Beschreibung
The author prepared a much longer study on the tribes of the
Kikuyu Land Unit, of which the present volume forms part. The
main emphasis is on the complex age-set organisation which
constitutes the framework within which the life of every Kikuyu,
male or female, is regulated from infancy to old age. The author,
formerly an Administrative Officer in Kenya, shows how the
political and territorial organisation, the judicial system and
the administration of justice, the training of leaders, the
structures and the control of social life are all integrated into
the age-set system. The book includes descriptions of the systems
of ad hoc courts whereby disputes are settled and social
equilibrium maintained, and of the “handing over” ceremony at
which the government passes from one ruling generation to
another. Much light is thrown on the character of this vigorous
and independent people and their highly organised system of
social control.