Description
This book will be of great interest to everyone. It focuses on history of the Luo people of Kamagambo, Kenya, it will equally be of interest to those who may be curious about some past events in their lives, but who cannot place such events in proper context because of the conservative manner in which history is recorded in academic writing. I took it upon myself to write the book, as an outcome of personal reflections from a range of questions such as: how are past facts recorded and transmitted? how can forgotten knowledge of a group of people, unrepresented in history, be recalled and formulated into inclusive history? It was from my exploration of such questions relating to the origins of the Luo group that made me conduct a non-scholarly research. My investigations revealed the cultural, social, political and economic forces at play in the production of the forgotten history of a people. The information used was gathered by collecting stories through interviews, distilling useful information from oral accounts of past events and by attempting to understand the lives the people who influenced the information preserved for generations which eventually passed the same to me. I analyzed all this information, to obtain the material forming the basis of this book. Reputable historians, among whom are Professor Bethwell Ogot, Professor Okoth Okombo, Professor Atieno Odhiambo and Professor William Ochieng have preserved much useful Luo history, customs and traditions in various academic publications, but these publications record very little about role of women in the creation of matriarchal group of the Luo of Kamagambo. Whereas most of the material covered by historians and anthropologists about Luo involved in the ‘invasion’ of Bantu speaking communities, this book tells a different story. It deals with how the Bantu communities ‘invaded’ the Luo who hosted them, without resorting to inter-tribal warfare. My work as amateur historian is unique in that I collected oral histories to reveal the origins of a group Bantu communities the most recently assimilated by the Luo in the 1850s. The book gives hope that, with properly organized interactions among different ethnic groups, relationships can be redefined. Furthermore, it suggests that language, cultural or ethnic divide need not necessarily be the reason for conflict. I have collaborated with others, who are not members of my tribe, in writing the historical origin of Kamagambo. An example that negative tribalism and atrocities can be contained. It is a thing that was created by the colonialists, then impressed upon various ethnic groups to keep them apart from one another. Using the story in the, it is possible to illustrate how deep relationships could be formed across ethnic lines through marriages, making it impossible for the ‘Host’ to look at Agnates ‘Jodak’ as enemies, out there to drive them out of their communities. The book illustrates, inter-tribal marriages can lead to deep amicable relations among different ethnic groups, making it impossible for one group whether host or “Jodak” to fight their in-laws since each group will desire to live at peace with one another. Through inter-tribal marriages, the wives married to the Jodak and Luo ‘host, ‘ introduced new customs, traditions, values and languages and, as result, formed coalitions which reduced hostilities among the groups involved. I have paid special attention to the role of matriarchal Kamagambo women, and how they fought battles with men and established their own region or location called Kamagambo. The study was predominantly qualitative, relying on both primary and secondary sources. Additional data was collected through oral interviews in the study area. To ensure that only knowledgeable informants are consulted, the study employed purpose sampling technique. Different interviews were used for different categories of informants since they gave varied types of information concerning the study
