essay

Hoes and clothes in a Luo household: changing consumption in a colonial economy, 1906-1936

African material cultureBloomingtonPublished In 1996 • Pages: 243-261

By: Hay, Margaret Jean.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article explores changes in material culture that took place in western Kenya before the Second World War as a direct result of British colonial rule and the complex forces it set in motion. It shows how rural Luo adopted newly imported iron hoe and a wide variety of western clothing using cash income obtained from wage work and cash crop sale. The article also discusses the role played by European missionaries as agents of culture change.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
General tools
Normal garb
Special garments
External relations
External trade
Division of labor by gender
Household
Labor supply and employment
Tillage
Smiths and their crafts
Acculturation and culture contact
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Luo
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2010
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Africa
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Eastern Africa
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Historian
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Teferi Abate Adem; 2009
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1968-1973
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1906-1936
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Luoland, Kenya
NotesAdditional notes
Margaret Jean Hay
Includes bibliographical references ( p. 260-261)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
95040501
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Luo (Kenyan and Tanzanian people)