The Maasai Tribe Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Maasai Tribe - Research Paper ExampleWhile in European culture, a house is spacious and is furnished with a whole range of furniture including seawall units, tables, sofa sets, entertainment systems and modern utensils, the Maasai hut is small and scantily furnished (Spearand Waller, 1993). Lemalians hut has physical skins and hides that serve as the sitting mats. Furniture do not matter much to the Maasai, all they manage about is their livestock. The Maasai believe that Ngai handed over the livestock to the Maasai ancestors. Wealth is measured based on the size of the herds of cattle that an individual owns in the Maasai culture. The Maasai believe that it is okay to invade and take away cattle from their neighbors (Spearand Waller, 1993), something that is unsufferable in European culture. This is because they believe that cattle are given to them by their god. Measurement of wealth in European culture quite much differs from the Maasais perception. Europeans measure weal th in terms of specie and a wide range of assets. In stead of stealing from other communities, Europeans believe in backbreaking work and entrepreneurship. Carola, a Swiss charr no wonder values her car and tries to create more than wealth by establishing shop in the village. Female Circumcision There is a great contrast among the Maasai and Swedish culture in respect of the fact that the latter do not practice womanish circumcision even as the former embraces it without question. Women are forced, against their wishes, to undergo circumcision as is presented in Rohrbachs (2005) The White Maasai. The outmoded cultural practice greatly frustrates Carola who hates to be involved in it. Every woman in the Maasai alliance is expected to undergo circumcision. The ritual is conducted as an initiation to adulthood, the uncircumcised being considered children irrespective of their age and unfit for matrimony (Spearand Waller, 1993). The practice is done using crude tools and is most painful an experience. Carola being a Swiss woman and already married without being circumcised is viewed as weak and unfit for praise in the community in spite of her hard work. Appreciating the womens suffering during circumcision, she tries to make the community understand that subjecting women to such suffering is only unwarranted. Her please land on deaf years, as circumcision roots back to prehistoric times tally to the communities elders. Womens and manpowers Duties Women and girls in Maasai community have a number of duties. Some of the duties include constructing the manyattas and huts, milking, fetching water and firewood, and harvesting calabashes and gourds according to (Spearand Waller, 1993). They also clean the gourds and decorate them using beads and leather. Men on the other hand have the main responsibility of herding livestock. Men are nurtured by women and greatly revered (Spencer, 2003). The girls and women are expected to remain submissive to their male co unterparts and in fact have no say in the communitys activities. Women are expected to serve their husbands and other males even when it hurts in the Maasai community (Spencer, 2003). In fact, men are preferred to women in the Maasai community, not like in the Swedish culture where boys and girls are equally appreciated. This can be seen when Carola is forced to employ the chiefs inactive nephew in her shop. The uneducated boy has to be