ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Mukogodo way of life as poor Maa-speaking pastoralists, explores the implications of poverty and low status for the Mukogodo, and examines some ways they have found to cope with their new situation. Material poverty is just part of the low status of the Mukogodo in the eyes of other Maa-speaking pastoralists. Although Mukogodo men no longer routinely hunt for food, many men still keep a bow and a quiver full of arrows handy. Given that the Mukogodo case for being "true Dorobo" in the eyes of the British was strengthened by their possession of a unique language, the rapid replacement of Yaaku by Maa is perhaps the most ironic aspect of the transition to pastoralism. Equality and inequality vary tremendously across human societies and across a variety of dimensions including wealth, political power, ethnic prestige, and reproductive opportunity.
