In Sukumaland, as in many other regions in Tanzania, the clan is made up of members of extended family, including cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, grandparents and in-laws. Each clan (bakaya) is responsible for ensuring that its members follow the customs. This is because an individual’s non-compliance with customary laws may affect the whole family or clan. For example, if an individual is fined a cow for his wrong doings in the community, it means the individual uses the family’s wealth to pay the fine. If an individual is ostracized, the whole household is also ostracized. Therefore, each clan has devised ways to punish those who bring ‘bad luck” or embarrassment to the clan. In addition to customary laws, the clan set their own laws that are specific to the needs of the clan.
A clan meeting is led by clan elders who are in charge of all matters affecting the clan. Clan elders are normally the oldest members of the clan. If they call a meeting, each member of the clan is supposed to attend. Those who fail to attend without permission are fined. Clan members work together to resolve disputes that arise in the clan. They also share different life experiences, and work together to enforce customary laws. Wrong doers are punished at the clan
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meeting. During the meeting, clan elders will stand up, say the names of the offending member, and explain their case (Figure 5.13 and 5.14). The rest of the clan members decide the
appropriate punishment to give. The common forms of punishment include fines (money, cow, or goat), strokes,29 or ostracism.
The decision about the kind of punishment to be given depends on the type of offence, the age of the offender, whether it is a repeated offence, and whether an offender confesses his or her wrong doings. Younger offenders who don’t have the means to pay fines normally get
strokes. Repeat offenders get both strokes and fines. Strokes are administered by strong men chosen by clan elders. These men are supposed to give very strong strokes because every one will be watching to see whether they are being sympathetic by not beating offenders hard. If the beaters are too sympathetic and not beating hard enough, clan elders may order other men in the clan to “teach the beaters” how to beat by beating them first. Figure 5.15 and 5.16 shows wrong doers being publicly beaten at the clan meeting in front of other clan members. Offenders who deny the charges or decline the punishment are ostracized by the clan. They will not be allowed to visit, or seek help from other clan members. An ostracized individual will be excluded from the clan until he or she pays a heavy fine and apologizes to the clan. But ostracism from the clan does not mean ostracism from the community. An individual who is ostracized by the clan is still free to interact with non-clan members.
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Figure 5. 13: A clan elder presiding at the clan meeting
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Figure 5. 15: A clan meeting discussing cases of wrong doers. The two wrong doers are lying down on the floor when their cases are being discussed by the clan.
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Unlike Sungusungu and Dagashida, Bakaya allow women to attend clan meeting and participate in clan activities. However, most of the decisions in the clan meetings are made by men. In most cases, women sit and listen while men speak and confront offenders. This was also observed by Agarwal (2001), who found that women in India hesitate to oppose males in public, or speak up in meetings especially when senior family males are present.
Although ostracism is widely used by customary institutions, it is worth noting some of its shortcomings. Ostracizing an individual hurts not just the outcast, but also his or her family, and other community members who interact with him or her. The fact that people live together in community and are dependent on each other, indicate some advantage to grouping, which would be reduced by ostracizing a community member. Community members gain from each other through social interaction, networking and mutual support externalities, trade, as well as productive technology (Hirshleifer and Rasmusen 1989). Moreover, research on ostracism has found significant emotional distress among ostracized individuals (Williams et al. 2000). Those who are excluded from social groups might experience anxiety, or other forms of emotional distress that could cause a short-term impairment of cognitive functioning (Baumeister et al. 2002). This research observed that ostracism has been very effective to enforce desired social behavior. The advantages of using ostracism compensate for its weaknesses explained above. Moreover, this research observed that although Dagashida, Sungusungu and Bakaya are separate institutions, they are interconnected, and complement each other. As explained earlier,
Dagashida is made up of all men in the village while Sungusungu is made up of only a few men
in the village. Likewise Bakaya is made up of clan members whose men may be in the
Sungusungu and Dagashida. Members of Sungusungu are also members of Dagashida. Sungusungu is more into security, policing, patrolling, and guarding to make sure community
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members are safe, and customary laws are followed. Dagashida is more into monitoring and enforcing expected cultural patterns of behavior. Bakaya is more focused on issues within the clan only as opposed to Sungusungu and Dagashida which are focused on issued in the whole community. The three institutions have one goal in common: ensuring customary laws are followed by all community members.
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CHAPTER SIX
6. WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS: COMPLIANCE AND ROLE IN WATER