<Age, generation et temps> chez les Meru tigania-igembe du Kenya

Abstract

AbstractOur understanding of the sociahorganisation of the Meru Tigania-Igembe (Kenya) now makes it possible to propose a new approach to those East African societies which have age and generation classes. The way these classes are defined and the various rules by which they are set up and recruit members reveal the interconnections between the system of classes and other aspects of Meru society. Most illuminating is the way an individual's actual progress through the stages of life does or does not match his or her progress through the age classes, with their ramifications into descent and marriage as well as into territorial organisation. It is now possible, we believe, to construct a sociology of age and generation class societies, building a model that can be used comparatively. With the data from Meru, we can now include Bantu societies alongside the well known Cushitic and Nilotic examples, and thereby elucidate both the social variables involved and the underlying structures.