FROM RAIDERS TO RUSTLERS: THE FILIAL DISAFFECTION OF A TURKANA AGE-SET

Abstract

Livestock raiding among East African nomadic herders has lately become increasingly violent in some areas, while significantly declining in others. Scholars attribute this change to a combination of causes including colonial encounter, environmental change, political disenfranchisement, penetration of capital markets, and introduction of firearms. This article discusses how these factors altered the age and generational organization of the Turkana giving rise to a permanent group of raiders known as Ngoroko, who are responsible for much of the intra-ethnic violence in the Turkana District today. Like the Suri and the Nyangatom, the Turkana suffer a similar crisis in the traditional authority system that had managed conflict. We broaden the argument to consider changes in the affective structure of Turkana society, especially filial sentiments between generations, due to a collapse in the generational system, and make a general case to consider affect in cultural analyses.