ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general statement on the livestock economy of the Maasai and the forms of tenurial intervention in the region. It describes general characteristics of the society and principal livestock management practices, including marketing activities. The examination of tenurial interventions centers primarily on the group ranch, with an assessment of its achievements and shortcomings in furthering the development of the Maasai economy. The Maasai were never organized as a single tribe under a unified political system. The life of a Maasai male is a well-ordered progression through a series of life-stages, which are determined by age, initiated through ceremonies, and marked by specific duties and privileges. Local political and social institutions, settlement organization, and livestock management practices characterize a mode of production well-suited for meeting subsistence objectives. Demographic and economic trends are apparently inducing Maasai pastoralists to relax their hold on livestock management practices which they once grasped firmly, rather than prompting the adoption of increasingly productive activities.
