ENGLISH-TURKANA TEXTS OF A CASE OF BRIDEWEALTH NEGOTIATIONS IN NORTHWESTERN KENYA

Abstract

The following texts are transcriptions of bridewealth negotiations that took place on September 6–7, 1998. The first day of the negotiations was carried out at the homestead of the bride's father, while the second day was conducted at the groom's homestead. These homesteads were located about 10–20 km north of Kakuma town, which lies about 100 km northwest of Lodwar, the capital of Turkana District in Kenya. By the end of the second day of the negotiations, all the bridewealth livestock had been transferred. Wedding rituals were then performed at the bride's homestead on September 8–10. Part 1 of this volume (pp. 3-26) provides basic information on kinship structure, livestock ownership, the process of arranging marriages, and the amounts of bridewealth among the Turkana. Analysis of the negotiations and descriptions of the amount of bridewealth transferred in this particular marriage are also presented in Part 1. All the utterances in the following texts appear in the appended DVD video (Part 3 of this volume).