Making sense of visible difference

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popular representations to discuss issues around which these depictions revolve, namely the modes of subsistence, cultural practices, disparities in social transformation and the access and deployment of resources within and across the two ethnic groups.

3.1 Kamba ethnic depictions of the Maasai

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are particularly uneasy about the height aspect which is said to attract Kamba women to Maasai men.

As I have noted above, tall Kamba are often mocked to have Maasai blood, a claim used to accuse Kamba women of being unfaithful to their husbands. But actors from both groups acknowledge that neither are all Kamba short nor are all Maasai tall, but these grey areas are ignored in everyday talk. Other actors claim that they can tell whether one is Maasai or Kamba by intuition, irrespective of height, body marks or dress. Palalelei, a Maasai, says

“when you meet a Kamba, you just know, you just feel it (prolonged laughter!)”. He argues that even with those Kamba that have adopted Maasai dress code and body marks, he would still tell they are not Maasai. But the “feeling” he is talking about is based on what he has internalised as physical attributes associated with each group. Although he insists that he cannot go wrong in his categorisation, he admits that many Maasai do not stick to their dressing code nor are all people wearing such attire or ornaments necessarily Maasai (see also Spear and Waller, 1993). Besides, among the Kamba and the Maasai, there are some shared pieces of attire like hand made tire sandals,⁷⁷ worn by both men and women.

The ethnic dressing code, which make the Maasai stand out, includes brightly coloured loin clothes and shawls or shuka and usually red, ornaments (including heavily beaded necklaces, cowrie shells and bangles won by women),⁷⁸ bodies painted with ochre and men‟s regalia like clubs and knives, and occasionally spears. These ascribed markers of cultural identity, that also include braided hair, clean shaven heads, severed incisor teeth and pierced earlobes with plugs dangling below them, make the Maasai an outstanding group indeed. In the introductory part of their book, Spear and Waller (1993: xiii) carry a stereoscope photograph of Maasai girls apparently taken in early 1900s and note the following about Maasai image and dress code: “In essentials, it has not altered much in eighty years”. This resilience in Maasai culture, which wins them many admirers, including the Kamba, remains as the most obvious mark of distinction and difference.

On their part, the Kamba are said to have “abandoned their culture”⁷⁹ by adopting the “clothes of these days”, meaning, among other attire, dresses, skirts and blouses for women and shirts and trousers for men.⁸⁰ Although the Kamba have had elaborate beadwork and other ornaments (some copied from the Maasai), very few wear them today. But even those who do,

77 These are normally made by men „shoe makers‟ and sold during market days in the trading centres.

78 For details on Maasai manifestation of identity through codes of costume, see Klumpp and Kratz (1993: 203-18).

79 They were generally said to have “nothing to show” for their cultural heritage.

80 Most of these clothes are bought in the open air markets during “market days”. A few buy new ones but increasingly, second hand clothes, otherwise called mitumba, have become more common.

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they acknowledge the elegance of Maasai ornaments, with clear cuts of colour (see Klumpp and Kratz, 1993: 207). But the Kamba dismiss this „elegance‟ saying that it is “simply” a combination of “bright colours which is typical of the Maasai” (in reference to the dominant red clothing worn by the Maasai).

There are certain practices peculiar to the Kamba, though. In the recent past, chipping the upper front teeth into sharp points was valued in some clans and territorial areas. It was meant to enhance one‟s appearance. Among the Kitui Kamba, women in particular used also to beautify themselves with cicatrilizations over their body using latex of the local euphorbia.

They also used to tattoo their cheeks (see also Adamson, 1967). Piercing of earlobes, said to have been an imitation from the Maasai, used to be a common practice among the Kamba.

These permanent bodily marks are still evident among the older generation. The Kamba of the 1920‟s were just as „traditional‟ as the Maasai and borrowed a lot from the rich Maasai culture.

In fact, during the long-distance-trade with the Arabs at the East African coast in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, and for which the Kamba became very famous, the Swahili used to call them wasionanguo, meaning “the naked people”.⁸¹ A closer look indicates that the Kamba underwent faster social transformation only after the Second World War. Although one can hardly find a Kamba dressed „traditionally‟ today, as recent as the 1940‟s, they were dressed similar to the Maasai, as illustrated by Adamsons‟s paintings and photographs (1967: 238-257). Besides, even in the 1970‟s, old Kamba men in particular used to walk around scantly dressed.

What is important to underscore is that these appearances of distinction shape patterns of cross-ethnic interaction. They are used to determine who is „modern‟ or „backward‟, who is in „transition to modernity‟, who has upheld „culture‟, who is literate or illiterate, who is

„poor‟, those who should not board certain public vehicles and how much fare they are charged,⁸² where to shop, which bars to go (there are “Maasai/Kamba bars”), the attention accorded an individual in an office and who qualifies to be issued with an identity card within a demarcated territory. In this regard, the Maasai tend to be more „problematic‟ to classify. I was told, and also witnessed, cases where Maasai dressed in traditional attire would be assumed to be illiterate and ignorant and therefore people backbite them in English or overcharge them in public vehicles only for their adversaries to be shocked at the realisation that the „naive‟ looking man is actually a university student on holiday.

81 Lindblom (1920:22), quoted by Middleton and Kershaw (1972), but stated as waringao which is a mistake, for that means “the boastful people”.

82 The „Maasai‟ may be prohibited from boarding certain public vehicles or may not bother to stop them. This has nothing with „being‟ Maasai but looking „Maasai‟. When dressed in their traditional attire, the Maasai are occasionally overcharged by non-Maasai Matatu and bus operators.

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Studies done elsewhere similarly show the significance of physical attributes and stereotypes.

Eller notes that in Rwanda, people were categorised as Hutu or Tutsi according to their degree of beauty, their pride, their intelligence and political organisation. Quoting Destexhe (1995:

38), he notes that the colonisers established a distinction between those who did not correspond to the stereotype of a Negro (the Tutsi) and those who did (the Hutu). In addition, the Tusti were said to be “more Caucasian” and therefore more superior (Eller, 1999: 201).

The role that was played by explorers, missionaries, colonialists and even western scholars in the creation, enhancement and perpetuation of ethnic difference among African groups cannot be overemphasised. When the Maasai are said to have “good looks” (Adamson, 1967: 220), this positive discrimination sows seeds of ethnic pride and chauvinism. But on the other hand, such depictions create the uniqueness and exoticism which encourage cross-ethnic transactions like intermarriage.