Abstract
Among the agro-pastoralist Kuria people of Tanzania, many young men are engaged in an illicit livestock trade in which cattle stolen in Tanzania are sold to Tanzanian and Kenyan buyers for cash. In contrast to earlier theoretical formulations that have focused on pastoralist livestock raiding's presumed benign human-ecological functions of redistribution and herd management, this paper argues that Kuria cattle raiding is the driving force behind deleterious, and severe, human-ecological consequences in the study area, including a plummeting cattle population and a steady decline in food production in northern Tanzania's agriculturally bountiful Tarime District.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Almagor, U. (1979). Raiders and elders: A confrontation of generations among the Dassanetch. In Katsuyoshi, F., Turton, D. (eds.), Warfare Among East African Herders. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, pp. 119-145.
Anacleti, A. O. (1979). Historia ya Wizi wa Ng'ombe Mara Kaskazini 1900-1978. Unpublished typescript.
Anderson, D. (1986). Stock theft and moral economy in colonial Kenya. Africa 56(4): 399-416.
Baxter, P. T. W. (1979). Boran age-sets and warfare. In Katsuyoshi, F., and Turton, D. (eds.), Warfare Among East African Herders. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, pp. 69-95.
Bernard, H. (1988). Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Sage Publications, Newbury Park.
Chintowa, P. (1995). Tanzania-Agriculture: Losses Mount as Cattle Disease Spreads. Inter Press Third World New Agency, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Fleisher, M. (1998a). Kuria Cattle Raiders: Vigilantism and Violence on the Tanzania/Kenya Frontier. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor (submitted).
Fleisher, M. (1998b). Cattle Raiding and Household Demography Among the Kuria of Tanzania. Africa ( forthcoming).
Fleisher, M. Rough Justice: Sungusungu and Mafia-ization Among the Kuria of Tanzania ( in preparation).
Fukui, K. (1979). Cattle colour symbolism and inter-tribal homicide among the Bodi. In Katsuyoshi, F., Turton, D. (eds.), Warfare Among East African Herders. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, pp. 147-177.
Fukui, K., and Turton, D. (1979). Introduction. In Katsuyoshi, F., and Turton, D. (eds.), Warfare Among East African Herders. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, pp. 1-13.
Goldschmidt, W. (1974). The economics of brideprice among the Sebei in East Africa. Ethnology 13: 311-331.
Huntingford, G. W. B. (1953). The Nandi of Kenya: Tribal Control in a Pastoral Society. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Jacobs, A. H. (1979). Maasai Inter-Tribal Relations: Belligerent Herdsmen or Peaceful Pastoralists? In Katsuyoshi, F., and Turton, D. (eds.), Warfare Among East African Herders. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, pp. 33-52.
Kjerland, K. A. (1995). Cattle Breed; Shillings Don't: The Belated Incorporation of the abaKuria into Modern Kenya. PhD dissertation, history, University of Bergen.
Lancaster, W. (1981). The Rwala Bedouin Today. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Mair, L. (1974). African Societies. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Moore, S., and Puritt, P. (1977). The Chagga and Meru of Tanzania. International African Institute, London.
Peristiany, J. G. (1939). The Social Institutions of the Kipsigis. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Ruel, M. J. (1959). The Social Organisation of the Kuria: A Field-Work Report. Unpublished manuscript, Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi.
Spencer, P. (1973). Nomads in Alliance: Symbiosis and Growth Among the Rendille and Samburu of Kenya. Oxford University Press, London.
Sweet, L. E. (1965a). Camel raiding of North Arabian Bedouin: A mechanism of ecological adaptation. American Anthropologist 67(5): 1132-1150.
Sweet, L. E. (1965b). Camel pastoralism in North Arabia and the minimal camping unit. In Leeds, A., and Vayda, A. P. (eds.), Man, Culture, and Animals: The Role of Animals in Human Ecological Adjustments. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., pp. 129-152.
Tanner, R. E. S. (1966). Cattle theft in Musoma 1958-59. Tanzania Notes and Records 65: 31-42.
Tobisson, E. (1986). Family Dynamics Among the Kuria: Agro-Pastoralists in Northern Tanzania. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Goteborg, Sweden.
Tornay, S. (1979). Armed conflicts in the lower Omo Valley, 1970-1976: An analysis from within Nyangatom society. In Fukui, K., and Turton, D. (eds.), Warfare Among East African Herders. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, pp. 97-117.
Vayda, A. P. (1968). Hypotheses about functions of war. In Fried, M., Harris, M., and Murphy, R. (eds.), War: The Anthropology of Armed Conflict and Aggression. Natural History Press, New York, pp. 85-91.
World Bank (1995). World Tables 1995. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fleisher, M.L. Cattle Raiding and Its Correlates: The Cultural-Ecological Consequences of Market-Oriented Cattle Raiding Among the Kuria of Tanzania. Human Ecology 26, 547–572 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018745308231
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018745308231