| dc.description.abstract | No systematic study has been made before
regarding the origin of the Wataita nor has
thorough study of their culture been made apart
from the detailed description of their religious
ritual by Mrs. Grace Harris. Thus, for a long
time the origin of the Wataita and the route
their ancestors followed from their place of
origin in to their present homeland have remained
hazy point to the scholastic world and even to
the Taita themselves, The Wataita who comprised of
three 1inguistic groups only known as Wataveta,
wasagalla and Wataita have been regarded in
British colonial classfication and
European anthropologitst opinion as three separate
tribes at most and two as general rule the
Wasagalla being regarded as" sub-tribe of the
it while the wataveta were consinndered to be
more definitely a separate tribe
In this theis effort is done to unravel the
mystery of all that,using information and
knowledge the writer gained through his research
into this subject which goes as far back as 1963
in some way while most of the material used in
this thesis is a result of a four year research be
started after his enrolment as a student of the
University of Nairobi on 16th Decembr, 1971.
1. TTA/11. Kenya National Archives (kna)
2. TTA/12,Page 1, kna
3. See preface.
The thesis begins by examining the various
views held regarding the three Linguistic group
inhabiting the land commonly known as Teita/Taveta
District which, if the evidence in this thesis
accepted, should simply be known as Taita District.
Attempt is made to establish just how far the three
linguistic groups are from each other linguistically,
culturally and historically, with special emphasis
on their oral traditions regarding their origin.
Analysis of their oral traditions of origin
1s then made comparing them with those of nighbouring
ethnic groups related to them such as the pare, the
Chagga and the Shambala to sift myth from reality in
those traditions, while their culture i described in
details to identify the fully ethnic group
singling out major cultural traits which mark out the
three groups as one and the same people not mere ly
a people who look the same because of common or mutual
influence.
Next are examined the cultural and political
changes through which the wataita moved from the
moment hey settled in their homeland to the
period they emerged with other people of Kenya into
the new nation, after almost seventy years of British
colonial rule. Because of that reason, the last part of
of the thesis examines the effects of British rule
and other European Influence noes on the Wataita and the
reaction of the latter to all those influences,
culturally and politically, as well as their role in
what has come to be termed as the struggle for
indipendence.,
In conclusion , the thesis examines in a
nutshell the scope it has covered and admits
its own limitations while posing a challange
to other students of History on Taita specifically
on Kenya in general an Africa as a
whole. | en |
