π On cohort-based sociopolitical systems in East Africa
Expanding conscription ages? Bad for peace. Building in power peaceful transition rituals? Good for peace.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a house party slash philosophy salon, where I had a lovely conversation with economist
. We mostly talked about his fascinating book Legal Systems Very Different From Ours, and the article I once wrote for the Science Fiction Writerβs Association about Unusual Governments to Take Inspiration From. I mentioned African age-sets, and a bunch of people there indicated that they had never heard of them but were interested, so now feels like a good time to touch on some of the research I had to cut from my 2021 article due to word limits.What are age-sets?
Age-sets are a sociopolitical system historically common in East Africa, although the age of imperialism reduced their political importance and now itβs mostly a ritual holdover.
An age-set is basically a cohort, firmly defined along generational lines β which helps calendar-keeping in the relevant cultures, much the same way the Romans defined a year according to the names of the ruling consuls. As an analogy, consider a group of nearby communities gathering children into one centralized boarding school at around age five, where they make themselves useful learning, doing Eagle Scout projects, and scuffling with neighboring groups for prestige (now itβs football, but you can imagine cattle raids fulfilling the same impulse). Then, when they graduate (in a big ceremony), they would transition out of βschoolβ and into the life stage of βyoung adultsβ β marrying and being busy with young children, after which they would return to the workforce, before finally amassing the experience to lead the community as political figures, subject to the usual checks and balances between powerful groups and individuals across legal, economic, social, religious and cultural concerns.
In the Ethiopian Highlands, this sort of cycling age-set system is known in some places as gadaa (for men) or siqqee (for women). This system dates back centuries, probably beginning as a religious setup and evolving into a more comprehensive system of political, legal, religious and social system around the 16th century. Balancing representation of all clans, lineages, regions, and confederacies via the age-set system allowed for the development of a strong culture surrounding the selection of wise, clever, knowledgeable, and talented leadersβinstead of despots and war chiefs. The power transitions happen every eight years, and eventually led to the development of a republic with democratic elections and the peaceful transfer of power.
Entering age-sets
The Bantu had relatively informal age-sets, but even there, weeks of ceremonies surrounded the circumcision and initiation of boys. These observances included the seclusion of the boys in a circumcision camp, masked dancing, the ritual marking of the boys with white clay, and probably other rituals.
During what I think of as the βschoolβ era, Oromo children were expected to study myth, riddles, stories of different types, cultural songs, etc.
Among the Kalejin people, circumcision was also an important initiation ritual into age-sets. Boys who were circumcised together were part of the same age-set, and when they came of age, they were tasked with protecting the tribal lands and the society.
Age-set impacts on peace and war
In general, age-sets helped enable peace by preventing coups and other violent transfers of power. This does not, however, mean they inevitably brought about a golden page of peace. Yes, men became bound to their neighbors by the bonds of shared experiences, handling infrastructure projects for the whole region. If nothing else, shared pain solidifies social bonds β which may be one reason that initiation rituals (including military hazing) tend to be painful. Such systems were effective in fostering group cohesion and creating a shared sense of duty.
But some groups chose to expand the length of time men spent in the βwarriorβ stage β along the lines of expanding the age of the draft β which meant an increase in raids and conquest in a sort of escalating Red Queenβs Race.
For example, by the first millennium CE, most of the Kalenjin communities had dropped the generational component and expanded the age-sets to 15 years from 10 years. They dropped down to recognizing two adult life stages for males: young and old. The young had responsibility for (among other things) defending the community and raiding other communities for cattle. Because they were muren for longer, they were able to exert military pressure on their neighbors and defend themselves better. This let them expand.
Age-sets as a form of conscription was also crucial for nomadic pastoral societies such as the Maasai, who live in Kenya and Tanzania. There, young men serve as warriors to protect their communities and livestock for the fifteen years roughly between 15 and 30. Similarly, the Nuer people of Sudan relied on age-set systems to assemble their military forces. Although there wasnβt a perfect 1:1 correspondence between the age-sets and the inhabitants of the military camps, the camp populations were drawn from the age-sets.
Age-set impacts on religion and governance
In the modern era, Ethiopian religious leaders direct transfer of power among to Oromo every 8 years. Historically, Oromo women controlled resources and private matters, social status and respect, and sisterhood and solidarity by β the Siqqee worked to prevent the menfolk from infringing upon womenβs rights. Now, there is mostly just the male Gadaa, and five political parties. Officials tend to be ranked by seniority. There is a chief executive, a council of retired officials, and all the trappings of governance. Leaders are elected on the basis of past military achievements, oration skills, mystical attributes, wisdom for settling disputes, traditional knowledge about the society β not (necessarily) wealth or social class.
There are two main ways governments can get excess resources under their control. The first is a tithe, i.e. taking a portion of a citizen's crop yield, or a percentage of their trade profits. The second is through corvΓ©e, or state control of the labor force, for example working for a certain number of days on land owned by the government or political official (which may have been how the Egyptian pyramids were built, although personally I doubt it), or spending a certain number of years doing public infrastructure work. East Africa, as far as I can tell, also mostly used that latter system β with help from the age-sets.
For example, in the pre-colonial era, chiefs (who were sometimes also the priests) had the right to use the age-sets as communal labor in building and maintaining irrigation works; he was the βarrangerβ or βplannerβ of public works, and in his language, these words were the origin for βchiefβ (mangi). Basically, age-sets were community-wide institutions, and members would have been called upon by the village or priest-chief to undertake group tasks for the community, such as clearing paths.
Lingering Questions
It strikes me that the experience might have been very different for younger vs. older members of the age-set, since β as with schools in America β if youβre the youngest when you start out youβre probably always going to be the youngestβ¦ only more-so, because the age-sets seem to be eight-year cohorts instead of one-year cohorts like Iβm used to.
Unfortunately, one of the reasons Iβve heretofore not written about age-sets is that itβs pretty hard to get good English-language resources about them. I donβt think anybody really has good insight into the history of how age-sets were initially formed, but Iβm particularly curious to know more about how age-sets may have helped lead to cooperation and community among men who were not part of the same immediate community. Itβs also tricky to get a sense of how age-sets differed in various East African cultures, and of what the current scholarly consensus on the topic is.
If anybody happens to know more about them than I was able to find here, please reach out :)
Sources & Resources
This 1982 paper by Robert Daniels is the most comprehensive online resource I was able to find on the topic of Nandi age-sets. Itβs very readable and touches on the previous scholarship in a comprehensive way that quite relatably bleeds frustration at the lack of interest in a fascinating phenomenon.
In 2018, Ethiopian social scientist Elndalkachew Lelisa Duressa published a deep dive into the transfer of power among the Oromo people of Ethiopia. Itβs worth reading, not least of which because itβs written by someone actually from the region instead of a Western anthropologist, but itβs a bit hard to get through.
Christopher Ehret is my go-to source for undergraduate-level knowledge of Africa; Civilizations of Africa is very readable and I recommend it wholeheartedly for anyone interested in an overview of the history of Africa that takes the time to touch on obscure topics.