Masai Mara Tribe Village

We come here to dance, and jump, with the Maasai - the last great warrior tribe in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Being semi-nomadic and pastoral, they are one of the largest native ethnic groups amongst the 43 official ones in Kenya with over a million members. While significantly outnumbered by the Kikuyu, Luhya, Kalenjin, Luo, Somalis and others, their style is still regarded as the most representative of the country’s fashion and clothing culture. The vibrant colours of the Maasai tartan blankets (made of thick cotton or wool, called “shuka”), vitality of their dance, and simplicity of their home settings, are all mesmerising and memorable.

The son of the Lion Clan’s chief - wearing both the typical ruby-red/magenta tartan shuka and a G-shock watch - excitedly said to me, “Jump higher, then you’ll get more wives!” Seeing and talking to them as a researcher and tourist, I ponder about the mixed impacts of globalisation, paradox of cultural appropriation, indigenous ethnic groups’ struggles between preserving their cultural heritage and improving their socioeconomic conditions, but also modern Masai women’s agency in rejecting polygamy and female genital mutilation (FGM), and earning their financial autonomy.