ABSTRACT
In this essay I consider two people of northern Tanzaniathe Arusha and the Masai-who in different contexts, and for somewhat different reasons, have demonstrated a notable commitment to their own particularistic institutions and values. These two peoples are not assumed to be typical in their social reactions of other East African peoples-not even of the more conservative peoples. They do afford, however, examples of all those cases (and perhaps of all cases in some degree) where adherence to the ethnic community, to tradition, and to a particularistic socio-cultural system, has so far re mained strong. Neither of these two peoples are influential or significant at the national level in Tanzania. They are too small in size and too poor economically to carry much weight; and they themselves take little interest in national policies and politics. Their effects on national unity, in politics, or in the administration of the new state are negative rather than positive, as they represent the particularism of local, ethnic interests and loyalties.
