Alternative life courses among Samburu women: Changes in Circumcision, Marriage, and Childbearing

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24510341
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Kyoko 京都大学, 総合地域研究ユニット, 研究員 (60467420)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 女性のライフコースと教育 / 年齢範疇 / 未婚の母 / 恋愛結婚 / 模擬通過儀礼 / 連れ去り婚・略奪婚

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study I examined changing attitude for alternative life-course choices, particularly in terms of circumcision, marriage and childbearing of African pastoral women. When people cope with new situation brought by life course changes, they are not facing squarely to the conventional rules, but they create new ways of utilizing already existing system or add meanings to it in order to achieve traditionally “proper” status. Samburu people added new meanings to the already existing age category “surumelei(circumcised but unmarried) ” and utilize it to become free from traditional rigid life course.　In conventional Samburu values being a surmeleii is neither “right” nor “beautiful,”but recently for many Samburu women being surumelehas become a positive option, and they use it to be free from conventional life course. They can take choice of childbearing instead of abortion, they can chose their partner by themselves or they can remain single all their lives.

Free Research Field

人類学、アフリカ地域研究