ABSTRACT
Respect was a concern in daily life on Kilimanjaro, and in times of hardship, loss of it threatened many people. By the peak of the food crisis in 1974, anxiety triggered by economic and environmental crises had come to permeate social relationships on Mt. Kilimanjaro. People had to guard their reputations to maintain the social support of their lineages and neighborhoods. Loss of their reputations could mean being cut off from potential assistance by lineage members. Without social support, a person could be shamed and pushed to the margins of society.1 Many families with malnourished children suffered shame and were consigned to the social periphery of their neighborhoods.
