Gender Roles In African Culture

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Bobby McNally AN 1143 Sect 01-04 Professor T. Copeland February 28, 2011 Gender Roles in Nandi Culture The Nandi Culture resides mainly in East Africa near the Great Rift Valley. Generally, it rains every month. January and February are known to be the dry season, during this time frame rain does not come every day, locals can wait as much as two weeks with no rain. The climax of the rainy season is in July, in this season can rain for days at a time. Most of the year, the days are beautiful and sunny, but rain clouds predictably come in mid-afternoon for a short time leaving the Sun to shine for the last few hours of daylight. In most parts of East Africa, the altitude is between 5,500 and 10,000 feet. The terrain is known for it’s vast green lush grasslands. Generally, the population in this area of the World is known to be pastoralists. The tribes and communities here mainly concentrate on cattle. The Nandi and Maasai cultures have long lived by the popular myth: “At the beginning of the world, God Created cattle and gave them to our people. However, as time went on, many cattle wandered into the wrong hands. Though it is a serious crime to steal a cow from one of our own people, raiding others for cattle is simply restoring them the ownership that God intended” (Page 3-4). This maybe the principle that justifies the people of these two cultures to raid other villages for cattle. For as far back as the people of the Nandi culture remember the life and economy of the Nandi people has always revolved around cattle. Livestock continues to be of important value in the modern economy. Milk, fresh or preserved, is part of their every day diet. As I mentioned before, Nandi were pastoralists. Pastoralists tend to focus on a dominant species and tend to rarely slaughter their cattle. They live off what the species produces, mainly milk and
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