Today’s lesson is about beadwork amongst pastoralist communities. In the course of a discussion earlier today, I realized how few people are aware of the poisoned chalice that lies within this apparently innocuous activity that produces such beautiful items. First, we must understand context. The beadwork used for adornment is amazing in its beauty and variety. It is a crucial part of those cultures in identifying people, families, age groups, marital status etc. So many bonds are created by the exchange of these items as gifts, etc. This is GOOD. Now to beadwork as a tool in conservation projects. Here, it is a problem, and this is why- It is relentlessly pushed and harped on by foreign conservation pirates as a hoax to create the false impression amongst the Maa community that their culture is appreciated by these interlopers. It is NOT, because they take this small portion of Maa culture and reject the rest. They use beadwork as one of the so-called ‘alternative livelihoods’ yet it never was a livelihood. They pay pittances to women (I’ve heard figures like Sh. 45/- per hour, but I stand to be corrected if someone has more accurate figures) who spend whole days away from home. What is the price of a rural woman’s role in the home? What is the cost in lost care for her home? In lost tactile contact with her children? Certainly NOT 45/- (For the non-kenyans, that is 45 US cents). Let me state it here- the principle behind all these ‘alternative’ livelihoods is to get pastoralists away from livestock, where their power, pride, wealth and identity lie. CONservation science keeps saying livestock are bad, they are degrading the environment we need them out of “our” rangelands. I have never seen livestock walking around on their own without humans, so this is just a euphemism for them wanting pastoralists out of the rangelands that are their birthright! Livestock is the one part of Maa culture they HATE because it is the glue that binds you to your homelands. A Samburu (for example) who has no livestock will never go to Samburu. What is he going to do or see there? Same applies to all pastoralist communities- once you have been labelled ‘bandits’ your cows called ‘scrawny animals’ and starved by fences, if not shot by security forces, you will leave for Narok, Nairobi, Isiolo, Nanyuki and other towns and never go back. The rangelands will be called “protected areas” and remain as the domain of the pirates. To add insult to injury, they sell this beadwork abroad for hefty profits. One snapshot of this duplicity; A Spanish company called ‘pikolinos’ which has a ‘Maasai Project’ where they fly leather from spain (carbon footprint, anyone?) to be beaded by Maasai women in Kenya and sold for top dollar back in Europe. They love the beadwork so much that they fly leather from Europe to be worked on but they hate your pastoralism so much that they would never empower you by using hides from your animals. Other lodges demand that their employees dress in full traditional regalia and beadwork, yet they dont want to see a single cow or goat anywhere in the horizon. What witchcraft is this? Somebody told me that a beadwork project has made some women ‘self sufficient’. Pray what were they eating before the saviour came? These are women who have homes and have raised children, and someone suddenly thinks he is their ‘daddy’?? SMH
So, should you buy Maasai beadwork/ trinkets? Yes, of course! But just buy from your local makers and sellers. Avoid the ones sold by foreign projects that claim to ‘empower’ women, blah blah. These ones will be very costly in terms of the number of ritual sacrifices needed to exorcise the demons that feed on their production chain. We have such a long way to go.
