Lagueu 1 Francis Lagueu Fogang
Professor C. Somin
English 1C - 6412
4 June 2014 Culture and Civilization of the Massaii tribe Famous American anthropologist and social theorist Clyde Kluckholm , claims in one of his publication that “Every language is also a special way of looking at the world and interpreting experience concealed in the structure of language are a whole set of unconscious assumptions about the world and the life in it”(Writing logically, Thinking critically 7th edition P 35). Based on this theory, we can learn more
They call children by several words such as the “small wise one”, “innocent leader”, and “little stargazer”. These terms might show how children’s opinions count a lot in the growing of the tribe. We might infer that they are not just considered kids and all they have to do is play, eat, and sleep. They participate in the development of the tribe. They have seven terms to describe the stages of life up to puberty. The evidence suggests here how childhood is very important for the tribe. This might also show how the tribe puts more interest into life from childhood to adulthood. On the other hand, they have only one term to describe life from puberty to death. We can infer here that they do not live long. Also, women are considered as wife and mother and men as husband and father. The translation of sex in the tribe as “to plant a wise one” meaning sex is for procreation and not for recreation. A person can have sex only if he or she is married and ready to have kids. They do not have sex for pleasure. We can also infer that sex can only be used for one purpose which is to procreate. Based on this evidence, we might infer that this is a family-oriented community. Also, art seems to be very emphasized in this community. The evidence suggests that they have twenty words for book. This might imply that either they are highly educated or they are emphasizing education in the tribe. Education is very important here.