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Staging Social Structures 3 41
Staging Social Structures: Ritual and Social

Organisation in an Egalitarian Society.
The Pastoral Pokot of Northern Kenya
Michael Bollig
University of Cologne, Germany
Downloaded By: [University College London] At: 10:49 6 February 2011
abstract The pastoral Pokot of northern Kenya represent their society as highly
structured by descent and age grading. Descent groups (clans, lineages) and age grades
(age sets, generation sets) are depicted as bounded but related units within a complex
hierarchical and coherent system, the essence of Pokot society which is staged and
visualised in major rituals. This study shows that they are not important in Pokot
economic exchange. The formal analysis of livestock exchange networks centred
upon individuals shows that emic representations do not match actual exchange be-
haviour. Complementing the well-established structuralist representation of pasto-
ral social systems, this paper investigates the agency aspect, which has been largely
unexplored. It furthermore documents how social exchange is contained in the various
institutions of descent and age grading. Contextualising the case historically it is shown
that the pastoral Pokot developed from a fragmented clan-based agro-pastoral so-
ciety in which descent was the main ordering principle for land tenure and conflict
management into a more comprehensive social entity with clearly definable borders to
the outside, dense internal exchange networks and strong representations of the corpo-
rateness of subgroups. The rapid adoption of mobile livestock husbandry was accom-
panied by the rise of widespread exchange networks and social interaction with a much
wider group of unrelated actors marking the foundations of a pastoral society.
keywords Pokot, network analysis, social change, ritual, pastoralists
M
any important contributions to the analy sis of social structure were
based on research in stateless, egalitarian African societies such as
the Nuer and the Tallensi (Kuper 1 983 ). A generation of anthro-
pologists became thrilled by abstractions which resulted in marvellous charts
of segmentary genealogies and complex gerontocratic sy stems (see for ex-
ample Evans Pritchard 1 95 1 :1 8f, Lewis 1 961 :Appendix). Unilineal descent
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

© Routledge Journals, Taylor and Francis Ltd, on behalf of the National Museum of Ethnography
iss n 001 4-1 8 4 4 print/ iss n 1 469-5 8 8 x o nline. doi: 1 0.1 08 0/ 001 41 8 4 002 001 3 4 02
3 42 michael b ollig
groups and age grades were interpreted as major structural features of rural
African societies. Nadel (1 95 7 ) depicted the process of arriving at social structures:
‘We arrive at the structure of a society through abstracting from the concrete
population and its behaviour the pattern of network ... of relationships ob-
taining “between actors in their capacity of play ing roles relative to one an-
other’.’ ’ (Nadel 1 95 7 quoted in Schweizer 1 992:1 9). Here social anthropolo-
gists had found a handy formula describing w hat to do in order to find social
structure: interview or observe a ‘concrete population and its behaviour’, then
abstract from it and find the hidden structures! Social structures were consti-
tuted by institutions fixing individual behaviour through sets of interrelated
rules, thereby guaranteeing order and social cohesion (for a critique see Schwei-
zer 1 996:3 1 f ). It w as taken for granted that unilineal descent and age grading
determined social interaction to a large extent. Individual behaviour and social
exchange were by and large embedded into these pristine structures.
This paper tries to contextualise the structuralist approach to social sy s-
tems. Based on a case study of the pastoral Pokot of Keny a I w ish to show
that an analysis of economic exchange as formulated by formal network analysis
(Schweizer 1 996; Wellman and Berkowitz 1 997 ) provides structures different
from emic visions of corporate social entities. Cohesiveness, non-centralisa-
tion and the absence of clearly discernible subgroups or clusters are structures
that are directly derived from the data. Among the Pokot descent groups and
age groups act as corporate social entities in very special, culturally defined
arenas such as ritual, marriage arrangements and internal conflict resolution.
They do not have any sizeable impact on individual exchange behaviour. In
ritual, how ever, Pokot dramatically stage their visions of their society and
communicate their imagination of a ‘strong’ and highly structured society.
Before focusing the discussion on social organisation and ritual, I provide a
condensed ethnography of the Pokot (for further information see Schneider
1 95 3 ; Bollig 1 992, 1 993 , 1 998a, 1 999). The pastoral Pokot, about 40,000 people
in the early 1 990s, living in the savannas of northwestern Keny a, make use of
a semi-arid habitat by means of herds of camels, cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys.
The Pokot try to insure themselves against various hazards such as droughts,
epidemics, and raiding through herd diversification, dispersal of the house-
hold herd, flexible labour allocation, spatial mobility and widespread exchange
netw orks (Bollig 1 994, 1 998a; for a very similar set of risk-minimising strate-
gies amongst the neighbouring and better studied Turkana see Johnson 1 999).
While pasture and waterholes are communally owned, livestock is private
property. Compared to other East African herder societies (see McCabe 1 999
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

on the Turkana, Ensminger 1 992 on the Orma; Coppock 1 993 on the Borana;
Little 1 992 on the Njemps; and Spencer 1 998 on comparative data on East
African pastoral systems) differences in the size of livestock herds are rather
small. Droughts, raids and livestock epidemics render wealth hierarchies un-
stable (Bollig 1 990a, 1 995 , 1 999). Economic alternatives such as trade, handi-
crafts and wage labour are of little importance. Informal neighbourhood coun-
cils coordinate the communal use of pastures and wells (Conant 1 965 ; Bollig
1 999). There is no pastoral elite dominating the group economically or poli-
tically. An egalitarian ideology permeates the discourse of age sets, descent
groups and internal conflict regulation.
Pokot Social Structures:

Local Presentations of Lineages and Age Sets
The literature on the social organisation of herder communities in East
Africa exposes the complex structures of age groups and descent groups of
the Borana (Baxter 1 97 8 ), the Maasai (Jacobs 1 968), the Samburu (Spencer
1 965 , 1 97 3 ) and the Turkana (Gulliver 1 95 5 ). Peristiany ’s work on the age set
system of the pastoral Pokot (Peristiany 1 95 1 ) and on Pokot descent groups
(Peristiany 1 95 4) offered valuable insights on Pokot society from a structur-
alist perspective. Harold Schneider’s ethnography of pastoral and agro-pas-
toral Pokot (Schneider 1 95 3 ) pointed out the importance of livestock exchange
netw orks for the understanding of the pastoral economy.
In order to comprehend Pokot social organisation I started my first field-
work in 1 987 by talking to male key informants, usually senior members of
the community , who had been pointed out to me as being knowledgable on
the culture of the Pokot (ötop nyo pö Pokot ). They elaborated on the numerous
patrilineal descent groups and their various connections and gave details of
the complicated age-cum-generation set system. It was a presentation by males
on spheres of social organisation constituted foremost by men. The w omen
I asked on aspects of their society, however, gave similar accounts, if not in
so much detail. Their sphere of day-to-day interaction, the neighbourhood,
is not touched upon in the following presentation.
Informants offered a surprisingly structured and uncontroversial image of
Pokot social organisation, a shared vision of the Pokot social system. According
to them the social structure of the pastoral Pokot was based on patrilineal
descent groups and age groups. Both types of corporate groups could be mapped
nicely: there were about twenty clans (lilö ) which in turn consisted of sev-
eral lineages (or, ortin) each. The genealogical depth of these descent groups
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

varied from three to seven generations. Male ancestors could be named and
genealogical links to them were well preserved. Clan specific traditions de-
scribed the livelihoods of earlier lineage members, their move into pastoral-
ism and their migrations. The size of lineages differed considerably , some
consisting of just some few households and others numbering more than fifty
households in the research region alone. Clans w ere exogamous and were
united under a specific symbol, such as rain (the Ngusur), the snake (the Kiptin-
kö ), or the fire sticks (the Koimö ). Although clans were envisioned as patri-
lineal descent groups, historical links rarely w ent bey ond the founder of the
lineage. There w ere no founding ancestors for clans. Historical traditions re-
lating to early clan history dwelled in mythological metaphors and related to
a w orld in which natural attributes of the universe did not hold y et: there
were speaking animals, virgin births and monsters. Cattle brands, a set of symbols
(enwait ) and songs on descent group origin (kililyet) are clan-specific. Be-
y ond that there was little formal organisation on clan or on lineage level.
While clans had no common formal organisation (no clan leader, no com-
mon property ) representations of the descent sy stem rendered them as cor-
porate entities. Figure 1 show s the order of the two clans Ngusur and Solion-
got consisting of six and ten lineages respectively. Ngusur and Soliongot were
united as Terik, a level which could be termed macro-clan, but did not hold
the exogamous character of a clan nor did it have any sy mbolic represen-
tation on its own account.1
Not all clans unite in a dual clan structure like the one pointed out for the
Terik above. Some clans fall into tw o exogamous sections with different clan
symbols, like the Talai (monkey and crow) and the Logene (frog and camel).
In these cases rules of exogamy rest with the totemic section and not with
the clan. In two cases two clans shared the same symbol: Kipkumir and Siwotoy
clans have the buffalo as their ‘totem’ and Oro and some Logene lineages
share the camel. Because of these sy mbolic equations people of these clans
do not marry each other. While these inconsistencies hint at a more complex
history of fission and fusion of descent groups, the basic patrilineal structure
remains uncontested: a grouping of lineages congregates into an exogamous
clan. Unlike the Nuer, the Somali or the Tallensi, Pokot clans are not further
assorted into a segmentary charter. There are no clans and lineages which
could claim political dominance. Even ‘adopted’ lineages hold the same sta-
tus as lineages regarded as original Pokot descent.
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Terik
(a unit of two clans, there is no Pokot term
denoting this level with an abstract term)
clan (lilö) clan (lilö)

NGUSUR SOLIONGOT
symbol: rain symbol: thunder’
lineages (ortin) lineages (ortin)

Kachepkai Kachepunyö
Kaponot (adopted) Kaparwas
Kamechin Katoye
Katetirwa Kamkan
Kasitim Ksonchö
Karapiny Kamarmar
Kachepawan
Kakitiny
Kaporet
Kamwötyony
Fig.1: The structure of the Pokot lineage system
Clan organisation is essential for the arrangement of marriages. There are

numerous rules which guide a prospective groom when seeking a bride. In
another publication (Bollig 1 998a) I reported on the complex regulations
controlling marriages. A man must not marry from his previous wives’ clan,
his mother’s clan, his father’s wives’ clans and his father’s mother’s clan. He
should not engage in marriage with members of clans his siblings have mar-
ried to. While a prospective groom has to generate most of his bridewealth
from within the household, incoming bridewealth payments are redistrib-
uted within the extended kindred network and amongst friends. The clan
system orders and organises marriages and to a very limited extent channels
the distribution of bridewealth pay ments, but on the whole has little effect
on resource control.
Through separate initiation rituals each man becomes a member of an age
set (asapantin) and of a generation set (pïn). Membership of one set involves
egalitarian, almost brotherly relations w ith one’s peers on the one hand, and
submission under a gerontocratic age-based hierarchy on the other hand.
Initiation into generation sets (tum) only takes place every twenty-five to thirty-
five years when numerous young men and boy s are circumcised together and
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

from then on constitute one generation set (Bollig 1 990c). These are not
generations in the strict (Oromo) sense, with recruitment through the patriline.
They rather represent broad age strata. The only strict rule applied is that
nobody may end up in the same generation set as his father. At each stage
three generations are alive. The system embraces a junior or warrior genera-
tion (mirön), a generation of seniors and a generation of elders (collectively
adressed as poy). Once most members of the generation of ritual elders have
died, a new set has to be initiated. Thus the former w arriors become seniors
and the former seniors become ritual elders. There are a total of six genera-
tion sets in rotation 2 (Bollig 1 990c, 1 992:85 , 1 994; Sutton 1 990).
By contrast, membership of an age set is attained at a fixed age. Boys of
seventeen to tw enty years of age undergo the sapana ritual (Bollig 1 990c). In
this celebration they slaughter an ox in a ritually prescribed way and are ‘washed’
with the stomach contents of this ox. Later they are formally endow ed with
the signs of manhood: they are given the men’s colourful headdress (siolip)
and are allowed to drink milk (chö ) and blood (kisön) with other y oung men
from bow ls which are placed at the centre of the sacred kirket, the semicircle
of initiated men in which seating is arranged strictly according to generation
set and age set. Each initiation set, i.e. those boy s who were initiated in one
particular y ear, is given a name which is reminiscent of a special event of that
particular year or initiation period. After some ten to twenty years, between
four and seven sets are united into one set and the set w ith the most mem-
bers will usually give its name to the united set. These age sets do not cluster
together neatly to form one generation set. Members of the Ditimong age
set, for example, belong to two different generation sets, either to the Chumwö
generation or the Koronkoro generation. Likewise, w hile most members of
the Ngelomum age set belong to the Kaplelach generation set, some older
members belong to the Koronkoro generation set. These inconsistencies do
not disturb the picture that most age sets are clearly associated with one gen-
eration set. However, the incongruities underline the observation that both
systems of age grading work fairly independently from each other. This view
is reasserted by oral traditions which emphasise that w hile generation sets
are ancient, age sets are fairly recent social innovations coming about with
pastoral intensification early in the 1 9th century.
In addition all men belong to one of the alternations Ngetei (The Stones)
or Ngimur (The Leopards). If the father of a man is Ngimur his son will be
member of the Ngetei alternation. Alternation membership is shown by the
type of metal used for ear-rings and bracelets. While Ngimur wear ornaments
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

made from iron and copper, the Ngetei w ear brass. Age sets and generation
sets constitute a complex gerontocratic sy stem (the Turkana and Karimojong
have similar alternations).
The gerontocratic sy stem provides a clear set of rules to delimit competi-
tion between individuals. Through gerontocratic rule juniors are barred from
acquiring many wives at an early stage in their careers. Nobody may marry
‘his ow n daughters’, i.e. daughters of comrades of his generation set. While
members of the Chumwö generation may marry daughters of men of the
Koronkoro and Kaplelach generations, the Koronkoro marry daughters of
men of the Chumwö and Kaplelach and the Kaplelach daughters of Chumwö
and Koronkoro men. The Kaplelach, the y oungest set, are obviously disad-
vantaged, as unmarried daughters of Chumwö (the most senior generation)

are rare and they compete with Chumwö elders for the daughters of Koronkoro
men. This ‘gerontocratic bias’ is clearly show n in the figures on polygyny
and household composition: while Chumwö elders (n = 5 3 ) had 3 .6 w ives
on average, Koronkoro seniors (n = 2 3 6) had 2 .5 wives and Kaplelach juniors
(n = 1 48) 1 .7 wives; the size of households differed from 2 2.9 members for
household heads of the Chumw ö generation, to 1 4.0 for the Koronkoro and
8.1 for the Kaplelach. Within an age grade competition is ruled out by an ideo-
logy of comradeship and solidarity. There is, of course, competition between
age grades giving rise occasionally to fierce discussions and even stick fights.
These conflicts are then mediated in major rituals bringing together the dif-
ferent sets and reuniting them ceremoniously. Neither age sets nor genera-
tion sets control any form of common property. There are no defined prop-
erty or exchange relations between elders and juniors, as for example among
the Maasai, the Borana and the Dassanetch where elders sponsor specific
juniors. In contrast to long-held beliefs also Pokot age sets are not essential
in organising warfare (see also Baxter 1 97 8 ).
After some months of research I had the impression that clans, lineages,
age sets and generation sets are corporate and that the social structure shapes
the network of relationships between various actors to a large degree. Ac-
cording to Pokot presentations of their social sy stem I thought that major
transactions would be channelled within these corporate groups w hich ap-
parently were the most prominent elements of Pokot social organisation. After
listening to many informants I envisioned lineages and age groups as corpo-
rate interest groups controlling property and exchange. In order to docu-
ment the actual exchange network, I started to collect data on transactions
between households.
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Materials and Methods

The Pokot exchange network was obtained sy stematically : a partial net-
work consisting of 3 7 households from a wider neighbourhood w as defined
and kinship relations as well as transactions (bridewealth exchange, distribu-
tion of incoming bridewealth, livestock loans) between them were noted down.
I concentrated on exchanges regarded as important by the herders. These
exchanges usually involved the exchange of livestock. Schneider (1 95 3 ) al-
ready elaborated on the importance of livestock exchanges bey ond the realm
of kin groups for Pokot social organisation (see especially Schneider’s discus-
sion of the tilyai concept). In addition to exchanges w ithin this set of house-
holds I recorded relations with actors in distant neighbourhoods too. All herders
maintained such ties and thought them highly valuable. Many tried consciously
to spread these exchange relations: once they had taken up an exchange re-
lation with a herder in one place they would preferably seek for herders from
other communities for further exchanges. These distant exchange partners,
however, were not considered in the formal network analy sis presented here.
Households (kaw, keston) are localised units and usually correspond to an
extended family (see Bollig 1 999 for a description of Pokot household or-
ganisation). I interviewed the head of the household on the exchange rela-
tions he engaged in. Women ow n livestock to some degree but rarely engage
in major livestock transactions. However, men take the livestock they want
to invest into social exchange from parts of the herd allotted to one of the
women. In Pokot households virtually all animals of the household herd are
given to one of the women of the homestead to take care of. The animal
given aw ay in exchange results in obligations on the side of the beneficiary.
Once he returns his obligation the animal (or the animals) will be returned to
the part of the herd the original animal was taken from. Should the benefici-
ary die before he reciprocates, one of his sons has to take on the obligation
with his inheritance and should repay the donator, or in case of his death,
the w ife (or her sons alternatively) from w hom the original animal ‘opening’
the exchange was taken from. Hence women are intensely interested in the
exchange relations their husbands engage in. While it is up to the men to se-
lect appropriate partners, women, too, will look into the maintenance of the
tie and will do w hat they can to ensure that one of their sons finally profits
from the exchange.
In 1 988 / 8 9 and again in 1 992 and 1 993 I sampled information on local
exchange networks (Bollig 1 998a). The formal analy sis of network data was
run with the programme ucinet (Borgatti, Everett & Freeman 1 992; for the
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

application of formal network analy sis to ethnographic cases see Schweizer

1 996 and Schweizer and White 1 998), designed to detect structural charac-
teristics of networks. I will continue to briefly pinpoint structural character-
istics of Pokot networks. To highlight and contrast formal measures of Pokot
networks I will furthermore introduce data on Himba networks. Between 1 994
and 1 996 I carried out 2 5 months of fieldwork with the pastoral nomadic
Himba of northern Namibia. As the Himba are not used primarily as an eth-
nographic comparison but rather for technical reasons it should suffice to
draw attention to some recent publications on the Himba (Bollig 1 997 , 1 998 b;
Wolputte 1 999). In some aspects of their economy the Himba are fairly simi-
lar to the Pokot. Settlement patterns and spatial mobility are determined by
the needs of large cattle and smallstock herds. Wealth differences in Himba
society are more pronounced than among the Pokot and seem to be fairly
stable. On the whole Himba society is more stratified than Pokot society is.
Within a double descent sy stem, wealth is mainly channelled through matri-
lineal descent groups while patrilineal descent groups dominate the ritual
sphere. Data on Himba networks is introduced here to highlight and con-
trast formal measures of Pokot netw orks. The network recorded amongst
the Himba has a similar size to the Pokot netw ork and considers a similar set
of exchanges.
Results
Simple Measures of Structural Characteristics: Density, Centralisation
dens ity. Density measures the cohesiveness of a network. The measure
is defined as the number of existing relations divided by the number of po-
tential relations (Schweizer 1 996:1 7 7 ). The density of the Pokot netw ork is
at d = 0.3 5 9 (that is, roughly a third of all possible relations were realised).3
This figure suggests that the density and cohesiveness of the Pokot network
is very high.
deg ree-c entralisatio n. The measure for degree-centralisation relates
to the entire graph and not to single actors only. The degree measures the
number of direct exchange relations one actor has. Hence degree is a meas-
ure for the activity of an actor within the netw ork. The degree-centralisation
measures the variation (scattering) of degrees in the net. ucinet transfers the
measures for centralisation into percentages. A percentage of 0% indicates
that all actors are active in the network to the same degree, a percentage of
1 00% shows that one actor has drawn all exchanges to himself (Schweizer
1 996:1 8 3 ff ). The measure for degree-centralisation then show s to what ex-
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

350 michael b ollig
tent a network is dominated by individuals. The value for degree-centralisa-

tion in the Pokot network was at 21 .1 9 (in the comparative Himba netw ork
the value was at 44.63 ). This indicates that in the Pokot network there were
few actors who were able to concentrate exchanges upon themselves and
that many actors were actively participating in exchanges.
Closeness-Centralisation. Closeness-centralisation measures the speed
of interaction within a net and again looks at the entire graph. A value of
1 00% occurs if one point in the net has direct links to all other actors, while
all other points can reach any other point only via two steps (the prototyp-
ical star). If all points have the same distances from each other the measure
will be 0% (Schweizer 1 996:1 8 7 ff ). Those actors are central w hich are con-
nected on short paths with each other. The closer an actor stands to all others
the more effective and independently of the others he can act. The value for
closeness-centralisation among the Pokot is fairly low at 2 0.46, suggesting
that Pokot actors are not successful in attaining central positions within this
netw ork. For the Himba network the measure is double the size (at 42.87 ),
indicating more central actors within this network. This suggests that we find
more egalitarian exchange relations in the Pokot network than in the Himba
network; literally speaking the Pokot are closer to each other than the Himba
are.
Table 1 summarises data on structural characteristics and juxtaposes it to
comparable figures for the Himba.
Pokot Himba
Density 0.359 0.153

Degree Centralisation % 21.19 44.63
Closeness Centralisation % 20.46 42.87
Table 1. Structural Characteristics of both Pokot and Himba Networks Compared
This first glance at structural properties of the network suggests that the Pokot
netw ork is highly cohesive and shows a low degree of centralisation. There
are no actors who are really central nor are there actors who are really peri-
pheral. All actors are very close to each other; furthermore they are also very
similar to each other, as the analysis of structural properties of single actors
shows (see below ). Pokot actors display ed major similarities in regard to
(degree)centrality , closeness and betweenness.
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Staging Social Structures 351
Structural Properties of Single Actors:

Degree, Closeness and Betweenness Centrality
Formal network analysis is not only concerned with structural properties
of networks but analy ses the positions of single actors w ithin the structure of
the network. Degree, closeness and betweenness-centrality are measures that
differentiate the structural properties of single actors and describe the pro-
minence of individual actors w ithin the net. Degree centrality is a measure
for the activity of an actor w ithin the net, high values are attached to active
actors, low values describe passive actors. The more relations an actor has
within the net, the more central he is. Closeness-centrality is a measure for
the speed of interaction within the net (Schweizer 1 996:1 8 6). Those actors
are central who are related to others through short paths, i.e. rarely have to
go through intermediate actors. Hence closeness-centrality is a measure for
the autonomy of actors within the net — how close is Ego to other actors
within the net and how often does he have to address intermediaries to con-
tact a third person? In contrast to degree-centrality , closeness-centrality also
measures indirect links and therefore gives a more complete idea of the total
network. Like closeness-centrality, betweenness-centrality looks at direct and
indirect links between actors. Betweenness-centrality is a measure for the fre-
quency an actor has to be consulted by others who want to get into contact
with each other. How many times is an Ego between two other actors who
want to interact? The actor in the middle, between others, can make use of
his broker position to control information and resource flows.
The variation of these three measures is low across all actors among the
Pokot. Again a comparison with the Himba netw ork emphasises peculiari-
ties of the Pokot network. The figures for standard deviations are consist-
ently higher for the Himba network than for the Pokot network for measures
like degree-centrality , betweenness and closeness, indicating that the Pokot
sample is much more homogeneous than the Himba sample.
The actors in the Himba network show higher mean values on degree centra-
lity (3 8.5 2 compared to 1 9.68) and betweenness-centrality (39.07 compared
to 23 .7 8), while the actors in the Pokot network attain a higher value for close-
ness-centrality (66.7 8 compared to 5 6.69). Table 2 summarises the findings
which underline these assumptions: the Pokot network is homogeneous, ac-
tors are very close to each other and there are few (if any) key players who
concentrate exchanges upon themselves or who are able to inhibit or facilitate
exchanges between others. The dense network rests upon a multitude of dy-
adic ties.
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

352 michael b ollig
Pokot Himba Pokot Himba Pokot Himba

Degree Degree Between Between Closeness Closeness
Mean 19.68 38.52 23.78 39.07 66.78 56.69

Std Dev 4.94 23.20 12.96 44.61 5.00 6.59
Sum 728.00 1618.00 880.00 1641.00 2470.92 2381.01
Variance 24.38 538.44 168.00 1989.94 24.99 43.48
EucNorm 123.39 291.45 164.76 384.31 407.35 369.88
Minimum 8.00 5.00 3.32 0.00 56.25 37.27
Maximum 29.00 126.00 59.00 233.68 76.60 77.36
Table 2. Degree, Betweenness, Closeness Centrality in Pokot and Himba Networks

Relational Analysis: Cliques, Clusters and Factions

Cliques are ‘Cohesive subgroups ... of actors among whom there are rela-
tively strong, direct, intense, frequent or positive ties’ (Wassermann and Faust
1 994:249). A clique is defined as a complete subgraph of three or more points.
The structural analy sis of cliques looks for actors of the network who are
more closely tied among themselves than with their surrounding. The com-
parison of the representations for Pokot and Himba show s differences at a
first glance (see Fig. 2 ): While more than a third (40.5 %) of all Pokot actors
is involved in 2 2 to 40 small cliques, there is not a single Himba actor who is
involved in as many cohesive subgroups. Only tw o actors (5 .4%) in the Pokot
netw ork are involved in five or fewer cliques. In stark contrast 2 2 Himba ac-
tors (5 2.4%) are involved in five or fewer cliques. A clear majority of Pokot
actors are engaged in numerous cliques, while a clear majority of Himba are
only engaged in few cliques. These figures underline the impression that the
Himba network is fragmented while the Pokot network is constituted by actors
closely connected to each other.
Positional Analysis
A positional analy sis (ucinet/ concor) sorts actors together who have a
similar pattern of relations to their surrounding, taking into account all the
existing and non-existing relations of one actor. Structural holes and zones
of condensation within the network are identified. In both networks a three-
block model fits the data best (Pokot, r = .2 08 , Himba r = .2 27 ) (for a discus-
sion of positional analy sis see Schweizer 1 996:1 95 ff ).
Figures 3 a and 3 b show the positional analysis of the Pokot and the Himba
netw ork. Both networks are divided into 8 fairly homogeneous subgroups,
i.e. actors with a similar positional profile. The matrices show to what extent
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

The black
columns
are Himba,
the white
ones are
Pokot.
actors
30 to 40 20 to 29 10 to 19 0 to 9 membership in n-cliques
Fig. 2. Relational Analysis: Membership in cliques
these subgroups interact with each other: shaded and numbered fields indi-
cate interaction (or zones of condensation), w hite fields marked with a zero
show the absence of interaction (or structural holes). The Pokot network shows
no clear zones of condensation contrasting to structural holes. Two major
blocks transpire: on the one hand groups 1 , 2, 3 , and 4 and on the other hand
groups 5 , 6, 7 and 8 . The emergence of these distinctive blocks, however, is
levelled out by a number of cross-cutting links: group 1 relates to groups 5
and 7 , 4 to 7 and 6 and 8 to 3 and 6 and 7 to 4. No marginal groups and no
dominant groups are clearly discernible (see Fig. 3 a).
Fig. 3a. Simplified block model based on CONCOR analysis: Pokot Network. Note: 0.359, the overall den-
sity value for the Pokot network, is used as a cut value; all fields that scored above this value are shaded.
The image is quite different for the Himba network (Fig. 3 b), here a group of
structurally equivalent actors (5 ,6, 7 and 8 ) is juxtaposed to a set of structur-
ally dissimilar actors. The fragmentation of the Himba network as well as the
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

354 michael b ollig
cohesiveness and homogeneity of the Pokot netw ork which were found in
other forms of analysis are corroborated.
Fig. 3b. Simplified block model based on CONCOR analysis: Himba network. Note: 0.153, the overall
density, value is used as a cut value, all fields that scored above this value are shaded.
QAP — A Systematic Comparison between Hypothesised and Factual

Networks
The correlation between different networks can be tested sy stematically
with the qap module of ucinet. If w e assume that kinship and/ or age groups
determine exchange, then the correlation between hypothetical networks
generated under the assumption that close kin and/ or age mates are tied by
livestock exchange should correlate highly with the actually observed net-
work (for further notes on the method see Bollig 1 998 a). Formally the hypo-
theses can be put as follows:
(1 ) patrilineal kins hip structures exchang e. Close patrilineal rela-
tives are preferred partners for livestock exchange relations. The hypothesis
assumes that patrilineal kinship is a precondition for exchange.
(2) kins hip structures exc hang e. Patrilineal or affinal relatives are pre-
ferred exchange partners. The hypothesis assumes that consanguinal and affi-
nal kinship is a precondition for exchange.
(3) common members hip in a g eneration s et structures exchang e.
Members of one generation set prefer to exchange livestock with one another. The
hypothesis assumes a close relation between generation set ideology and exchange.
(4) commo n members hip in an ag e s et structures exchang e. Mem-
bers of one age set prefer to exchange livestock with one another. The hypo-
thesis assumes a close relation between age set ideology and exchange.
(5 ) prior exchang e relations structure exchange. Somebody will ex-
change with another herder if he has established prior exchange relations to
him. Exchange reproduces partnership.
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Hypotheses Observed r Statistical significance
1 101 .000*
2 .078 .010
3 .078 .010
3 .000 .065
4 .000 .068
5 .145 .000* * statistical significance high
Table 3 shows the correlation between hypothetically predicted and empirically observed networks.
The qap test show s that neither kinship nor age grade explain exchange be-
haviour among Pokot herders. The correlation coefficients for hypotheses 2 ,

3 and 4 are fairly low. They are somew hat better for hypothesis 1 , indicating
that close patrilineal kin do engage in exchange regularly. However, a closer
look at the data shows that it is only very close patrilineal kin— usually brothers
and/ or fathers and sons — who are included and that the descent group at
large is not of importance in this respect. This livestock transfer usually con-
sists of animals resulting from bridewealth distributions to very close patri-
lineal kin. The correlation is highest for hypothesis 5 . Here the observed ex-
change network was not correlated with a hypothetical netw ork but with a
netw ork of exchanges observed during the drought of 1 991 / 92 . The hypo-
thesis points out that prior exchanges are indeed a good predictor for any
future exchanges. Livestock transactions create a moral bond between ex-
change partners which facilitates further exchanges. This holds true for patri-
lineal relatives as much as for affinal relatives to whom herders may turn for
help once bridewealth obligations have been resolved. For hypotheses 1 and
5 the figures on the statistical significance of correlation coefficients under-
line the validity of the guiding hypotheses (Bollig 1 998a, 1 999). Spreading
exchange partners randomly apparently has positive effects for individual risk
management in an environment ravaged by droughts, livestock epidemics
and raiders. Local informants frequently emphasised that they were indeed
keen to obtain as many exchange partners as possible from geographically
and socially different subgroups of the society.
The Discrepancy between Ethnographic Data and Structural Analysis

The formal analy sis of the Pokot network elucidated a dimension of Pokot
social organisation which was not highlighted in public representations. The
allegedly corporate groups attained in ethnographic interviews were not ab-
stractions from exchange. The lack of clusters in Pokot exchange netw orks
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

356 michael b ollig
and a high level of density suggest that neither descent nor age play a promi-
nent role for economic exchange between actors. Herders do not rely on corporate
groups for exchange but follow individual strategies when constructing their
netw orks. Still, the Pokot perceive themselves as a group organised along
principles of descent and age. Apparently these categories are not social structures
in the sense that they are abstractions of actually observed behaviour. While
emic categories are pristine and with little internal contradictions, formal struc-
tures derived from actually observed exchange networks show a high degree
of connectedness, low centrality values of individual actors and a lack of clust-
ers. However, Pokot presentations of their social sy stem were, of course, not
mere fantasies. They w ere highly relevant in other spheres of social life. Fol-
lowing Bloch, I argue that ‘Social structure, far from being society, turns out
to be a sy stem of classification of human beings linked to other ritual cogni-
tive systems.’ (Bloch 1 97 7:286). Lévi-Strauss (1 95 3:5 25 ) had propagated a similar
vision of social structure claiming that the term ‘social structure’ has nothing
to do with empirical reality but with models which are built up after it. In the
same vein Almagor and Baxter (1 97 8 ) had pointed out that age sy stems are
ritual and cognitive rather than socially or economically founded.4
In the following paragraph I trace w hat kind of structures Pokot are refer-
ring to when speaking vividly about descent and age grading. In contrast to
Lévi-Strauss, however, I argue that these structures have a lot to do with an
empirical reality and a political ideology. They structure social interactions
in the ritual sphere and are essential in promulgating the strength and purity
of Pokot society.
Structures of Social Interaction in Ritual

In Pokot society communal rituals are large gatherings sometimes of sev-
eral hundred people. There are rituals of initiation and rituals of the age sets
and generation sets and ceremonies which are conducted to purify a com-
munity and to pray for rain. In these rituals men of the wider neighbour-
hood, sometimes from the entire Pokot area (irrespective of lineage mem-
bership and age set affiliation) gather and evoke their Pokotness in dances
and songs. While on the one hand Pokot identity is cherished, on the other
hand social order is enacted dramatically. Symbolical cooperation, solidarity
and respect are play ed out, almost staged. Symbolic representations of social
categories are condensed visions of a moral order.
des c ent in r itual co ntext. Lineages operate as corporate groups in
rituals of compensation (lapai ) and in the initiation of young men (sapana).
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

When a case of murder or manslaughter occurs, direct revenge is out of the

question. Instead, the lineage of the murdered man enters into a highly rule-
governed and ritualised process of compensation. Some day s after the death
of their relative, the lineage meets (kokwö lapai ). Central persons of the meeting
are the classificatory fathers and brothers of the deceased. When talking at
such rituals, informants speak about the gathering of lineage x or y. They are
the ‘ow ners of the lapai ’. At the gathering some speakers talk themselves into
a frenzy and most of their argument is clad in the terms of descent groups: ‘A
Kachepkow man has killed a Kamadewa man. Why are the Kachepkow kill-
ing our brothers?’
Descent is an important category for the organisation of other rituals as
well. Clans and lineages have common sy mbols (for example, an animal or a
natural phenomenon), there are common songs and specific markers (ear-
cuttings for goats, sheep and cattle, way s of decorative cauterisation). The
symbols of the clan sy stem structure ritual activity. People of the Firestick
Clan (Koimö) must light any fire to be lit on a ritual occasion; people of the
Buffalo Clan (Siwotoy) are the only ones who are allowed to play the lyre on
such occasions, people of the Kiptinkö clan are necessary to conduct rituals
at the tribal borders to ensure protection from raiders. There are numerous
symbolic equations between clan symbol and ritual activity. Clan-specific ritual
specialisation suggests a society in which corporate entities are organically
working together. A society which is not differentiated economically appears
to be integrated and differentiated in the ritual sphere.
ag e s ets as an ideo lo g ic al fo r matio n. As descent becomes most
clearly visible in ceremonies, so age grading is best seen in rituals of initiation
and promotion. Conflicts between sets are ferociously enacted, and it is not
rare that different sets beat each other w ith sticks. Cooperation and solidar-
ity are staged dramatically when people act as members of corporate groups
and not as individuals. Men talking in the sacred semicircle (kirket ) do not
talk on their own account, but do so as representatives of generation sets and
age sets. They will talk proudly of ‘we, the Koronkoro’ and ‘we, the Kaplelach’
and in the same tone will criticise ‘the Koronkoro, who have spoilt the land’
and ‘the Kaplelach, who are disobedient’. In ritual age sets present themselves
as corporate groups dominating the ceremonial process. Their corporateness
is underlined by the strict seating orders in the sacred semicircle, where members
of one set sit close to each other and are juxtaposed to members of other sets.
As members of specific sets, not as individuals, they occupy ceremonial ground.
Songs and dances underline unity and cooperation within a set. When men
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

358 michael b ollig
of one age set dance the war-dance (anyakar) , and stampede in a closely tied
phalanx across the ceremonial ground, the corporateness of an age group is
visualised and attains an almost physical reality.
At the climax of these celebrations, all men sit in a semicircle (kirket) opening
to the w est, i.e. facing the sacred Mt. Mtelo. The oldest men sit at the apex of
the semicircle, seniors surround them and juniors sit at the two flanks of the
semicircle (Bollig 1 990c). People sit neatly arranged according to their age
set, generation set and alternation (see Fig. 4). The kirket is the most power-
ful device in staging the gerontocratic sy stem and visualising what the Pokot
see as their social structure. Communal rituals sy mbolically reconfirm soli-
darity , comradeship, respect, discipline and internal peace — key values of
the Pokot belief sy stem. Age sets compete for prestigious sy mbols. Junior age
sets fight for certain feathers and colours and senior age sets ask elders for
the grant of ritual powers sy mbolised in adornment. Each set undergoes a
prescribed set of rituals in order to climb up the gerontocratic hierarchy. By
contrast with other Nilotic and Cushitic groups (Jacobs 1 968; Berntsen 1 97 9;
Baxter 1 97 8 ), there is no hierarchy within an age-based set, i.e. there is no
formal spokesperson or a dominating council; all members of one set are re-
garded as equal and are obliged to care for one another.
Ngetei Ngimur
CHUMWÖ
Ditimong Ngidawai Ditimong
Ngipuröt Ngipuröt
KORONKORO KORONKORO
Chumalenya Chumalenya
Mamuk Mamuk
KAPLELACH KAPLELACH
Ngelomum Ngelomum
members of younger apeyit

Kaplelach age sets members of younger
East Kaplelach age sets
<
fire
<
West
Fig. 4. The Pokot Sacred Semicircle of Men (kirket). Note: Kaplelach, Koronkoro and Chumwö are
generation sets; Ngidawai, Ditimong, etc. are age sets.
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Conclusion: Social Structure Embedded in History

The data presented above hint at two quite different dimensions of social
organisation. On the one hand a shared and public ideology of social organi-
sation portray s the society as highly structured and rule-governed. The orga-
nisation of descent spells out the rules for a complex marriage system and for
intra-societal conflict management in case of homicide. Age sets and genera-
tion sets control competition between males and channel decision-making
to some degree, delegating ritual powers to elders and instituting them as
key play ers in law cases. On the other hand, ego-centred networks charac-
terise economic exchange. The formal structure of these networks is charac-
terised by a lack of clusters, high degrees of density and a lack of centrality
indicating cohesiveness, the absence of closed exchange circuits and the lack
of dominance of individuals. Comparative research among the pastoral Himba
indicates that these two dimensions of social organisation are not necessarily as
far apart from each other as they are among the Pokot. Ethnographic de-
scriptions of Bedouins (Lancaster and Lancaster 1 990) and Arabic-speaking
nomads of the Sudan (Casciarri 1 996) point to a closer relation between eco-
nomic exchange carried out by individuals and shared sy mbolic representa-
tions of social structures. What contributes then to the obvious cleavage be-
tween Pokot theories on their social sy stem and social structures abstracted
from observed exchange networks? In order to answer this question it is neces-
sary to contextualise the data historically.
The pastoralisation of parts of Pokot speakers took place in the first half of
the 1 9th century (for a broader treatment of this historical process see Bollig
1 990b and 1 999). Erstw hile agro-pastoralists who had been sedentary along
the ridges of the northwestern Kenyan highlands (Cherenganis, Elgon, Sekerr)
adopted mobile pastoralism rapidly (Bollig 1 990b). Comparative evidence
on neighbouring pastoral societies like the Turkana (Lamphear 1 994) simi-
larly shows a rapid pastoral specialisation of a diversified economy. Oral tra-
ditions leave little doubt that the social organisation of agro-pastoral farmers
was clan-based. Descent groups were land-owning groups and essential in
organising the defence of common property and in feuding in case of homi-
cide. Accounts of the Hill Pokot (Peristiany 1 95 4) and the neighbouring Mara-
kwet (Kipkorir and Welbourn 1 97 3 ) point in the same direction. In the case
of the Marakwet another important factor is natural resource management
at the lineage level: lineages organise a highly complex indigenous irrigation
system which waters the floor of the Kerio valley (Adams et al. 1 997 ; Östberg
1 999). With pastoralisation and increased mobility clans as land-holding groups
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

became dysfunctional. Territory became defined along tribal lines. Economic

change and social evolution went hand in hand. Social institutions became de-
tached from kinship. Age sets offered a comprehensive and encompassing
system to unite various descent groups in the absence of an overarching political
authority. Substantial exchanges between friends w ere embedded in an ide-
ology of friendship (kongityö ). Respect (tekotön) and solidarity (tilyontön) –
bey ond the kinship group — became key elements of a highly specialised pas-
toral society. Edgerton (1 97 1 ) in a socio-psychological comparison of agri-
cultural Hill Pokot and pastoral Pokot draws upon these aspects at length
and emphasises the overw helming importance of a strict social code for the
herders in comparison with the Hill Pokot.
Pokot traditions emphatically point out that the earliest specialised herd-
ers among them introduced the age set sy stem, borrowing heavily from the
neighbouring Karimojong. With the demise of clan control over the means
of production, its significance as the central organising principle of society
decreased. In order to compete successfully for large herds of cattle, military
strategies had to be altered altogether. Large-scale raids in which hundreds
of warriors were engaged became the most successful strategy to ‘harvest’
other peoples’ livestock. A highly cohesive society emerged in the 1 9th cen-
tury. Galaty (1 993 ), Waller (1 988 ) and Lamphear (1 993 , 1 994) report similar
processes among the Maasai and Turkana at about the same time, i.e. in the
first half of the 1 9th century. The ‘new East African pastoralism’ is constituted
by the emergence of highly specialised, mobile livestock breeders establish-
ing new forms of social organisation. Lamphear relates the emergence of
specialised pastoralism to the wholesale adoption of Zebu cattle for earlier
breeds of cattle and speaks of a bovine revolution (Lamphear 1 994:92). However,
a closer look at the evolution of pastoral societies reveals that the develop-
ment of widespread exchange networks was the main factor in this process
of pastoral intensification. By the means of exchange ever more people were
drawn into the pastoral sector and netted into one social fabric. Pastoralisation
of the Pokot went along with an intense increase in productivity. Herds grew
naturally and through raiding, and livestock was continously redistributed
through bridewealth and stock loans. The immense growth of productivity
was closely related to the emergence of a fully fledged livestock-exchange
system facilitating the distribution of the major means of production: cattle
and smallstock. Several institutions which were aimed at diffusing wealth
developed rapidly in scope. Bridewealth pay ments increased from just one
or two cattle to ten or twenty cattle and more. A successful, prestige-seeking
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

herder had to give out presents and loans of livestock frequently. Stepping
up bridewealth requirements and moral obligations to marry ever more women
guaranteed redistribution and prevented the transgenerational accumulation
of w ealth. Polygy nous households had greater numbers of children. Hence
the division of wealth due to inheritance claims contributed to the continu-
ous redistribution of livestock property. Surplus livestock w as put to use to
accumulate social and sy mbolic capital. These new resources brought about
a whole set of new options for surplus production and social exchange. Live-
stock was transferred into social relations that were neither dominated by cor-
porate forms of descent group ownership nor by age group formation.
Conditions for the growth of pastoral economies changed in the course of
the 2 0th century. The imposition of the colonial state and the emergence of
commoditised markets altered prospects for social development. Population
growth without the chance to increase livestock production through inten-
sification of livestock husbandry and/ or territorial expansion, degradation
of pastures (Bollig and Schulte 1 999), widespread interethnic violence (Bollig
1 992, 1 995 ) and frequent livestock epidemics led to the demise of Pokot live-
stock husbandry in the second half of this century. The Pokot population
became progressively impoverished throughout the century. The vulnerability
of pastoral households was grossly increased by the growth of the human
population from 6,000 earlier this century to 45 ,000 today (see Bollig and
Lang 1 999). Today the Baringo Plains carry only half the livestock popula-
tion of earlier this century. While in the past there were about 1 4 cattle per
person, today there are only one to two cattle per person. The Pokot reacted
to these problems by enforcing internal solidary exchange, i.e. by emphasis-
ing redistribution along ego-centred netw orks, creating increasingly egali-
tarian conditions.
Lindenberg (1 998), in a recently developed theory on how to strengthen
solidarity groups, states that ritual is of particular importance in consolidat-
ing internal cohesion and group boundaries. Pokot see intra-societal conflicts
and disorder as the prime cause of hazards like droughts, degradation and
epidemics. Friction and non-solidary behaviour do not only endanger the
people directly concerned but the entire group. Ritual offers itself to project
a more harmonious social universe. An ordered social world is enacted em-
phatically in ritual. Society is represented as an ordered and structured w hole
in which well-defined sub-groups (in this case descent groups and age groups)
have intense and cooperative relations with each other. This emic theory of
social organisation is enacted in communal rituals. This is also the public
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

and shared theory, which of course is offered to outsiders first. The immense
stress and chaos Pokot underwent in recent years fostered the need for an
emphasis on a highly structured, non-chaotic social world. However, ethno-
graphic presentations of Pokot social organisation would remain grossly in-
complete if only these highly structured visions w ere highlighted. By con-
trast, this paper has documented w hat actually goes on as herders interact
with each other and exchange economic assets. The netw orks of exchange
studied reveal social strategies of herders searching to minimise the risks of
a highly unpredictable environment.
Acknowledgment
Research for this study was conducted under several grants from the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft between 1 987 and 1 996 and was made possible by a
research permit by the Government of Keny a and an affiliation to the Institute
of African Studies of the University of Nairobi. The history, econo my and social
organisation of pastoral societies is a focus in the interdisciplinary research project
‘Arid Climate, Adaption and Cultural Innovation in Africa’ (acacia) of the Univer-
sity of Cologne, and ideas formulated here have been ‘bred’ in many discussions
with staff members of the project. The paper was first read at a workshop on ‘Re-
assessing Ritual, Power, and the Structuring of Relationships’ during the easa
conference at Frankfurt, September 1 998 (convenours M. Houseman and Th.
Schweizer). My colleagues Hartmut Lang and Michael Schnegg of the Institute
for Social and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Cologne and Polly
Wiessner of the University of Utah added important perspectives to the last ver-
sion of the paper. The comments of five anonymous reviewers contributed signific-
antly to the reconsideration of major parts of the argument. However, the con-
tribution owes most to my late teacher Thomas Schweizer, who introduced me
to network analy sis and the intricate questions related to the manifold relations
between agency and social structure.
Notes
1 . Next to Ngusur and Soliongot, there are the following clans which are shortly
given with their respective clan symbol: Kinoo (monitor lizard), Sopan (elephant),
Sotot (sun), Talai (monkey and a second Talai section with the crow as clan
symbol), Rii (rock rabbit), Sigh (bee), Söchon (lion), Logene (frog and a second
section of Logene with the camel as clan symbol), Koimö (fire and firesticks al-
ternatively and a second section of Koimö with the jackal as clan symbol), Kip-
tinkö (snake), Tinkö (hyena), Siwotoy (buffalo), Kipkumir (buffalo), Silokot (hawk),
Oro (camel) and Kopil (ant). Within clans one frequently finds adopted lineages,
as in the example given in Fig. 1 where the Kaponot lineage is adopted within
the Ngusur clan. Oral traditions of these lineages point out that they had their
origin in other ethnic groups and that one of their ancestors became a member
of a Pokot clan by a complex ritual involving the washing of the adopted person
with milk from cows from the herd of the adopting lineage. Adopted and adopting
lineage tend to maintain very strong relations. There were several lineages which
ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

according to informants did not belong to any clan. Most of those were immi-
grant groups from Turkana, Karimojong and Tugen.
2 . For the pastoral Pokot these are the Kaplelach, the Koronkoro, the Chumwö,
the Maina, the Nyongi and the Merkutwö. Other Kalenjiin groups (such as the
neighbouring Tugen and Marakwet) know of tw o additional generation sets:
the Sowö and the Kipkoimet (Kipkorir and Welbourn 1 97 3 :9). In a personal
communication Wilhelm Östberg, who did extensive research amongst the Marakwet,
pointed out that names of sets have been changed among the Marakwet when a
foregoing set met with bad fate. An example is the current Kaberur age set,
whose predecessors (Kipkoimet) had had bad times and therefore their name
was discontinued (see also Kipkorir and Welbourn 1 97 3 :9).
3 . For the network of pastoral Himba I computed a density of 0.1 5 3 . Comparative
data on densities in exchange networks are listed in Schweizer 1 996:1 7 9.
4. I would like to thank one of the reviewers for this hint to Almagor and Baxter in
this respect.
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Staging Social Structures: Ritual and Social

keywords Pokot, network analysis, social change, ritual, pastoralists

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Pokot Social Structures:

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

clan (lilö) clan (lilö)

lineages (ortin) lineages (ortin)

Fig.1: The structure of the Pokot lineage system

Clan organisation is essential for the arrangement of marriages. There are

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

vantaged, as unmarried daughters of Chumwö (the most senior generation)

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Materials and Methods

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

application of formal network analy sis to ethnographic cases see Schweizer

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

tent a network is dominated by individuals. The value for degree-centralisa-

Density 0.359 0.153

Table 1. Structural Characteristics of both Pokot and Himba Networks Compared

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Structural Properties of Single Actors:

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Pokot Himba Pokot Himba Pokot Himba

Mean 19.68 38.52 23.78 39.07 66.78 56.69

Table 2. Degree, Betweenness, Closeness Centrality in Pokot and Himba Networks

Relational Analysis: Cliques, Clusters and Factions

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Fig. 2. Relational Analysis: Membership in cliques

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

QAP — A Systematic Comparison between Hypothesised and Factual

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Hypotheses Observed r Statistical significance

haviour among Pokot herders. The correlation coefficients for hypotheses 2 ,

The Discrepancy between Ethnographic Data and Structural Analysis

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Structures of Social Interaction in Ritual

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

When a case of murder or manslaughter occurs, direct revenge is out of the

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Ditimong Ngidawai Ditimong

members of younger apeyit

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Conclusion: Social Structure Embedded in History

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

became dysfunctional. Territory became defined along tribal lines. Economic

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

—. 1 998a. Moral Economy and Self-Interest: Kinship, Friendship, and Exchange

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

Rw ala Bedu. In The World of Pastoralism: Herding Systems in Comparative Perspective,

ethnos , vol. 65 :3 , 2 000 (p p. 3 41 –3 65 )

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