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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Traditional processes of social control among the Kitui Kamba
Author:Akong'a, Joshua J.
Year:1982
Periodical:African Journal of Sociology
Volume:2
Issue:1
Pages:1-12
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:social control
Kamba
Abstract:The Kitui Kamba are a people who did not have centralized leadership in their system of government. To understand how their society was organised and how order was maintained, there is a description of the age-grade system which, among other things, was the basis of the division of labour. The initiation rituals provided secondary socialization, exposing the initiates to basic techniques of survival in a semiarid environment of general scarcity and fierce animals. Next is a consideration of the mobilization strategy in war which confirms our hypothesis concerning the absence of centralized leadership, a factor which by no means implies an absence of the mechanisms of bringing about and maintaining social order. For example, a council of elders consisting of clan household heads deliberated cultural issues especially during exigencies, publicly punished offenders and acted as arbitrators in disputes. Charismatic leaders on the other hand led others without exercising power over those they led; while on the interpersonal level, the curse, blessing and oathing were employed to ensure conformity. Thus, social structure and culture facilitated social order and stability. ref., sum. in French p. 56.
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