2018/09/03 by Günther Schlee · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy
paper · doi:10.4324/9780429444050
openalex publication_date 2018/09/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Originally published in 1989, this book examines how the inter-ethnic relationships of the clans of the pastoral Rendille, Gabbra, Sakuye and some Somalis of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia came about. It also examines the uses to which these inter-ethnic relationships are put: for example in managing herds. Oral history is combined with cultural comparison and the analysis of social structure. Blending synchronic and diachronic perspectives, the book synthesises historical ethnology in the Continental tradition with social anthropology. Historically it overturns some established ideas about how the Horn of Africa was settled. Anthropologically it shows how relations may exceed the bounds of the ethnic group as the conventional unit of study.