Análisis de componentes principales

Leadership is one of the three themes investigated in this thesis. The previous chapter explored how Loita leaders govern (outside) development interventions, while this chapter focuses more on how leaders govern Loita internally. This will be done by ex- amining a number of leadership positions and the nature of their authority. Since these leadership positions have deep socio-cultural Maasai roots, as opposed to, for example, the positions of PA chief and councillor that derive from the Kenyan state, I call them Maasai leadership positions.

So far, this study has put two Loita leaders in the spotlight: ole Maine and Kone. Chapter 1 described how age-group chief ole Maine received and addressed Prime Min- ister Odinga during his visit to Loita in 2010. Kone was introduced as an influential Loita leader with multiple positions of authority, namely PA chief, councillor and leader of the House of Senteu, as well as being a practising laibon (Chapter 4). Chapter 5 then showed how he acted as a key intermediary with state and development interventions during the late colonial period and after independence. In the coming chapters, other Loita leaders will also be presented. These include the current chief laibon of Loita, Mokompo ole Simel, and two double authorities: a clan chief who was also a councillor, and another who doubled as a development leader (Chapter 8).1 _{Age-group chief ole} Maine will appear again in the dispute meeting in Chapter 11. The positions of PA chief, councillor and development leader have already been discussed. For a thorough understanding of the roles played by the leaders that appear in the forthcoming chapters, it is essential to understand the positions of chief laibon, age-group chief and clan chief too.

These positions derive their authority from the age-group system, the clan system and the laibon institution respectively. These leadership positions will, therefore, be examined by placing them in the context of the respective institutions that authorize them. One of the issues that such an undertaking illustrates is that Maasai leadership is both about political authority and ritual authority. Another is that the age-group system,

1 _{These two men are important players in the forest conflicts. Due to the delicate nature of the conflicts,}

the clan system and laibonism define the ascribed and achieved qualifications a particu- lar person needs to have to occupy the various positions. Membership of the social group of which a person is made leader is, obviously, a key condition. The sphere of influence of a particular leadership position is also determined by its authorizing institu- tion, which defines the group of people over which a leader has authority, but also the social domain in which his authority extends. For example, an age-group chief only has authority over men who belong to his age-group, and then only over those who also belong to the Loita section. His jurisdiction over this group is thus formed by the inter- section of a socio-territorial unit (section) and a gendered social category (age-group). But an age-group chief will have nothing to say in a meeting that addresses a homicide case, for example, because this falls under the sphere of authority of clan chiefs. The age-group chief may speak in the meeting, like anyone else, if the killer or the person killed belongs to his clan. He will then speak as a member of that clan but not in his capacity as age-group chief.

The age-group system, the clan system and laibonism are not institutions specific to Loita but pertain more widely to Maasai culture and society. Of these, the age-group system and the clan system stand out because they underpin Maasai social identity (Spencer 1993: 145-146) and social life.2 _{Both systems cut across sectional territories,} integrating Maasai who may live as far apart as 800 km and whose livelihoods can ap- pear very different in a mutually understood framework that organizes and structures social relations between men and women, young and old, and people of different line- ages.3 _{Maasai sections may speak in different dialects (Sommer & Vossen 1993), differ} in the timing and details of ceremonies performed, in the palettes of colours used in their beaded ornaments and in the length of their dress, but what they all share is a common Maasai identity that is based on a shared socio-cultural framework.

The clan system organizes men and women into patrilineal descent groups. There are five clans that are divided into two or more sub-clans and whose members live dis- persed across Maasailand. The age-group system organizes all circumcised men into circumcision-groups that move successively through the different grades of warriorhood and elderhood as they mature. Eventually, two successive circumcision-groups will unite to form one age-set. I use the word ‘age-group’ as a general term to refer both to circumcision-groups and age-sets. The ceremonies associated with the age-sets are syn- chronized across the various sections in Maasailand and this ensures that the age-group system remains an integral crosscutting Maasai institution (Spencer 1993: 145-146). Women are not part of the age-group system but are affiliated in age with the members of the age-group with whom they danced as young girls as the warriors’ ‘sweethearts’ (Talle 1988: 94). Girls and women are linked to the male age-group system via their positions as the daughters, wives and mothers of men in the various age-groups

2 _{Of the two, the age-group system is considered to be the more important (Mol 1996: 11; Voshaar}

1979: 46, 58; Spencer 1988: 208).

3 _{A clear example of how age-group and clan affiliation structure daily life can be seen in the way}

(Voshaar 1979: 62, 84). Although they do not formally participate in the age-group sys- tem, they do play a key role in the age-group ceremonies of their male relatives.4

Age-group and clan leadership, although deriving from these pan-Maasai socio- cultural institutions, does not exist at the pan-Maasai level: there is no single age-group chief or clan chief for all Maasai sections. Instead, leadership is organized at the level of section. Each age-group or, to be more precise, circumcision-group, in Loita has its own age-group chief who is proclaimed approximately every eight years when a new cir- cumcision-group is initiated. Likewise, each clan in Loita has its own clan chiefs. The Loita section is thus politically autonomous in its age-group and clan affairs from other Maasai sections.5 _{The age-group ceremonial cycle, for example, is organized and coor-} dinated at the level of section. The epitome of this autonomy is the collective age-group ceremony as all members of an age-group in a certain section are promoted at the same time. Clans too manage their affairs at section level. This usually involves disciplining clan members who have broken clan rules and/or endangered (inter)clan harmony. In Loita, it is the job of clan and age-group leaders to ensure adherence to the rules within the section and to maintain peace and harmony in their groups as well as leading and representing their groups vis-à-vis other groups. Unlike informal clan and age-group leaders who handle minor matters locally, the formal clan and age-group leaders chosen at sectional level hold official leadership positions that they assume after being instated during special ceremonies. The group of people over which a Loita age-group chief or Loita clan chief exercises his authority is therefore clearly delimited by the socio- territorial confines of the Loita section. It follows that a particular age-group chief has the power to command and discipline only those who belong to both the Loita section and to the age-group of which he has been made chief. The same applies for a clan chief, who can only punish and fine fellow clan-mates if they are also Loita Maasai.

The unique contribution of this and the next chapter to Maasai scholarship is that it presents original material on the leadership position of clan chief. To my knowledge, the clan chief has never been discussed in the academic literature.