Publication Information The main body of the Publication Information page contains all the metadata that HRAF holds for that document.
Author: Author's name as listed in Library of Congress records
Kenyatta, Jomo
Title:
Facing Mount Kenya: the tribal life of the Gikuyu
Published By: Original publisher
London: Secker and Warburg. 1953. xxv, 339 p. ill.,
map
By line: Author's name as appearing in the actual publication
by Jomo Kenyatta ; with an introduction by B.
Malinowski
HRAF Publication Information: New Haven, Conn.:
Human Relations Area Files, 2010. Computer File
Culture: Culture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC) with the alphanumberic OWC identifier in parenthesis.
Gikuyu (FL10)
Subjects: Document-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Mythology (773);
Real property (423);
Inheritance (428);
Marriage (580);
Family (590);
Kin relationships (602);
Kin groups (610);
Community structure (621);
Disasters (731);
Revelation and divination (787);
External relations (648);
Division of labor by gender (462);
Tillage (241);
Mutual aid (476);
Metallurgy (325);
Techniques of socialization (861);
Transmission of cultural norms (867);
Infant care (854);
Body alterations (304);
General sex restrictions (834);
Abstract: Brief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This book was first published in 1938. The author, a Kikuyu
himself, was the grandson of a seer and a leader of his own age group. He was the General
Secretary of the Kikuyu Central Association and the founder of the first Kikuyu journal,
'Mui gwithania', and acted as the spokesman of his people in dealing with the British
government on tribal land matters. Kenyatta studied anthropology under Professor
Malinowski. His strong feelings against European encroachments upon his native land and
institutions are forcefully expressed in this book. Later, he participated actively in the
Mau Mau movement which led to his capture and imprisonment. 'Facing Mount Kenya' is a
description of tribal life with special emphasis on the interdependence of various social,
economic, and religious institutions in giving the Kikuyu society its organic unity. The
disintegrative influence of European missionary and political efforts upon tribal life is
trenchantly commented upon. This source is particularly useful for the understanding of the
Kikuyu kinship system, land tenure, handicrafts, the education of the young, initiation
rites, age groups, political and legal organizations, and finally religious and magical
practices. The presentation is sometimes marred by the misapplication of European
terminology to native institutions.
Document Number: HRAF's in-house numbering system derived from the processing order of documents
4
Document ID: HRAF's unique document identifier. The first part is the OWC identifier and the second part is the document number in three digits.
fl10-004
Document Type: May include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs or chapters/parts of monographs.
Monograph
Language: Language that the document is written in
English
Field Date: The date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Evaluation: In this alphanumeric code, the first part designates the type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigene, and so on. The second part is 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
Anthropologist-5
Analyst: The HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection.
Robert Lee ; 1958
Coverage Date: The date or dates that the information in the document pertains to (often not the same as the field date).
1920-1938
Coverage Place: Location of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Kenya
LCSH: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Kikuyu (African people)
