Bollig, Pastoral Pokot

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groups and age grades were interpreted as major structural features of ruralAfrican societies. Nadel (1957) depicted the process of arriving at social structures:We arrive at the structure of a soc iety through abstrac ting from the concretepopulation and its behaviour the pattern of network ... of relationships ob-

taining between actors in their capacity of playing roles relative to one an-other. (Nadel 1 9 5 7 quoted in Schweizer 1992: 19). Here social anthropolo-gists had found a handy formula desc ribing what to do in order to find socialstructure: interview or observe a concrete population and its behaviour, thenabstract from it and find the hidden structures! Soc ial structures w ere consti-tuted by institutions fixing individual behaviour through sets of interrelatedrules, thereby guaranteeing order and social cohesion (for a critique see Schwei-

zer 1996:31 f ). It was taken for granted that unilineal descent and age gradingdetermined social interaction to a large extent. Individual behaviour and socialexchange were by and large embedded into these pristine structures.

This paper tries to contextualise the structuralist approach to soc ial sys-tems. Based on a case study o f the pastoral Pokot of Kenya I wish to showthat an analysis of economic exchange as formulated by formal network analysis(Schweizer 1996; Wellman and Berkowitz1997) provides structures differentfrom emic visions of corporate social entities. Cohesiveness, non-centralisa-tion and the absence of clearly discernible subgroups or c lusters are structuresthat are directly derived from the data. Among the Pokot descent groups andage groups act as corporate social entities in very special, culturally definedarenas such as r itual, marriage arrangements and internal conflict resolution.They do not have any sizeable impact on individual exchange behav iour. Inritual, however, Pokot dramatically stage theirvisions oftheirsociety andcommunicate their imagination of a strong and highly structured soc iety.

Before focusing the discussion on soc ial organisation and ritual, I provide acondensed ethnography of the Pokot (for further information see Schneider1953 ; Bollig 1 992, 1 993 , 1 998a, 1 999). The pastoral Pokot, about 40,000 peoplein the early1990s, living in the savannas of northwestern Kenya, make use ofa semi-arid habitat by means of herds of camels, cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys.The Pokot try to insure themselves against various hazards such as droughts,epidemics, and raiding through herd diversification, dispersal of the house-

hold herd, flexible labour allocation, spatial mobility and w idespread exchangenetworks (Bollig 1 994, 1 998a; for a very similar set of risk-minimising strate-gies amongst the neighbouring and better studied Turkana see Johnson 1999).While pasture and waterholes are communally owned, livestock is privateproperty. Compared to other East African herder societies (see McCabe 1999

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on the Turkana, Ensminger 1992 on the Orma; Coppock1993 on the Borana;Little 1992 on the Njemps; and Spencer 1998 on comparative data on EastAfrican pastoral sy stems) differences in the size o f livestock herds are rathersmall. Droughts, raids and livestock epidemics render wealth hierarchies un-

stable (Bollig 1990a, 1 995 , 1 999). Economic alternatives such as trade, handi-crafts and w age labour are of little importance. Informal neighbourhood coun-cils coordinate the communal use of pastures and wells (Conant 1965 ; Bollig1999). There is no pastoral elite dominating the group economically or poli-tically. An egalitarian ideology permeates the discourse of age sets, descentgroups and internal conflict regulation.

Pokot Social Structures:Local Presentations of Lineages and Age Sets

The literature on the social organisation of herder communities in EastAfrica exposes the complex structures of age groups and descent groups ofthe Borana (Baxter 1978 ), the Maasai (Jacobs 1968), the Samburu (Spencer1 965, 1 973 ) and the Turkana (Gulliver 1 9 5 5 ). Peristiany s work on the age setsystem of the pasto ral Pokot (Peristiany19 5 1 ) and on Pokot descent groups(Peristiany1 9 5 4) offered valuable insights on Pokot society from a structur-alist perspective. Harold Schneiders ethnography o f pastoral and agro-pas-toral Pokot (Schneider 19 5 3 ) pointed out the importance of livestock exchangenetworks for the understanding of the pastoral economy.

In order to comprehend Pokot soc ial organisation I started my first field-work in 1987 by talking to male key informants, usually senior members ofthe community, who had been pointed out to me as being knowledgable onthe culture of the Pokot (top nyo p Pokot). They elaborated on the numerous

patrilineal descent groups and their various connections and gave details ofthe complicated age-cum-generation set system. It was a presentation by maleson spheres of soc ial organisation constituted foremost by men. The womenI asked on aspects of their society, how ever, gave similar accounts, if not inso much detail. Their sphere of day-to-day interaction, the neighbourhood,is not touched upon in the follow ing presentation.

Informants offered a surprisingly structured and uncontroversial image of

Pokot social organisation, a shared vision of the Pokot social system. Accordingto them the social structure of the pastoral Pokot was based on patrilinealdescent groups and age groups. Both types of corporate groups could be mappednicely : there were about twenty c lans (lil) which in turn consisted of sev-eral lineages (or, ortin) each. The genealogical depth of these descent groups



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Terik

(a unit of two clans, there is no Pokot termdenoting this level with an abstract term)

clan (lil) clan (lil)NGUSUR SOLIONGOT

symbol: rain symbol: thunder

lineages (ortin) lineages (ortin)

Kachepkai Kachepuny

Kaponot (adopted) Kaparwas

Kamechin Katoye

Katetirwa KamkanKasitim Ksonch

Karapiny Kamarmar

Kachepawan

Kakitiny

Kaporet

Kamwtyony

Fig.1: The structure of the Pokot lineage system

Clan organisation is essential for the arrangement of marriages. There arenumerous rules which guide a prospective groom when seeking a bride. Inanother publication (Bollig 1998a) I reported on the complex regulationscontrolling marriages. A man must not marry from his previous wives clan,his mothers c lan, his fathers wives c lans and his fathers mothers c lan. Heshould not engage in marriage with members of clans his siblings have mar-

ried to. While a prospective groom has to generate most of his bridew ealthfrom within the household, incoming bridewealth payments are redistrib-uted within the extended kindred network and amongst friends. The clansystem orders and organises marriages and to a very limited extent channelsthe distribution o f bridewealth pay ments, but on the whole has little effecton resource control.

Through separate initiation rituals each man becomes a member of an age

set (asapantin) and of a generation set (pn). Membership of one set involvesegalitarian, almost brotherly relations w ith ones peers on the one hand, andsubmission under a gerontocratic age-based hierarchy on the other hand.Initiation into generation sets (tum) only takes place every twenty-five to thirty-five years when numerous young men and boys are c ircumcised together and



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from then on constitute one generation set (Bollig 1990c). These are notgenerations in the strict (Oromo) sense, with recruitment through the patriline.They rather represent broad age strata. The only strict rule applied is thatnobody may end up in the same generation set as his father. At each stage

three generations are alive. The sy stem embraces a junior o r warrior genera-tion (mirn), a generation of seniors and a generation of elders (co llectivelyadressed as poy). Once most members of the generation of ritual elders havedied, a new set has to be initiated. Thus the former w arriors become seniorsand the former seniors become ritual elders. There are a total of six genera-tion sets in rotation2 (Bollig 1990c, 1 992:85, 1 994; Sutton 1990).

By contrast, membership of an age set is attained at a fixed age. Boys of

seventeen to twenty years o f age undergo the sapana ritual (Bollig 1 990c). Inthis celebration they slaughter an ox in a ritually prescribed way and are washedwith the stomach contents of this ox. Later they are formally endowed withthe signs of manhood: they are given the mens co lourful headdress (siolip)and are allowed to drink milk (ch) and blood (kisn) with other young menfrom bow ls which are placed at the centre of the sacred kirket, the semicircleof initiated men in which seating is arranged strictly according to generationset and age set. Each initiation set, i.e. those boy s who were initiated in oneparticular year, is given a name which is reminiscent of a spec ial event of thatparticular year or initiation period. After some ten to twenty years, betweenfour and seven sets are united into one set and the set with the most mem-bers w ill usually give its name to the united set. These age sets do not c lustertogether neatly to form one generation set. Members of the Ditimong ageset, for example, belong to two different generation sets, either to the Chumwgeneration or the Koronkoro generation. Likewise, while most members of

the Ngelomum age set belong to the Kaplelach generation set, some oldermembers belong to the Koronkoro generation set. These inco nsistencies donot disturb the picture that most age sets are clearly associated with one gen-eration set. How ever, the incongruities underline the observation that bothsystems of age grading work fairly independently from each other. This viewis reasserted by oral traditions which emphasise that while generation setsare ancient, age sets are fairly recent soc ial innovations coming about with

pastoral intensification early in the 1 9th century.In addition all men belong to one of the alternations Ngetei(The Stones)

or Ngimur (The Leopards). If the father of a man is Ngimurhis son will bemember of the Ngeteialternation. Alternation membership is show n by thetype of metal used for ear-rings and brace lets. While Ngimurwear ornaments



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made from iron and copper, the Ngeteiwear brass. Age sets and generationsets constitute a complex gerontocratic system (the Turkana and Karimojonghave similar alternations).

The gerontocratic system provides a clear set of rules to delimit competi-

tion between individuals. Through gerontocratic rule juniors are barred fromacquiring many wives at an early stage in their careers. Nobody may marryhis ow n daughters, i.e. daughters of comrades of his generation set. Whilemembers of the Chumw generation may marry daughters of men of theKoronkoro and Kaplelach generations, the Koronkoro marry daughters ofmen of the Chumw and Kaplelach and the Kaplelach daughters of Chumwand Koronkoro men. The Kaplelach, the youngest set, are obviously disad-

vantaged, as unmarried daughters of Chumw (the most senior generation)are rare and they compete with Chumw elders for the daughters of Koronkoromen. This gerontocratic bias is clearly shown in the figures on polygynyand household composition: while Chumw elders (n = 5 3 ) had 3 .6 wiveson average, Koronkoro seniors (n = 236) had 2 .5 wives and Kaplelach juniors(n = 1 48) 1 .7wives; the size o f households differed from 22.9 members forhousehold heads of the Chumw generation, to 14.0 for the Koronkoro and8.1 for the Kaplelach. Within an age grade competition is ruled out by an ideo-logy of comradeship and solidarity. There is, of course , competition betweenage grades giving rise occasionally to fierce discussions and even stick fights.These conflicts are then mediated in major r ituals bringing together the dif-ferent sets and reuniting them ceremoniously. Neither age sets nor genera-tion sets control any form of common property. There are no defined prop-erty or exchange relations between elders and juniors, as for example amongthe Maasai, the Borana and the Dassanetch where elders sponsor specific

juniors. In contrast to long-held beliefs also Pokot age sets are not essentialin organising warfare (see also Baxter 19 78).

After some months of research I had the impression that clans, lineages,age sets and generation sets are corporate and that the soc ial structure shapesthe network of relationships between various actors to a large degree. Ac-cording to Pokot presentations of their social sy stem I thought that majortransactions w ould be channelled w ithin these corporate groups w hich ap-

parently w ere the most prominent elements of Pokot social organisation. Afterlistening to many informants I envisioned lineages and age groups as co rpo-rate interest groups controlling property and exchange. In order to docu-ment the actual exchange network, I started to collect data on transactionsbetween households.



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Materials and Methods

The Pokot exchange network was obtained systematically: a partial net-wo rk consisting of3 7 households from a w ider neighbourhood w as definedand kinship relations as w ell as transactions (bridewealth exchange, distribu-

tion of incoming bridewealth, livestock loans) between them w ere noted down.I concentrated on exchanges regarded as important by the herders. Theseexchanges usually involved the exchange of livestock. Schneider (1 9 5 3 ) al-ready elaborated on the importance of livestock exchanges beyond the realmof kin groups for Pokot social organisation (see especially Schneiders discus-sion of the tilyaiconcept). In addition to exchanges within this set of house-holds I recorded relations with actors in distant neighbourhoods too. All herders

maintained such ties and thought them highly valuable. Many tried consciouslyto spread these exchange re lations: once they had taken up an exchange re-lation with a herder in one place they would preferably seek for herders fromother communities for further exchanges. These distant exchange partners,however, were not considered in the formal network analysis presented here .

Households (kaw, keston) are localised units and usually correspond to anextended family (see Bollig 1999 for a description of Pokot household or-ganisation). I interview ed the head of the household on the exchange rela-tions he engaged in. Women own livestock to some degree but rarely engagein major livestock transactions. However, men take the livestock they wantto invest into social exchange from parts of the herd allotted to one of thewo men. In Pokot households virtually al l animals of the househo ld herd aregiven to one of the women of the homestead to take care of. The animalgiven away in exchange results in obligations on the side of the beneficiary.Once he returns his obligation the animal (or the animals) will be returned to

the part of the herd the original animal was taken from. Should the benefici-ary die before he reciprocates, one of his sons has to take on the obligationwith his inheritance and should repay the donator, or in case of his death,the wife (or her sons alternatively) from whom the original animal openingthe exchange was taken from. Hence women are intensely interested in theexchange re lations their husbands engage in. While it is up to the men to se-lect appropriate partners, women, too, will look into the maintenance of the

tie and will do w hat they can to ensure that one o f their sons finally profitsfrom the exchange.

In 1 988/ 89 and again in 1992 and 1993 I sampled information on localexchange networks (Bollig 1998a). The formal analy sis of network data wasrun with the programme ucinet (Borgatti, Everett & Freeman 1992; for the



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application of formal network analysis to ethnographic cases see Schweizer1996 and Schweizer and White 1998), designed to detec t structural charac-teristics of networks. I will continue to briefly pinpoint structural character-istics of Pokot networks. To highlight and contrast formal measures o f Pokot

networks I will furthermore introduce data on Himba networks. Between 1994and 1996 I carried out 25 months of fieldwork with the pastoral nomadicHimba of northern Namibia. As the Himba are not used primarily as an eth-nographic comparison but rather for technical reasons it should suffice todraw attention to some recent publications on the Himba (Bollig 1 997 , 1 998b;Wolputte 1999). In some aspects o f their economy the Himba are fairly simi-lar to the Pokot. Settlement patterns and spatial mobility are determined by

the needs of large cattle and smallstock herds. Wealth differences in Himbasociety are more pronounced than among the Pokot and seem to be fairlystable. On the w hole Himba society is more stratified than Pokot society is.Within a double descent system, wealth is mainly channelled through matri-lineal descent groups while patrilineal descent groups dominate the ritualsphere. Data on Himba networks is introduced here to highlight and con-trast formal measures of Pokot networks. The network recorded amongstthe Himba has a similar size to the Pokot network and considers a similar setof exchanges.

Results

Simple Measures of Struc tural Charac teristics: Density, Centralisationdensity. Density measures the cohesiveness of a netwo rk. The measure

is defined as the number of existing relations divided by the number of po-tential relations (Schweizer 1996:177). The density of the Pokot netw ork is

at d = 0.359 (that is, roughly a third of all possible relations were realised).3This figure suggests that the density and co hesiveness of the Pokot networkis very high.

degree-centralisation. The measure for degree-centralisation relatesto the entire graph and not to single actors only. The degree measures thenumber of direct exchange relations one ac tor has. Hence degree is a meas-ure for the activity of an ac tor within the network. The degree-centralisation

measures the variation (scattering) of degrees in the net.ucinet transfers themeasures for centralisation into percentages. A percentage of0% indicatesthat all actors are ac tive in the network to the same degree, a percentage o f1 00% shows that one actor has drawn all exchanges to himself (Schweizer1996:183 ff ). The measure for degree-centralisation then show s to what ex-



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tent a network is dominated by individuals. The value for degree-centralisa-tion in the Pokot network was at 21 .1 9 (in the comparative Himba networkthe value was at 44.63 ). This indicates that in the Pokot network there w erefew actors who were able to concentrate exchanges upon themselves and

that many ac tors were ac tively participating in exchanges.Closeness-Centralisation. Closeness-centralisation measures the speed

of interaction within a net and again looks at the entire graph. A value of1 00% occurs if one point in the net has direct links to all other actors, whileall other points can reach any other point only v ia two steps (the prototyp-ical star). If all points have the same distances from each other the measurewill be 0% (Schweizer 1996:187ff ). Those ac tors are central which are con-

nected on short paths with each o ther. The closer an actor stands to all othersthe more effective and independently of the others he can act. The value forcloseness-centralisation among the Pokot is fairly low at 20.46, suggestingthat Pokot actors are not successful in attaining central positions within thisnetwork. For the Himba network the measure is double the size (at 42.87),indicating more c entral actors w ithin this network. This suggests that we findmore egalitarian exchange relations in the Pokot network than in the Himbanetwork; literally speaking the Pokot are closer to each other than the Himbaare.

Table 1 summarises data on structural charac teristics and juxtaposes it tocomparable figures for the Himba.

Pokot Himba

Density 0.359 0.153

Degree Centralisation % 21.19 44.63Closeness Centralisation % 20.46 42.87

Table 1. Structural Characteristics of both Pokot and Himba Networks Compared

This first glance at structural properties of the network suggests that the Pokotnetwork is highly cohesive and shows a low degree o f centralisation. There

are no actors who are really central nor are there actors who are really peri-pheral. All actors are very close to each o ther; furthermore they are also verysimilar to eac h other, as the analysis of structural properties of single actorsshows (see below). Pokot actors displayed major similarities in regard to(degree)centrality , closeness and betweenness.



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Structural Properties of Single Actors:

Degree, Closeness and Betweenness Centrality

Formal network analysis is not only concerned with structural propertiesof networks but analy ses the positions of single ac tors within the structure of

the network. Degree, closeness and betweenness-centrality are measures thatdifferentiate the structural properties of single ac tors and describe the pro-minence of individual actors w ithin the net. Degree centrality is a measurefor the activity o f an actor within the net, high values are attached to activeactors, low values describe passive ac tors. The more relations an actor haswithin the net, the more c entral he is. Closeness-centrality is a measure forthe speed of interaction within the net (Schweizer 1996:186). Those ac tors

are central who are related to others through short paths, i.e. rarely have togo through intermediate actors. Hence closeness-centrality is a measure forthe autonomy of actors within the net how close is Ego to other actorswithin the net and how often does he have to address intermediaries to con-tact a third person? In contrast to degree -centrality, closeness-centrality alsomeasures indirect links and therefore gives a more complete idea of the totalnetwork. Like closeness-centrality, betweenness-centrality looks at direct andindirect links between actors. Betweenness-centrality is a measure for the fre-quency an actor has to be consulted by others who want to get into contactwith each o ther. How many times is an Ego between two other actors whowant to interact? The actor in the middle, between others, can make use o fhis broker position to control information and resource flows.

The variation of these three measures is low across all actors amo ng thePokot. Again a comparison with the Himba netw ork emphasises peculiari-ties of the Pokot network. The figures for standard deviations are consist-

ently higher for the Himba network than for the Pokot network for measureslike degree-centrality, betweenness and closeness, indicating that the Pokotsample is much more homogeneous than the Himba sample.

The actors in the Himba network show higher mean values on degree centra-lity (38.52 compared to 19.68) and betweenness-centrality (39.07 comparedto 23.78), while the actors in the Pokot network attain a higher value for close -ness-centrality (66.78 compared to 56.69). Table 2 summarises the findings

which underline these assumptions: the Pokot network is homogeneous, ac-tors are very close to each other and there are few (if any) key players whoconcentrate exchanges upon themselves or who are able to inhibit or facilitateexchanges between others. The dense network rests upon a multitude of dy-adic ties.



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Pokot Himba Pokot Himba Pokot HimbaDegree Degree Between Between Closeness Closeness

Mean 19.68 38.52 23.78 39.07 66.78 56.69

Std Dev 4.94 23.20 12.96 44.61 5.00 6.59Sum 728.00 1618.00 880.00 1641.00 2470.92 2381.01Variance 24.38 538.44 168.00 1989.94 24.99 43.48EucNorm 123.39 291.45 164.76 384.31 407.35 369.88Minimum 8.00 5.00 3.32 0.00 56.25 37.27Maximum 29.00 126.00 59.00 233.68 76.60 77.36

Table 2. Degree, Betweenness, Closeness Centrality in Pokot and Himba Networks

Relational Analysis: Cliques, Clusters and FactionsCliques are Cohesive subgroups ... of actors among whom there are rela-

tively strong, direct, intense, frequent or positive ties (Wassermann and Faust1994:249). A clique is defined as a complete subgraph of three or more points.The structural analysis of cliques looks for actors of the network who aremore close ly tied among themselves than with their surrounding. The com-parison o f the representations for Pokot and Himba shows differences at a

first glance (see Fig. 2 ): While more than a third (40.5 %) of all Pokot actorsis involved in 22 to 40 small cliques, there is not a single Himba actor who isinvolved in as many cohesive subgroups. Only two ac tors (5 .4%) in the Pokotnetwork are involved in five or fewer cliques. In stark contrast 22 Himba ac-tors (52.4%) are involved in five or fewer cliques. A clear majority of Pokotactors are engaged in numerous cliques, while a clear majority of Himba areonly engaged in few cliques. These figures underline the impression that the

Himba network is fragmented while the Pokot network is constituted by actorsclosely connected to each other.

Positional Analysis

A positional analy sis (ucinet/ concor) sorts actors together who have asimilar pattern of relations to their surrounding, taking into ac count all theexisting and non-existing relations of one actor. Structural holes and zonesof condensation within the network are identified. In both networks a three-block model fits the data best (Pokot, r = .208 , Himba r = .227) (for a discus-sion of positional analy sis see Schweizer 1996:195 ff).

Figures 3 a and 3b show the positional analysis of the Pokot and the Himbanetwork. Both networks are divided into 8 fairly homogeneous subgroups,i.e. actors w ith a s imilar positional profile. The matrices show to what ex tent



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these subgroups interact with each other: shaded and numbered fields indi-cate interaction (or zones of condensation), white fields marked with a zeroshow the absence of interaction (or structural holes). The Pokot network show sno clear zones of condensation contrasting to structural holes. Two majorblocks transpire: on the one hand groups 1 , 2, 3 , and 4 and on the other hand

groups 5 , 6, 7and 8 . The emergence of these distinctive blocks, how ever, islevelled out by a number of cross-cutting links: group 1 relates to groups 5and 7 , 4 to 7and 6 and 8 to 3 and 6 and 7 to 4. No marginal groups and nodominant groups are c learly discernible (see Fig. 3 a).

Fig. 3a. Simplified block model based on CONCOR analysis: Pokot Network. Note: 0.359, the overall den-

sity value for the Pokot network, is used as a cut value; all fields that scored above this value are shaded.

The image is quite different for the Himba network (Fig. 3b), here a group ofstructurally equivalent actors (5 ,6, 7and 8 ) is juxtaposed to a set of structur-ally dissimilar actors. The fragmentation of the Himba network as well as the

The blackcolumnsare Himba,the whiteones arePokot.

30 to 40 20 to 29 10 to 19 0 to 9

actors

Fig. 2. Relational Analysis: Membership in cliques

membership in n-cliques



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cohesiveness and homogeneity o f the Pokot network which were found inother forms o f analysis are corroborated.

Fig. 3b. Simplified block model based on CONCOR analysis: Himba network. Note: 0.153, the overall

density, value is used as a cut value, all fields that scored above this value are shaded.

QAP A Systematic Comparison between Hypothesised and Factual

Networks

The correlation between different networks can be tested systematically

with the qap module o fucinet. If we assume that kinship and/ or age groupsdetermine exchange, then the correlation between hypothetical networksgenerated under the assumption that close kin and/ or age mates are tied bylivestock exchange should co rrelate highly with the actually observed net-wo rk (for further notes on the method see Bollig 1998a). Formally the hypo-theses can be put as follows:

(1 ) patrilineal kins hip structures exchang e. Close patrilineal rela-tives are preferred partners for livestock exchange relations. The hypothesisassumes that patrilineal kinship is a precondition for exchange.

(2) kinship structures exchange. Patrilineal or affinal relatives are pre-ferred exchange partners. The hypothesis assumes that consanguinal and affi-nal kinship is a precondition for exchange.

(3) common membership in a g eneration set structures exchange.Members of one generation set prefer to exchange livestock with one another. Thehypothesis assumes a close relation between generation set ideology and exchange.

(4) common members hip in an age set structures exchange. Mem-bers of one age set prefer to exchange livestock with one another. The hypo-thesis assumes a close relation between age set ideology and exchange.

(5 ) prior exchange relations structure exchange. Somebody will ex-change with another herder if he has established prior exchange relations tohim. Exchange reproduces partnership.



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Hypotheses Observed r Statistical significance

1 101 .000*2 .078 .0103 .078 .0103 .000 .0654 .000 .0685 .145 .000* * statistical significance high

Table 3 shows the correlation between hypothetically predicted and empirically observed networks.

The qap test show s that neither kinship nor age grade explain exchange be-haviour among Pokot herders. The correlation co efficients for hypotheses 2 ,

3 and 4 are fairly low. They are somew hat better for hypothesis 1 , indicatingthat close patrilineal kin do engage in exchange regularly. However, a closerlook at the data shows that it is only very close patrilineal kinusually brothersand/ or fathers and sons who are included and that the descent group atlarge is not of importance in this respect. This livestock transfer usually con-sists of animals resulting from bridewealth distributions to very close patri-lineal kin. The correlation is highest for hypothesis 5 . Here the observed ex-

change network w as not correlated with a hypothetical network but with anetwork of exchanges observed during the drought of1 991 / 92. The hypo-thesis points out that prior exchanges are indeed a good predictor for anyfuture exchanges. Livestock transactions c reate a moral bond between ex-change partners which facilitates further exchanges. This holds true for patri-lineal relatives as much as for affinal relatives to whom herders may turn forhelp once bridewealth obligations have been resolved. For hypotheses 1 and5 the figures on the statistical significance of correlation coefficients under-line the validity of the guiding hypotheses (Bollig 1998a, 1999). Spreadingexchange partners randomly apparently has positive effects for individual riskmanagement in an environment ravaged by droughts, livestock epidemicsand raiders. Local informants frequently emphasised that they were indeedkeen to obtain as many exchange partners as possible from geographicallyand socially different subgroups of the soc iety.

The Discrepancy between Ethnographic Data and Structural Analysis

The formal analysis of the Pokot network elucidated a dimension of Pokotsoc ial organisation w hich was not highlighted in public representations. Theallegedly corporate groups attained in ethnographic interviews w ere notab-stractions from exchange. The lack of clusters in Pokot exchange networks



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and a high level of density suggest that neither descent nor age play a promi-nent role for economic exchange between actors. Herders do not rely on corporategroups for exchange but follow individual strategies when constructing theirnetworks. Still, the Pokot perceive themselves as a group organised along

principles of descent and age. Apparently these categories are not social structuresin the sense that they are abstrac tions of actually observed behaviour. Whileemic categories are pristine and with little internal contradictions, formal struc-tures derived from ac tually observed exchange netwo rks show a high degreeof connectedness, low centrality values of individual actors and a lack of clust-ers. How ever, Pokot presentations of their social system were, of course, notmere fantasies. They w ere highly relevant in other spheres of soc ial life. Fol-

lowing Bloch, I argue that Social structure, far from being society, turns outto be a sy stem of classification of human beings linked to other ritual cogni-tive systems. (Bloch 1977:286). Lvi-Strauss (1953 :525) had propagated a similarvision of social structure claiming that the term social structure has nothingto do with empirical reality but with models which are built up after it. In thesame vein Almagor and Baxter (19 78 ) had pointed out that age sy stems areritual and cognitive rather than socially or economically founded.4

In the follow ing paragraph I trace w hat kind of structures Pokot are refer-ring to when speaking vividly about descent and age grading. In contrast toLvi-Strauss, however, I argue that these structures have a lot to do with anempirical reality and a political ideology. They structure social interactionsin the ritual sphere and are essential in promulgating the strength and purityof Pokot soc iety.

Structures of Social Interaction in Ritual

In Pokot society communal rituals are large gatherings sometimes of sev-eral hundred people. There are rituals of initiation and rituals of the age setsand generation sets and ceremonies which are conducted to purify a com-munity and to pray for rain. In these rituals men of the wider neighbour-hood, sometimes from the entire Pokot area (irrespective of lineage mem-bership and age set affiliation) gather and evoke their Pokotness in dancesand songs. While on the one hand Pokot identity is cherished, on the o ther

hand soc ial order is enacted dramatically. Symbolical cooperation, solidarityand respect are played out, almost staged. Symbolic representations of soc ialcategories are condensed v isions of a moral order.

descent in ritual context. Lineages operate as corporate groups inrituals of compensation (lapai) and in the initiation of yo ung men (sapana).



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When a case of murder or manslaughter occurs, direct revenge is out of thequestion. Instead, the lineage of the murdered man enters into a highly rule-governed and ritualised process of compensation. Some days after the deathof their relative, the lineage meets (kokw lapai). Central persons of the meeting

are the c lassificatory fathers and brothers of the deceased. When talking atsuch rituals, informants speak about the gathering of lineage x or y. They arethe ow ners of the lapai. At the gathering some speakers talk themselves intoa frenzy and most of their argument is c lad in the terms o f descent groups: AKachepkow man has killed a Kamadewa man. Why are the Kachepkow kill-ing our brothers?

Descent is an important category for the organisation o f other rituals as

well. Clans and lineages have common symbols (for example, an animal or anatural phenomenon), there are common songs and specific markers (ear-cuttings for goats, sheep and cattle, ways of decorative cauterisation). Thesymbols of the clan sy stem structure r itual activity. Peop le of the FirestickClan (Koim) must light any fire to be l it on a ritual occasion; people of theBuffalo Clan (Siwotoy) are the only ones who are a llowed to play the lyre onsuch occasions, people of the Kiptinkclan are necessary to conduct ritualsat the tribal borders to ensure protection from raiders. There are numeroussymbolic equations between clan symbol and ritual activity. Clan-specific ritualspecialisation suggests a society in which corporate entities are organicallyworking together. A society which is not differentiated economically appearsto be integrated and differentiated in the ritual sphere.

age sets as an ideological formation.As descent becomes mostclearly visible in ceremonies, so age grading is best seen in rituals of initiationand promotion. Conflicts between sets are feroc iously enacted, and it is not

rare that different sets beat each o ther with sticks. Cooperation and solidar-ity are staged dramatically when people act as members of corporate groupsand not as individuals. Men talking in the sac red semicircle (kirket) do nottalk on their own account, but do so as representatives of generation sets andage sets. They will talk proudly of we, the Koronkoro and we, the Kaplelachand in the same tone will criticise the Koronkoro, who have spoilt the landand the Kaplelach, who are disobedient. In ritual age sets present themselves

as corporate groups dominating the ceremonial process. Their corporatenessis underlined by the strict seating orders in the sacred semicircle, where membersof one set sit close to each other and are juxtaposed to members of other sets.As members of specific sets, not as individuals, they occupy ceremonial ground.Songs and dances underline unity and cooperation within a set. When men



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of one age set dance the war-dance (anyakar) , and stampede in a closely tiedphalanx across the ceremonial ground, the corporateness o f an age group isvisualised and attains an almost physical reality.

At the climax of these celebrations, all men sit in a semicircle (kirket) opening

to the w est, i.e. fac ing the sac red Mt. Mtelo. The oldest men sit at the apex ofthe semicircle, seniors surround them and juniors sit at the two flanks of thesemicircle (Bollig 1990c). Peop le sit neatly arranged ac cording to their ageset, generation set and alternation (see Fig. 4). The kirketis the most pow er-ful device in staging the gerontocratic sy stem and v isualising what the Pokotsee as their social structure. Communal rituals symbolically reconfirm soli-darity, comradeship, respect, discipline and internal peace key values of

the Pokot belief sy stem. Age sets compete for prestigious symbols. Junior agesets fight for certain feathers and colours and senior age sets ask elders forthe grant of ritual powers symbolised in adornment. Each set undergoes apresc ribed set of rituals in order to climb up the gerontocratic hierarchy. Bycontrast with other Nilotic and Cushitic groups (Jacobs 1968 ; Berntsen 19 79;Baxter 1978), there is no hierarchy within an age-based set, i.e. there is noformal spokesperson or a dominating council; all members o f one se t are re-garded as equal and are obliged to care for one another.

Fig. 4. The Pokot Sacred Semicircle of Men (kirket). Note: Kaplelach, Koronkoro and Chumw are

generation sets; Ngidawai, Ditimong, etc. are age sets.

Ngetei Ngimur

CHUMW

Ditimong Ngidawai Ditimong

Ngipurt Ngipurt

KORONKORO KORONKORO

Chumalenya Chumalenya

Mamuk Mamuk

KAPLELACH KAPLELACH

Ngelomum Ngelomum

members of younger apeyitKaplelach age sets members of younger

East Kaplelach age sets fire

West

Documents

Bollig, Pastoral Pokot