Ethno-erotic Economies: Sexuality, Money, and Belonging in Kenya

324 Pages·2017·2.405 MB·English

by  George Paul Meiu

Ethno- erotic Economies

Ethno-e rotic Economies
Sexuality, Money, and Belonging in Kenya
George Paul Meiu
The University of Chicago Press • Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2017 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations
in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University
of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2017.
Printed in the United States of America
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17  1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 49103- 5 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 49117- 2 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 49120- 2 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226491202.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Meiu, George Paul, author.
Title: Ethno-erotic economies :
sexuality, money, and belonging in Kenya / George Paul Meiu.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017007062 | ISBN 9780226491035 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780226491172 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780226491202 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Samburu (African people)—Ethnic identity. | Samburu
(African people)—Sexual behavior. | Sex customs—Kenya—Samburu. |
Samburu (Kenya)—Economic conditions.
Classification: LCC DT433.545.S26 M45 2017 | DDC 306.7089/965—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017007062
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992
(Permanence of Paper).
Contents
A Note on Language vii
Introduction 1
1. Moran Sexuality and the Geopolitics of Alterity 40
2. Livelihood and Respectability in Hard Times 65
3. Slippery Intimacy and Ethno- erotic Commodification 92
4. Shortcut Money, Gossip, and Precarious (Be)longings 139
5. Marriage, Madness, and the Unruly Rhythms of Respectability 180
6. In a Ritual Rush: Crafting Belonging in Lopiro Ceremonies 209
Conclusion 238
Acknowledgments 251
Notes 255
Glossary 271
References 279
Index 297

A Note on Language
The material discussed in this book is drawn from English, Swahili, Maa, and
German. English and Swahili are Kenya’s official languages, while Maa is the
language of Samburu. Most elderly Samburu spoke only Maa, but many of
my other informants—some younger, educated men and women—also spoke
fluent Swahili and English. Often, my informants shifted from one language
to another or mixed words from these different languages in the same sen-
tence. I translated most Maa and Swahili sentences into English for an easier
read. When I offer the Maa and Swahili versions of different words, however,
I mark these respectively as M or S. In addition, when I cite German words
I mark them with a G.

Introduction
Oh, baby, I come from the totem of Nine Villages. Warriors—growl—no woman can
resist us. . . . I am a savage who understands only blood and strength. Will you save me
with your tenderness? Send me money to keep my totem alive: if my totem dies, my
sex power dies, baby.—Binyavanga Wainaina, “Ships in High Transit”
In June 2011 in Samburu District, northern Kenya, local radio station Serian
FM reported that thirteen young men had beaten up elders of their clan in
the highland village of Lorosoro. A man in his early twenties had initiated
the fight. His name was Meikan, and he was probably one of the richest men
in the area. Like many of his age-m ates, he had been traveling regularly to
Kenya’s tourist beach resorts along the coast of the Indian Ocean, some six
hundred miles southeast of his home district, to perform traditional dances
and sell cultural artifacts. Also like many of his age-m ates, Meikan often had
sex with women from Europe and North America in exchange for money
and other gifts. Recently, he had begun a long- term relationship with a Bel-
gian woman in her late fifties. With the money he received from her, Meikan
built two houses in Samburu, one in the town of Maralal and the other in Lo-
rosoro, where his family lived. He also purchased five acres of land, opened a
restaurant in Maralal, and started a cattle farm in his village. With an alarmist
tone, Serian FM reported that Meikan had enlisted the help of other young
men to attack the elderly men of his clan.
I learned more about this conflict a few days later, when I visited friends
in Lorosoro. People there told me that Meikan had been driving his Land