ABSTRACT
The Kikuyu people had an elaborate system of social organization based on kinship and age-group systems. Both kinship and age-grade systems emphasized group life. The life of the Kikuyu people was influenced by the belief in ancestral powers. The most basic of the kinship group was the family unit comprising of members closely related by blood. The other important feature of the Kikuyu social organization was the age-group. The beginning of an age-group (Riika) was marked by the rite of circumcision. Within the subsistence economy, tasks were organized on the basis of sex. Initiation ceremonies were important forums for imparting discipline in sexual matters, knowledge, community values, and expected rules of conduct. Children were highly valued among the Kikuyu for security and social status of parents, agricultural labour and continuation of the generation line. Sex and reproduction operated within a socially regulated code of rules.
