a cluster of related dialects.
There are sixteen sub-tribes that constitute the Luhyia community, namely: Maragoli, Banyore, Tiriki, Idaho, Isukha, Batsotso, Samia, Tachoni, Bukusu, Khayo, Wanga, Marachi, Kisa, Banyala, Kabras and Marama. Within the Luhyia speaking community, there is, at the popular level, an awareness of existing cultural distinctions. There appears to be an established set of attitudes, which allow members of the various sub-tribes of the Luhyia community to perceive themselves as belonging to a single cultural entity while acknowledging internal distinctions in terms of dialect and to a much lesser extent some cultural aspects. A good example of difference in cultural practice is the practice of payment of bride price. Whereas the Bukusu people have a set figure of thirteen cows; to the Maragoli, this is negotiable.
The Luhyia have not always been called by this name. An earlier label applied to the people of Western Province of Kenya was Wakavirondo, though like the term Luhyia, it is of uncertain origin and not apparently an indigenous term. Wagner (1949) records that the inhabitants of the Kenya coast hold all natives of the region to be Wakavirondo implying that the term was created and spread by Arab traders who had contact with some areas of the province before the coming of the Europeans. This term has, however, been perceived as being derogatory.
There is no agreement as to the time of the introduction of the word Luhyia.
He posits that owing to its constant use by Europeans, the natives adopted it but they used it with reference to the geographical region rather than themselves. The term kavirondo was therefore seen as being of European origin.
According to Osogo (1966), the term Luhyia was introduced in 1940 and was locally coined. ‘Although the Abaluhyia had a common language and a common culture, they did not have a name embracing the whole tribe… In 1940 the Abaluhyia Welfare Association was formed. The name Abaluhyia quickly gained popularity, which was strengthened when the Luhyia language Committee was established and formulated an orthography’(Osogo 1966: 8).
This position has, however, been contested by other scholars. Kesby (1977) for instance, dates its introduction some 20 years earlier and sees it as an externally coined term. ‘Luhyia is a modern term, not in use in 1900, which grew up to denote peoples in Western Kenya who all spoke one language although they had formally no sense of unity and recognised a diversity of groups among themselves… .European administrators and missionaries recognised the linguistic unity of the group, and coined a common name for them before they did it themselves’(Kesby: 1977:90).
It may be argued that the demand for contemporary political manoeuvering led to the adoption of new names to cover groups, which did not have a common name. Apart from the Luhyia, another good example is the term Kalenjin, which is used in reference to a number of Kenyan related tribes that inhabit the Rift Valley Province. The term Luhyia was, however, popularised by politicians from the region between 1960-64 period with the hope that the people designated as Luhyia would be made to vote together in elections. Strictly speaking therefore, the Luhyia community does not include very similar peoples across the border in Uganda.
Several people have suggested the meaning of the term Luhyia. Huntingford (1944:3) reports that it is derived from Oluhyia ‘clan’so Luhyia means ‘fellow clansmen.’Osogo (1966:7) explains that the word means ‘fellow tribesman’and that it is derived from the verb (Okhuyia) ‘to burn.’He further explains that the Abaluhyia used to hold campfires to establish their presence in a particular area. Whenever a stranger came through their camp, he would be asked to which Oluhyia he belonged and in that way they would identify which were fellow tribesmen and which were not. Thus, the word Abaluhyia literally means ‘those of the same fires.’Jane Nandwa (1976) reports that her mainly elderly-informants in various parts of Western Province of Kenya maintained that the word was derived from ‘Oluhyia’the name of a specific place in a field where clan members would gather to deal with official matters.
Rachel Angogo (1980), however, argues that most individuals she interviewed were unable to offer a specific etymology for the word, but they consistently defined it as meaning those who live in the Western Province, speak the same language and eat the same food.
We can draw one conclusion from the various positions on the term Luhyia; that in the past there did not exist one tribe called the Abaluhyia. The name came to be used much later to combine all the sub-tribes of Abaluhyia. In the past, the sixteen sub-tribes were not grouped together as they are today. However, culturally and linguistically there is a large degree of homogeneity among the Abaluhyia. The remarkable diversity is clearly manifested in cultural and dialectical differences. Folktales found in Maragoli land are also found in other parts of Luhyia land with minor variations, mainly in names of characters but not the basic motifs.
It is, however, necessary at this juncture to focus closely on the Maragoli community and its Institutions as a single entity in order to establish the social, cultural, religious and economic background of the folktale texts examined in this study. This will help contextualise these texts. By situating cultural productions or texts in their original settings, their meaning becomes evident. Indeed the meaning of a text can best be established through imaginative penetration into the context of the texts’creation. Thus, the deep meaning of oral texts can be determined through knowledge of the inner lives of the authors and the contexts in which they are created.

Forms of Worship and the Totem of Fertility

The most significant feature about the Maragoli culture and religion is that it is geared towards procuring fertility. The rituals and prayers are made to obtain fertility for human beings and animals and for agricultural bounty. All other requests are subordinate to this. The agricultural basis of the Maragoli religion is rooted in myths, which also seem to explain the settlement of first Maragoli families in Western Kenya. The myth states that the ancestral spirit, Umusambwa, appeared to Murogoli and instructed him to emigrate to a land that the Umusambwa would show him; a fertile land where he would harvest two crops a year. And these are the instructions he followed until he settled in present day Maragoli country, having sojourned for many years in various lands (Gimode 1993).
The Maragoli evolved an elaborate form of worship that reflected their gender ideology. Sacrifices involved a white he-goat with horns. The sex signified the patrilineality of Maragoli society. After the priest’s prayer, the goat fell down by itself and died. It should be noted that these rituals were presided over by the Nondi priesthood clansmen. The Nondi clansmen are the descendants of Maavi who was Murogoli’s last-born son. Murogoli, the founder of the Maragoli community, is said to have been a diviner or medicine man. He bequeathed his divination role to his last-born son, Maavi, who in turn bequeathed it to his last-born son, Nondi. From then on Nondi’s descendants provided the Maragoli with priests.
The Nondi clansmen would skin the goat and examine the omens in the entrails. If undigested food was green, they knew there would be great prosperity. In case of impending danger from enemies, at the time of sacrifice, the elders took the stomach, inflated it with breath then punctured it with a stick. This was to ensure the total collapse of the scheme of the enemies. The Nondi elders then roasted and ate the rest of the meat. It is, however, notable that the elders were men and not women.
The great population density among the Maragoli could be attributed to their religion and culture. Maragoli land is the most densely populated area in East and Central Africa. This can be traced back in time to ancient prayers for fertility. The Maragoli desired and still desire many children, irrespective of the land factor. They reasoned that an abundant progeny would fight for land and get it. A woman who gave birth to many male children was respected. She earned the title of Umukaye, meaning respectable woman, as opposed to Umukari meaning ordinary woman. This aspect is examined in detail in relation to the folktales under study in Chapter Three.

Chapter 1: The Problem, Research Goals and Conceptual Foundation
Chapter 2. The Gendered Social, Historical and Cultural Context of the Maragoli Folktales
2.0 Introduction
2.1 The Construction of Maragoli and the Abaluhyia Identity
2.2 Forms of Worship and Totems of Fertility
2.3 Initiation into Manhood
2.4 Marriage and Family
2.5 Sex and Its Uses
2.6 Sleeping on a Word
2.7 The Gendered Roles in Household Economy
2.8 Gendered Taboos
2.9 The Survival of the Folktale Tradition Over the Years
2.10 Conclusion
Chapter 3: The Gendered Frames of Coercion and Subversion on Marital Relationships
3.0 Introduction
3.1 The Centrality of Marriage
3.2 Domains of Gendered Operation
3.3 Polygamy and Polygamous Families
3.4 Courtship, Deceit and Pride
3.5 The Combatant Hero and his Magical Stick
3.6 Bitter Fruits of Disobedience, Defiance and the Perversion of Beauty.
3.7 Incestuous Relationships.
3.8 The Curse of Infertility (Barrenness)
3.9 Vulnerability and Hopelessness of Changing the Status Quo
3.10 Voices of Transgression.
3.11 Conclusion
Chapter 4: Gendered Sex Images, Roles and Socio-Cultural Expectations
4.0 Introduction
4.1 General Status of the Masculine and Feminine
4.2 The Ogre: Symbol of Masculine Hegemony
4.3 The Trickster as a Masculine Figure of Wisdom and His Dupe
4.4 The Role and Place of Girls and Wives
4.5 The Nature and Role of Boys and Men
4.6 Birds as Symbols of Masculinity
4.7 The Matriarch: The Old Woman
4.8 Signifying Physical Features
4.9 Conclusion
Chapter 5: Composition, Performance and Internalisation of the Gender Ideology
5.0 Introduction
5.1 In-built Subversive Elements of Composition
5.2 The Power of the Subversive Stage.
5.3 Formulae of Sublimation
5.4 Strategic Repetition of Gendered Images
5.5 Contrasting Polarities
5.6 Patterning of Images
5.7 The Gendered Language of the Tales
5.8 Conclusion
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Works Cited
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