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Traditional Kalenjin society
Traditional Kalenjin society is the way of life that existed among the Kalenjin-speaking people prior to the advent of the colonial period in Kenya and after the decline of the Chemwal, Lumbwa and other Kalenjin communities in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The Kalenjin semi-nomadic pastoralist tradition centered on the raising of cattle, sheep and goats and cultivating sorghum and pearl millet is of long standing. It has been dated back as far as the last millennium BC when Kalenjin-speaking communities first arrived in Kenya.
The Kalenjin traditionally occupied, and still form the ethnic majority in, parts of geographical Western Kenya and the Rift Valley. The Kipsigis live in areas centered around Bomet, Kericho, the Nandi around Kapsabet, the Keiyo and Markweta in Kerio Valley and Cherangany Hills. The Tugen inhabit North and South Baringo, the Sabaot and Sebeei areas around Mount Elgon and the Pokot the northern side of Mount Elgon and areas north of Lake Baringo.
Kalenjin territory as a whole was not recognised as a geographic locality; however, the various Kalenjin sub-tribes had a similar set of classifications of geographic localities within their respective tribal lands.
Em or emet, equivalent to county, was the highest recognised geographic division among the Kalenjin sections. This unit was identifiable as a political institution but the main work of civil control and administration was done by the kokwotinwek (plural of kokwet). Linguistic evidence indicates that this form of societal organisation dates back to their Southern Nilotic heritage. It is believed that the Southern Nilotes of two thousand years ago cooperated in loose supra-clan groupings, called *e:m.
This level of governance was unique to the Nandi section of the Kalenjin. The civil council of the bororiet consisted of elders from the senior-age grades of its constituent kokwotinwek. It functioned only to settle problems of common concern to the kokwotinwek, such as inter-kokwet disputes and matters which a kokwet had failed to settle satisfactorily.
The kokwet was the most significant political and judicial unit among the Kalenjin. The governing body of each kokwet was its kokwet council; the word kokwet was in fact variously used to mean the whole neighbourhood, its council and the place where the council met.
The kokwet elders were the local authority for allocating land for cultivation; they were the body to whom the ordinary member of the tribe would look for a decision in a dispute or problem which defied solution by direct agreement between the parties.
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Traditional Kalenjin society
Traditional Kalenjin society is the way of life that existed among the Kalenjin-speaking people prior to the advent of the colonial period in Kenya and after the decline of the Chemwal, Lumbwa and other Kalenjin communities in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The Kalenjin semi-nomadic pastoralist tradition centered on the raising of cattle, sheep and goats and cultivating sorghum and pearl millet is of long standing. It has been dated back as far as the last millennium BC when Kalenjin-speaking communities first arrived in Kenya.
The Kalenjin traditionally occupied, and still form the ethnic majority in, parts of geographical Western Kenya and the Rift Valley. The Kipsigis live in areas centered around Bomet, Kericho, the Nandi around Kapsabet, the Keiyo and Markweta in Kerio Valley and Cherangany Hills. The Tugen inhabit North and South Baringo, the Sabaot and Sebeei areas around Mount Elgon and the Pokot the northern side of Mount Elgon and areas north of Lake Baringo.
Kalenjin territory as a whole was not recognised as a geographic locality; however, the various Kalenjin sub-tribes had a similar set of classifications of geographic localities within their respective tribal lands.
Em or emet, equivalent to county, was the highest recognised geographic division among the Kalenjin sections. This unit was identifiable as a political institution but the main work of civil control and administration was done by the kokwotinwek (plural of kokwet). Linguistic evidence indicates that this form of societal organisation dates back to their Southern Nilotic heritage. It is believed that the Southern Nilotes of two thousand years ago cooperated in loose supra-clan groupings, called *e:m.
This level of governance was unique to the Nandi section of the Kalenjin. The civil council of the bororiet consisted of elders from the senior-age grades of its constituent kokwotinwek. It functioned only to settle problems of common concern to the kokwotinwek, such as inter-kokwet disputes and matters which a kokwet had failed to settle satisfactorily.
The kokwet was the most significant political and judicial unit among the Kalenjin. The governing body of each kokwet was its kokwet council; the word kokwet was in fact variously used to mean the whole neighbourhood, its council and the place where the council met.
The kokwet elders were the local authority for allocating land for cultivation; they were the body to whom the ordinary member of the tribe would look for a decision in a dispute or problem which defied solution by direct agreement between the parties.