The Role of Samburu Body Adornment in Challenging Gender Identities in the Era of Cultural Globalisation

Abstract

Samburu body adornment identifies a woman’s beauty, husband and social rank in the community through colour, pattern and mass. In the last sixty years, as a result of Kenya’s entrance into the global economy, Samburu women have turned the indigenous body adornment into commodities creating products for western tourists. The ability of Samburu women to create employment has articulated their empowerment and in turn challenged the patriarchal gerontocracy norms dominant in Samburu culture. The study was informed by cultural theory. Culture includes knowledge, believes, art, law, morals, customs and other skills acquired by man as a member of society. Cultural history focuses on the changes and practices in human agency. Culture is transmitted across generations through the memory which is a faculty of the individual mind. Data was collected by use of oral interviews, archival search, non-participant observation as well as thorough.