Why I Taught the Source

The story of colonialism in the early modern era is generally told as one of adults—and primarily adult men—exploring, conquering, and transporting goods and ideas. Historians of women have made it increasingly clear that women are also important actors in this story, but children and adolescents have received little attention. They were also involved, although primarily as members of families, so it is difficult to find much information about them. Orphans were a different story, and they offer an unusual opportunity to see how children fit into the plans and realities of colonial expansion.

The source included here is a suggestion for handling orphans, devised in 1655 by Manoel Severim de Faria, an official for the bishop of Evora in Portugal. In this source he speaks specifically about the role orphaned children could and should play in the Portuguese empire. The source links to many issues in the early modern world, including maritime expansion, gender norms, and changing patterns of poverty, and through these to contemporary issues as well. It provides insight into attitudes toward one particular group of children in an era of competition for wealth and dominance among European powers.

How I Introduce the Source

I have used this source in several different courses: world history, European history, and the history of women and gender. I provide students with guidance and pose a series of questions as we read the source together. It is important that students have the source in front of them, so that every time they answer a question they can point to the specific part of text from which they are drawing information. It is sometimes helpful to have students read the source sentence by sentence until they become more familiar with the official bureaucratese in which it is written. I have found that this can be a useful technique any time a class—even an advanced undergraduate or graduate class—is stuck interpreting materials, for it allows the group to work together as it puzzles through difficult passages.

Students showed better understanding of the source if they were first provided with some background about the way orphans were handled in early modern Europe, which I did orally in some cases and through a written introduction to the source in others. I began by noting that many children in early modern Europe lost one or both parents while they were still young. Most children whose parents had died were taken into the home of a relative, but for some this was not a possibility, and they were placed in a public or church orphanage. Occasionally children who had lost only one parent were placed in orphanages when the surviving spouse determined he or she could not care for them. Children were also left anonymously at the doors of convents or orphanages; most of these foundlings were probably born out of wedlock to poor mothers who could not care for a child while they worked as servants or day-laborers. Many students have heard about children abandoned at church doors and a few have read novels or seen movies about foundlings, so it is useful to discuss the generally dismal circumstances for most children born out of wedlock, and dispel the students' sometimes romantic notions.

Students gain from knowing a bit about the institutional context surrounding orphans, although this does not have to be extensive. The earliest public orphanages in European cities opened in the 14th century, sometimes as parts of city hospitals, and sometimes as independent institutions. Orphanages were supported by church donations, private endowments, and public funds, but the funds provided were often not sufficient to cover all expenses. Thus Severim de Faria's proposal includes much discussion of how to provide financial support for his plans.

Historical background about orphanages can tie into other themes of a course. Not surprisingly, the number of children in orphanages grew dramatically during times of plague or other epidemic diseases, a common topic in world history courses. Orphanages also swelled during times of war. Textbooks often present religious conflicts in early modern Europe in rather abstract terms, as ideas battling ideas, and a focus on what happened to children allows students to better understand the actual impact of religious violence. (This can also be linked with contemporary examples of religious violence.) The same goes for discussions of inflation and other economic dislocations of the 16th century; helping students think about the impact of rapidly-increasing prices for food and land on children makes economic statistics less dry, and also helps them connect the economic issues of the early modern period with those with which they are familiar in their own lives.

Reading the Source

I begin the actual reading of this source with my students by noting that Monoel Severim de Faria sees orphans within the context of social problems and their solutions. We identify these as we work carefully through the text. What are the problems he identifies? We discover a series of these: the lack of "cabin-boys. . .swabbers. . .and sailors" for the Portuguese fleet; poor training for those sailors, so that ships wreck and cargo is lost; vagabonds and people who Severim de Faria thinks are pretending to be poor. (Here you may wish to discuss why he thinks this is so, and link the issue with more recent examples of rhetoric about those taking advantage of social support systems, such as the notion of "welfare queens.") Severim also returns several times to his worries that Portugal is underpopulated. In discussing why he worried about this, we look at maps and at charts about relative European populations in the 16th century.

Once we have identified the problems he cites, we examine the solutions he proposes. Students see right away that the solutions are gender specific: boys are to work on ships and learn how to sail them better, girls are to get married and have more children. This often leads to a broader discussion of gender differences, and I bring in additional information. I note that in terms of gender differences in their life experiences, orphans were not distinct from other children in early modern Europe. In both families and orphanages, children were trained in gender-specific tasks: boys learned to care for animals and make simple items, girls to cook and care for clothing and laundry. When they were old enough, which meant somewhere between seven and 14, children in both families and orphanages often left their parents and moved in with a master or employer, with whom they lived for most of their adolescence. Boys were apprenticed to artisans to learn a trade, while girls worked as servants and gained more domestic skills.

Girls were expected to provide a dowry upon marriage, an issue that students can easily see in the source in Severim de Faria's examples of the way cities such as Milan and Seville "solved" their orphan problem. I have found that my female students of European background are often outraged by the practice of dowry, seeing it—much as Jane Austen did—as "buying a husband." This can lead to a broader discussion of marriage as a means of retaining and transferring wealth, a topic that is often lost in world history classes where the emphasis is generally on less personal economic institutions such as wage labor and commercial exchanges. Based on their reading of any textbook, your students will not be surprised that Severim de Faria connects Seville's growth and prosperity to "commerce with the Indies." Your discussion of marriage can help them see why he links these to "the marriages that take place every year" in Seville as well.

Severim de Faria's proposal is just that—a plan, not a reality. Nevertheless, several early modern governments and private companies established policies based on proposals such as Faria's.This could provide a springboard for student research projects on such public measures as: sending orphans and Jewish children from Portugal to Goa, Brazil, and west Africa; "company daughters" sent by the Dutch East India Company to the East Indies; the filles du roi sent to New France; orphans and other poor children taken off the streets of London and sent as indentured servants to Virginia. Coerced migration is a central part of world history, and involved young people as well as adults.

Reflections

Reading Severim de Faria's proposal allows students to see one way that children were integrated into plans for colonization, and trace ways in which European class and gender patterns were carried around the world. Students gain skill in interpreting official language from an earlier period, and in assessing the underlying assumptions of the author, both of which are important tools of historical analysis. They recognize that Severim de Faria was a member of Portugal's upper classes, concerned about economic growth and deeply suspicious of the poor. Comparisons with contemporary opinion on the part of wealthy and middle-class Americans are easy to draw. How to handle orphans and children whose parents cannot or will not take care of them are important challenges today, both close to home and globally, and this source leads easily to discussions of contemporary parallels in the situation of children as well. This source could thus easily be combined with other documents about poor, abandoned, or otherwise marginalized children from different eras.

Students initially think of Severim de Faria as positive toward women (because he wanted, in their words, to "help" them), but on closer reading they come to see the values underlying his calls for protection and the provision of dowries. This helps students learn that first readings are not always accurate, and that close attention to the tone as well as the exact language of a document is important.

The causes of bad attendance, exclusive of bad roads and inclement weather, may be classed under two heads - (1) The home circumstances of the pupils, and (2) the school and its authorities. Under the first head I may mention parental indifference or neglect and excessive work required from children of very tender years. I know that during the milking season some children have to milk as many as ten cows every morning, and, if they come to school at all, arrive late, and are so fatigued as to be unfit for the work of the day. Though I regret the fact, I am afraid that in some cases there is no just remedy, as in some of the outlying districts the struggle for existence is harder than many people imagine. I was told by one teacher that children at his school had to gather fungus during the day in order that the bare necessaries of life might be procured for the families, and I have no reason for doubting his word. . . . Under the second of the above heads there is ample scope for attraction. When a school building is ill-lighted, gloomy, and depressing one cannot wonder at children preferring to stay away more than at their preferring sunshine to dulness [sic]. Then by all means let our schools be cheerful, bright, and attractive, and let the walls be covered with interesting and instructive charts and pictures such as will arouse and sustain curiosity. . . . Let the first impressions of the school-day be pleasant ones. Let us have means by which the children may amuse themselves during the recesses and before school opens, and they will, if possible, come early and regularly for a brief interval of companionship and amusement. . . . Again, the personality of the teacher is a well-known factor in producing good or bad attendance. Lack of sympathy, harshness, carelessness, and incompetency will inevitably lower the attendance. . . .

JUVENILE DEPRAVITY SUPPRESSION BILL

Mr W. HUTCHINSON [member for Dunedin City] said this was a Bill entirely on the right lines, and he congratulated the Premier on its introduction; at the same time, he would allow him to say that it did not go far enough. The question was one of momentous importance, deeply affecting all the towns, and more especially all the cities and principal centres of population. . . . There were a number of young children amongst us painfully demoralised – so young, some of them, that the policeman could not think of interfering with them – children suffering from a so- called liberty run unto utter license and lawlessness; and all this arising largely from parental carelessness or positive neglect. He was not going to trouble the House with statistics. He did not know that statistics bearing precisely upon this point were available, and he had no wish to draw any darker picture of the case than the facts warranted. They were bad enough as it was. From communications he had had from Auckland, he found that this city suffered terribly from this blight of juvenile vice. . . .

He had no information that he could quote from Wellington or Christchurch, but there was little doubt that these cities were neither better nor worse than their neighbours. . . . He was glad to say that the large majority of our people cherished the love of their children and the purity of their households above all other possessions; they desire such legislation as is now proposed; and this all the more because there were poor children of the streets – strayed and straying – whose numbers were sometimes recruited by children from very respectable families – showing us a cruel and savage side to our civilisation. These mere children got together at the street-corner or under a dark verandah; they talked, or they listened to talk, not the sweet babble of childhood, mixed with its laugh of innocence, but talk that need not be described; they got into temptations of all kinds before they understood the disastrous results which certainly followed. He ventured to suggest that these young children should be dealt with before they come to those of more advanced age. The Bill before them took no note of this incipiency in vice, yet it was here the mischief began. The Bill was a police Bill, pure and simple; but they needed more. It was an out-worn but still perfectly true axiom that prevention was better than cure. Children up to ten years of age living in all our towns should be under the shelter of the household roof after nightfall; and the parents and guardians of these children should be responsible that it was so, under a penalty. If the children were out of doors they should be in the care of some grown-up person. Did anyone who knew what childhood was – its susceptibility to external influences and its facile aptitude to learn and assimilate impressions – doubt this proposition. There was a social gangrene. He would cut it out of the body politic by clearing the streets of all young children after dark. Surely there would be no hardship – no invasion of liberty, rightly understood – in doing so. A certain number of young children – very young children – had drifted away from parental care, and hung about the streets at night. It was not only wretchedness for themselves, and from which they had to be protected, but they were too apt to lead others into equal wretchedness; so that their protection was not only for themselves, but for others who might fall a prey to their evil example. He would not proposed to punish these unfortunate children. They had been neglected by their parents, and it was therefore on these parents the blame primarily rested. They must exercise their lawful authority, and see that their children were in the house at reasonable hours or take the consequence. . . . Turning to another phase of the question, he had become acquainted with cases in which the father told the Magistrate that his child was beyond control – that the child was unmanageable; and he dared say the father was correct. But it was only a confession of culpable and criminal weakness all the same. The child was certainly not beyond control when first he or she was permitted to roam the streets at improper hours; and the parental neglect demanded punishment. . . .

In this regard it is convenient and of great value to Portugal, given the great multitude of foundlings and [male] orphans that exist in this Realm, who could be of great utility to the Republic, [if] raised in proper doctrine and placed in trades. It is more expedient to use this remedy in maritime regions, such as Lisbon, Setúbal, Porto, Viana, and in the Algarve; for in these [places], orphans and the abandoned once taken into custody could supply ships with cabin-boys, and swabbers for vessels, and sailors, all of whom there is a great shortage in this Realm. The proper teaching and training would be of great profit to our navigations, for there is a common lack of breeding geared toward men of the sea, as we have seen in so many shipwrecks and losses, of which there are many complaints. With this remedy we will also stop many of those who pretend to be poor, or who are vagabonds in this Realm, and they will occupy themselves in honest work. This will be of benefit to the Republic, and with this the number of residents in those locations would increase, and the population in the Realm.

This way of recruiting the orphans is so well-known that already in 1641 the members of the Cortes [the Portuguese parliament] asked His Majesty with these words: "It would be greatly advantageous that in the amassing of young orphans we recruit many boys, and that an amount be applied for their sustenance, for they will be taught the art of seafaring, with which there will always be an abundance of mariners, of whom there is a great lack in this Realm." [They gave] the example of the hospital that the Queen of Castile set up in Madrid to train boys to be mariners due to the existing shortage of them. And the response from His Majesty is that he would order that which they asked of him.

The same that has been said for the relief and remedy of orphaned boys can be said of orphaned girls. This is better yet, [because] much more care must be given to them, for lack of support is a greater danger to them, for women have much less means of making a living than men. Thus it is appropriate that a remedy be found for them, by applying all the means that can exist to have these [female] orphans of the people get married: for besides the great service [this will provide] to Our Lord by removing the occasion for them to disgrace themselves, we will attain our aim of increasing the number of people with the multiplication of marriages. The City of Milan, which is the most populous in Europe, serves as an example of this; one of the reasons for its growth is the dowry it provides each year to 800 [female] orphans. The same can be seen in the increase that the city of Seville has had for some years; for whereas much of it was caused by the commerce with the Indies, we can also attribute it to the marriages that take place each year of a great number of [female] orphans. In that city there are chapels. . . founded exclusively with large endowments to marry many [female] orphans: besides this there are many hospitals. . . that each marry many young women, and there are many more [public and private charities] that with the surplus from their revenues carry out this act of charity.

To put this means to work: we say that some portion of municipal revenues could be used, where a surplus exists, or some revenue from the head tax could be assigned to this, which income could be used solely for this pious work. We would also ask all municipal judges and officials that whenever they find money or bequests left to spend on pious works that were not named by the testators, they order [this money] spent entirely on these weddings. And likewise other similar things could be found for this purpose.

[referring to previous reports of a disturbance at Rotian on June 25th ]

2. The evidence and finding at the inquest 1 as well as the judgment in the trial of 43 Masai for riot show that an attack was made on me and my family by some Masai of the Kishun age. 2

. . .

5. The rioters were all between the ages of 16 and 19 years with the exception of two of the Salash age who were accused by all the Kishun of having caused the trouble. This accusation was brought against the Salash by the Kishun at the [meeting] I held just after the incident and again at the [meeting] held by you the following morning and yet again that evening when I asked for the names of the ring leaders.

6. The manner in which the Salash are alleged to have caused the riot is as follows: Two Salash on seeing a cedar which they erroneously supposed had to be removed set up a shout calling the Kishun to fight with the Europeans. There is uncertainty about the words used in calling to arms, but it is quite beyond doubt that all the Kishun without more ado or a word of discussion threw their [hoes] away and rushed to the manyatta to arm for war. 3 They were joined by other Kishun in the manyatta and by some who had never been to work and were not going to work on the road.

7. The only explanation given by the Masai themselves of this conduct is that it arose from 'folly' or 'sin.' It is attributed to Satan. 4 They are particularly impressed at the suddenness of it. Those who were present of other [age sets] were too paralysed by astonishment to give any warning or take any active steps to prevent it.

8. The events of the previous day have been examined. . . in the hope that some light might be thrown on the origin of this ebullition. There has been nothing except the reference to the cedar to suggest that there was any discontent in regard to the road work which they had agreed to do for wages.

9. The conditions of the work (feeding, pay, and organisation) had been fully explained at a [meeting] attended by at least 300 on the afternoon of the 24th [June] for the benefit of some newcomers. No one said anything to indicate that there was the slightest disagreement or discontent. Nearly all returned. . . to the [camp] where there was dancing and general enjoyment. . . .

11. There is not only ample evidence to show that there had been no sign of discontent during the night but no one of the many whom I have questioned has suggested that any of the 300 who went to work that morning had shown the slightest reluctance to do so. No one seems to have taken arms. . . .

14. The most significant feature of the whole affair is that it was not preceded by any discussion and was strenuously opposed by the Olburuogeni [OloburuNkeene], two of the l'aigwenak [ilaiguanak] 5 and three influential leaders of the Kishun who had been selected by themselves as assistants to Headman Oimeru Ole Masikonde who was in charge of the work on the road. These six. . . were the only people present at the road work or in the manyatta who did not either remain flabbergasted or join in the riot.

15. There is only one explanation for this incident, which completely surprised everyone concerned even the rioters themselves. It is that in some way the shout raised by the two Salash amounted to a challenge to the Kishun to prove their virility by defying authority. The response was an immediate decision to attack Europeans and those who wear [western] clothes. There was no other motive - nothing in the nature of a protest against the work to which they had all agreed and do still agree, or of personal antipathy to myself.

16. The only thought was death or glory. . . . When I looked into their faces. . ., I saw no. . . light of sense or reason. Each had an expression of demoniacal insensate savagery. The mysterious and interesting point to be considered is how it can happen that a lad - for they were all under nineteen - who starts the day in a reasonably happy frame of mind can, in a flash, without premeditation be plunged into an ecstasy of ferocity, and behave without considered purpose or regard for consequences. . . .

18. The Masai moran are undoubtedly very emotional and even, as moran, glory in the uncontrolability of their emotions. The epileptic fits 6 which they throw as moran are never repeated after they cease to be moran. They are in certain moods utterly illogical unbalanced savages capable of committing any act of violence for they do not regard human life with any sense of awe.

19. A survey of the events preceding this outburst will not in point of fact explain it but will show how it came about that these Kishun were collected together.

20. When I took over the District in March I read the following extract from Mr. Jennings Annual Report:

"The position with the moran is far from satisfactory. Experienced officers are divided upon the question as to the advisability of allowing the moran to follow the Tribal Custom of having manyattas. From my short experience with the Masai, I am of the opinion that the recognition of the 'Moran System' is tantamount to recognising organised crime which includes murder, assaults, theft, disobedience of orders of administration and elders and general indiscipline. As instances I quote the following:

Murder:

Five Masai of Kenya were implicated in a stock raid in [Tanganyika] when 89 head of cattle were stolen, and one native killed. In this case the Masai were arrested. . ., only 8 head of cattle were recovered but there is every reason to believe that a large proportion of the stolen cattle were brought to Kenya but it is impossible to get further evidence.

Assaults:

[A] considerable number of assaults by marauding gangs of moran have been made on old men and small boys herding stock. The former are usually stoned when coming out of their [camps] to investigate noises made by the thieves, owing to darkness identification of the assailants is impossible.

Disobedience of Orders:

The elders wished to hold a [meeting] with the moran, who flatly refused to attend. It took two months to arrest the ring leaders who were eventually sentenced to 2 months imprisonment.

The other school of thought on the 'Moran System' holds the view that by allowing manyattas you have the moran under control. I entirely disagree with this theory. The position as I see it is purely "bluff" and once the moran 'call that bluff' . . . one cannot deal with the situation. In this connection if one is successful in getting sufficient evidence, which is extremely doubtful, to warrant the imposition of a fine on the manyatta, it simply amounts to the relatives paying the fine as by Custom the moran do not hold property until. . . [they have] settled down as elders.

The whole position is more complicated by the fact that individually the elders are getting tired of the behaviour of the moran but collectively they are too frightened to take any firm action."

. . .

22. . . .The Kishun moran would, in the normal course of events, be passing through their Eunoto Ceremony in the near future. 7 . . . It then occurred to me that a remarkable opportunity presented itself of combining a piece of development work with the concentration of moran which would take place for the Eunoto. . . .

23. The Kishun represent the left hand circumcision age and are therefore the younger and somewhat despised brothers of the Salash with whom they will form one age [set] after passing through the Eunoto. . .

24. The decision as to time and place for the Eunoto would lie with the elders, particularly the Olotuno of the Ol Piron age, in this case the Il Twati [age set]. 8 I held a [meeting] with them and had a long conversation with the Olotuno who promised to consider the matter and move the moran manyattas. . . to [near Rotian] if the circumstances were propitious. Shortly after this he informed me that the manyattas would be so moved by the end of April. . . .

25. A large gathering of moran then came to Narok, probably 200 of them and said that their laibon Kimoruai had decided to postpone the Eunoto to the end of the year when it would be held in the Mau forest. . .where the [army] attacked the Laitteti [murran] in 1922 and where the previous age, the Meruturut, had collected to defy authority. 9

26. Kimoruai lives mostly in the Kajiado district though he also has a village in this district. He is the Purko laibon and his prestige with the Purko moran is immense. . .

27. While it is not normally the business of the laibon to fix the time and place of the Eunoto, his presence at it as a high priest dispensing charms and blessings is essential and I decided to send for him so as to discuss the proposals with him, realizing of course that he cannot be whole heartedly on the side of Government and that he would be more concerned with his prestige and emoluments in cattle than with any hopes or fears which Government can inspire. . . . I fully realized that in sending for Kimoruai I ran certain risks as there is always the danger of being double-crossed by him. . . .

29. When Kimoruai arrived, the manyattas had already assembled at Rotian. . . . At that time there was no doubt that the Ol Piron elders had decided to hold the Eunoto at Rotian and that it only remained to decide on the date. Kimoruai was in favour of holding the Eunoto early, while Chief Masikonde was inclined to postpone the date. The ultimate decision seemed to rest with. . . [the spokesman of the Ol Piron age].

30. [Kimoruai then became ill. He believed that he had been bewitched, but was diagnosed with pleurisy. He was sent home to recover.]

31. On his recovery I brought him back to the manyatta as he wished to finish certain ceremonies which could be completed in a day. The following day I went in to the manyatta and found about 200 moran gathered round Kimoruai in a squatting attitude surrounding a small pile of cattle dung in which a faded darkish blue flag had been stuck. There was something distinctly sinister about the chanting accompaniment and the expression on the faces of those taking part. . . . I was with headman Oimeru Ole Masikonde who told me that the ntalingoi Orrkirembe 10 was being administered and that it had been responsible for all the trouble in the past as it keeps alive the defiant spirit and perverted racial pride and acted like a trumpet on the minds of the moran. . . .

32. I decided to. . . [return Kimoruai] immediately to Kajiado as I was certain that his influence, which had been helpful up till that day, had turned to the old appeal which had made for trouble in the past.

33. Kimuruai did not wish to leave and asked to be allowed to stay another month. He had just begun to collect cattle off the moran, 12 head having been sent that day as his fees for Ntalingoi. . . .

34. [Kimoruai eventually leaves]

35. It will now be appropriate to say something about Ntalingoi in general and about the uses of Ntalingoi at the Eunoto. . . .

36. The name Ntalingoi is used by Masai to refer to "charms" and medicines which have their origin with a [laibon] and can be dispensed only by him. When a ceremony is to be held such as the Eunoto or a charm to bring good fortune, or to prevent sickness, or to ensure the success of a raid, or to prevent a murderer from being hanged, is sought, either the person most concerned or, more commonly, a deputation of those concerned visits the [laibon]. The instructions he gives them and the charge he makes depends upon the importance of the charms sought. In some cases, he first instructs the deputation to bring him certain ingredients for the preparation of the charm. In connection with this Eunoto, 8 of the Kishum age who had been working on the road were given leave several days before the Eunoto to collect certain ingredients. . . .

38. [There are many different charms] Some charms may be prescribed once only for a special occasion, others may be used time and time again for a special purpose. It is probable that certain ceremonies are not complete unless the prescribed charm or charms for that ceremony are used. If for instance the Orrkirembe or Nanga Narok ["black cloth"] Ntalingoi or charms have been used in previous Purko Eunoto ceremonies then they are probably essential to the ceremony which would not be binding in their absence. . . . If the use of the charm is believed to be contrary to the interests of the tribe, the [laibon] might be made to vouch for its safety or he could be held responsible for its effects. He might even be advised by the Ol Piron age to prescribe something less potent.

39. The foregoing general remarks are necessary in considering two aspects of this affair namely the attitude of the Masai elders and authorities to Kimuruai and the reactions of the moran to the incident. . .

40. There is no doubt that Kimoruai though respected, feared, and revered by many Purko is not [popular] with the [chiefs]. Oimeru Ole Masikonde has been very outspoken in censuring the unwisdom of inviting him to the district or even allowing him to attend the Eunoto in view of his load of past guilt in every disturbance for the last twenty years. This jealously, for that is partly responsible for this consideration, has made it difficult to sift the truth. It is not certain who will succeed Kimoruai as the Purko laibon but during his lifetime I doubt very much if ceremonies such as the Eunoto could be held without his "charms."

41. Since the disturbance I have informed [the chiefs] and [the leaders] of the Kishun age that if the disturbance arose as a result of Kimoruai's charms, it is their duty to inform me of the actual facts. [The chiefs]. . . accuse Kimoruai of having initiated the moran in such away as to make them susceptible to war mania. . . . It is impossible to know what Kimoruai does teach the moran as he takes the moran by themselves when no elders are there. The moran are not prepared to divulge anything which throws any light. . . .

42. There was one particularly curious incident on the night after the disturbance. The Olotuno came to my hut at Rotian just before dark and just after the [meeting] at which there had been a flat refusal to give the names of ringleaders. It was the first occasion on which we had met since the disturbance and in view of his position as chief councillor to the Kishun [age] I was most anxious to secure his cooperation. He was in a very agitated state. . . . Five minutes later I called for him as I intended to. . . discuss the situation with him, as a report had just been received of a concentration of moran ready to attack the camp. . . . To my astonishment he had disappeared. . . . No one had seen him leave. . . . He was there when I returned but neither that night nor the following morning would he tell me anything though he must by virtue of his position have known what was going on. The following morning. . . I had him remanded to gaol on a charge of inciting a riot and showed him a similar warrant which would be executed in the case of Kimoruai. That afternoon after his flight it seemed to me that he realized the futility of resistance to the tremendous power of Government and during the night he convinced me that he would cooperate and that I could safely entrust myself to his keeping in dealing with the moran even if they had collected for battle.

43. Subsequently events have shown that this confidence in the Olotuno's good intentions and power was not misplaced but it is still too early to expect him to explain what happened after the disturbance and whether in fact the moran were collected in the bush awaiting his instructions or even prepared to act without them. His sudden appearance in camp may have been to warn me. . . . His equally sudden disappearance may have been due to natural causes of no significance. He is a pivotal man and though he has only been in office for a month he has shown that he possesses real authority. . . .

44. In considering the reactions of the moran to Kimuruai's instructions and initiating charms it will be worth commenting on the general relationship between laibons and moran. The system is not peculiar to the Masai but is found in all tribes where the training of a warrior class is the central feature of tribal organization. . . .

45. . . . A great deal has been written on this subject in connection with the Masai in 1918 and 1922. . . . It is not my intention at this stage to do more than observe that a vacillating attitude has probably encouraged both the laibons and moran in their disregard of the Pax Britanica, and a contempt for constituted authority whether European or tribal. . . .

47. The mental background of the Purko moran is extraordinarily narrow. . . . [While] his knowledge of modern affairs even of developments in the areas adjoining his own reserve is so limited as to amount to nothing, his mind is steeped in stories of the prowess of his ancestors as warriors. . . .

48. If in administering the Nanga Narok and Orrkirembe Kimoruai prepared the minds of the Kishun to respond to a call to arms as a proof that they were worthy sons of their fathers he did them a disservice. He knows well enough that the glories of the Masai race which began a hundred years ago and lasted till the middle of last century cannot return.Their name cannot again inspire terror as in the days when they barred the way between the Coast and [Lake Victoria]. . . .

50. This mental condition must in some way explain the red hot response to some insult which was contained in the words used by the two Salash.

51. I had foreseen the possibility of some such insult which would be particularly galling and therefore dangerous if the Kishun were in the neighbourhood of their manyatta. Each age of moran tries to prove its superiority to the preceding one and as it were wrests its laurels and prestige from the elder brothers. Their emotional nature is intensely sensitised at the time of the Eunoto. . . . It occurred to me that it would be preferable to divide the Kishun and Salash, keeping the Kishun at the north end of the road, while the Salash worked on the necessary diversions between Rotian and Narok. . . .

53. I therefore visited Chief Masikonde and. . . discussed this point. He was emphatic in saying that the Salash would have a steadying influence on the Kishun and that he would prefer them to work together for that very reason. . . .

54. It now remains to give some account of the work on the road from Narok to Njoro. . . .

[report concludes with details of the organisation of the work and the purpose of the road]

[signed] C.E.V Buxton

District Commissioner

Why I Taught the Sources

A number of societies in Eastern Africa, including the Maasai, divide the male life-cycle into distinct stages: childhood; murranhood (or "warrior"); and elderhood. Age-set societies like the Maasai are perhaps unusually explicit in the way that they divide up the life cycle whereas other societies find different ways of socialising the young and managing generational tension. Among the Maasai, the stages are marked by a series of graduation and retirement ceremonies that emphasize the growing cohesion of the generational group and its changing relation to others.

I use three texts on the Massai murran with upper level or seminar classes dealing with youth, either in a specifically African context or more generally in world history. The first is a travel account entitled Through Masai Land by Joseph Thompson. The second is an official report written by Clarence Buxton, District Commissioner, Narok, to the Officer in Charge on the Masai Reserve in July 1935 after a murran riot. The third contains field notes from interviews with elders about events under colonization. The interviews were conducted by historian Richard Waller and took place in 1973.

Since the texts are, essentially, about the way that social maturation is controlled and contested, there are comparative possibilities. I ask students to consider the contrasting natures of the types of sources and to think about how they might be contextualized and assessed. The variety of sources and their separation in time—from 1880 to 1973—offer a number of critical perspectives about processes of change.

How I Introduce the Sources

I generally introduce primary materials towards the middle of a course. Students need to acquire a degree of familiarity with the subject matter before they can make full use of unfamiliar materials. As they gain confidence, their grasp improves and they begin to understand the importance of primary sources for historians and become engaged in the process of interpretation. They learn how to "listen" to a text – for what it is not saying as well as what it is saying. In the process, they learn how to identify and analyze bias and subtexts.

Students read the texts before class discussion. I generally divide a class into a number of small working groups. Each is given either one text or one theme to explore in depth. Because all group members have read the three different texts, we are able to discuss how primary sources, like the secondary literature, have an internal logic that only appears if the entire text is examined.

Reading the Sources

I provide background material and present some of the ideas leading to the major theme of youth culture and its context through an interrogation of its construction. I also pose preliminary questions for students to think about when reading these sources. For example, I ask students why Thomson places young men center-stage in his travel account, with only a few dismissive paragraphs about middle-aged men. Were these young men, the murran, simply more visible, assertive, and flamboyant? Why the long descriptions of dress? Does this reflect readers' expectations of the exotic or the essence of murranhood as experienced by the Massai? Was Thomson more confident in describing what he saw than what he was told (through interpreters)?

I then ask for comparisons with the second document, the 1935 report written by Clarence Buxton, the British official who served as District Commissioner in Narok after a murranriot. Murran are still central, but does he see them in quite the same romantic way? Have they become archaic obstacles to progress? Has Buxton, any more than Thomson, sufficient understanding of language and culture to understand what he is seeing and being told? Comparing this report with Thompson's reminiscences, I ask whether they are really talking about the same thing.

In the third source, the interview field notes, is the elders' understanding of events and their significance different from Buxton's? What were the elders trying to convey to the interviewer about generational relations? I also ask students to consider what shifts occurred over time between these two narratives. Did the aggressive and self-confident warriors of 1880 become the defensive and hostile teenagers of the 1930s? Or did two different authors in two different times interpret the actions of the murran in different ways? What other factors, including external changes as well as the different narrators and kinds of documents, might be involved in these different perceptions?

Reflections

Although anthropologists and historians have not generally done so, it is possible to see murran as youth gangs: Maasai elders and British administrators would not have disagreed. Like gang members elsewhere, Maasai murran create a world and a group identity for themselves apart from "the mainstream."

In some respects, the murran whom Thomson met were not dissimilar from those that Buxton dealt with. In the 1880s, the Maasai had been at the height of their power yet much had changed in the intervening fifty years. Over time, the Maasai lost much of their grazing lands and were confined within a Reserve under colonial rule. Raiding had been outlawed, and the martial virtue of the murran, useful to the British during their conquest of what became Kenya, seemed both archaic and threatening in a time of colonial law and order. The balance of power between murran and elders had also shifted in favour of the latter. Defiant before, angry young men now saw their world threatened and themselves marginalised. They were more obviously subservient to and dependent upon their elders than before.

The Maasai struck back to maintain their honour and their way of life in a series of risings, against a background of calculated disobedience and refusal. After the risings in 1918 and 1922, the British administration decided, in effect, to abolish murranhood, but the attempt failed. By the early 1930s, the administration began to experiment with a modified form of "managed murranhood," allowing young men to be murran for a limited period with supervision.

Sympathetic administrators like Buxton saw that youth must have a space and hoped that its energies and competitiveness might be channelled and controlled by working for the community and perhaps by organised sport. Experience showed, however, that murran could be suppressed but not tamed, and young men, uncertain about their future, continued to "give trouble" to the end of the colonial period and beyond.

. . .[In] X v the United Kingdom (No. 7212/75 referred to above) the Commission found that an objective and reasonable justification existed for the different ages of consent, there being a realistic basis for the Government's opinion that, given the controversial and sensitive nature of the question involved, young men in the 18-21 bracket who were involved in homosexual relationships would be subject to substantial social pressures which could be harmful to their psychological development. . . .

The Commission, however, observes that its Report in X. v. the United Kingdom is now nearly 20 years old. While it is true that the views expressed in that Report have been subsequently repeated, it is also true that major changes have in the meantime occurred in professional opinions - particularly those of the medical profession - on the subject of the need for the protection of young male homosexuals and on the desirability of introducing an equal age of consent. . . . In particular, . . . the Council of the British Medical Association (BMA), which in 1981 gave evidence to the Policy Advisory Committee that boys and girls of the same age did not possess the same degree of emotional and psychological maturity, observed in 1994 that most researchers now believed that sexual orientation was usually established before the age of puberty in both boys and girls and referred to evidence that reducing the age of consent would be unlikely to affect the majority of men engaging in homosexual activity, either in general or within specific age groups. The BMA Council concluded in its Report that the age of consent for homosexual men should be set at 16 since the then existing law might inhibit efforts to improve the sexual health of young homosexual and bisexual men. . . .

Two such principal arguments emerge from the speeches in Parliament and are adopted and repeated in the Government's submissions. In the first place it is argued that certain young men between the ages of 16 and 18 do not have a settled sexual orientation and that the aim of the law is to protect such vulnerable young men from activities which will result in considerable social pressures and isolation which their lack of maturity might cause them later to repent: it is claimed that the possibility of criminal sanctions against persons aged 16 or 17 is likely to have a deterrent effect and give the individual time to make up his mind. Secondly, it is argued that society is entitled to indicate its disapproval of homosexual conduct and its preference that children follow a heterosexual way of life.

The Commission does not consider that either argument offers a reasonable and objective justification for maintaining a different age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual acts or that maintaining such a differential age is proportionate to any legitimate aim served thereby. As to the former argument, as was conceded in the Parliamentary debates, current medical opinion is to the effect that sexual orientation is fixed in both sexes by the age of 16 and that men aged 16-21 are not in need of special protection because of the risk of their being "recruited" into homosexuality. . . .

As to the second ground relied on - society's claimed entitlement to indicate disapproval of homosexual conduct and its preference for a heterosexual lifestyle - the Commission cannot accept that this could in any event constitute an objective or reasonable justification for inequality of treatment under the criminal law. . . .

Consequently, the Commission finds that no objective and reasonable justification exists for the maintenance of a higher minimum age of consent to male homosexual, than to heterosexual, acts. . . .

Petitioner, then a 17 1/2-year-old male, was charged with violating California's "statutory rape" law, which defines unlawful sexual intercourse as "an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a female not the wife of the perpetrator, where the female is under the age of 18 years." Prior to trial, petitioner sought to set aside the information on both state and federal constitutional grounds, asserting that the statute unlawfully discriminated on the basis of gender since men alone were criminally liable thereunder.

JUSTICE REHNQUIST, joined by CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER, JUSTICE STEWART, and JUSTICE POWELL, concluded that the statute does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

(a) Gender-based classifications are not "inherently suspect" so as to be subject to so-called "strict scrutiny," but will be upheld if they bear a "fair and substantial relationship" to legitimate state ends. Because the Equal Protection Clause does not "demand that a statute necessarily apply equally to all persons" or require "things which are different in fact . . . to be treated in law as though they were the same," a statute will be upheld where the gender classification is not invidious, but rather realistically reflects the fact that the sexes are not similarly situated in certain circumstances.

(b) One of the purposes of the California statute in which the State has a strong interest is the prevention of illegitimate teenage pregnancies. The statute protects women from sexual intercourse and pregnancy at an age when the physical, emotional, and psychological consequences are particularly severe. Because virtually all of the significant harmful and identifiable consequences of teenage pregnancy fall on the female, a legislature acts well within its authority when it elects to punish only the participant who, by nature, suffers few of the consequences of his conduct.

(c). . . a gender-neutral statute would frustrate the State's interest in effective enforcement, since a female would be less likely to report violations of the statute if she herself would be subject to prosecution. The Equal Protection Clause does not require a legislature to enact a statute so broad that it may well be incapable of enforcement.

Why I Taught the Source

National and state level world history curricula include study of 20th-century political and economic regimes, namely communism and capitalism. As students learn about these political ideologies and economic systems, they often embrace black and white thinking. They are easily persuaded that communist societies were (are) totalitarian and unjust while capitalist societies were (are) democratic and just. This thinking may be supported by learning about the activities of state security agencies, secret police, and other arms of the state that sustained communist regimes through intimidation and terror.

Under these circumstances, though, how can students explain the trauma and confusion many people of central and eastern Europe experienced after the collapse of communism in 1989? How can they make sense of the continuing appeal of communist parties and ideals in many central and eastern European societies? By examining a source that focuses on youth organizations in East Germany, students can develop a more nuanced view of communist society. It helps students see that communist organizations offered positive experiences that supported values they share. This helps students develop empathy for individuals who lived under communism, and paves the way for understanding the enthusiasm with which some individuals lived in communism, and the ambivalence many experienced at its end.

How I Introduce the Source

To introduce this topic, I ask students to identify the youth groups that exist in our democratic society (Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, community-based organizations, etc.). We talk about why young people participate in the organizations (have fun, be with friends). We talk about the symbols and rituals of the organizations (uniforms, pledges, moving up ceremonies, bronze/silver/gold awards in Girl Scouts, Eagle Scout award in Boy Scouts) and their social meanings. We also talk about the kinds of activities young people participate in through the groups.

I explain that communist societies had similar organizations in addition to the official organizations of the communist party with which students are already somewhat familiar. I explain that in the German Democratic Republic, elementary and middle school students (using American terminology) belonged to a group called the Ernst Thälmann Pioneers, while students in high school and older (again, using American terminology) belonged to a group called the Young Pioneers. Children generally joined the organizations through school. They received uniforms, met regularly, and participated in activities including recreation, community service, day trips, camping and other excursions.

Reading the Source

The source is set up almost like a catechism, in a "call and response" format. I have one or more students take turns reading the statements in bold type, while the other students in the class respond out loud with the statements in regular type. After reading the source out loud, the students work in groups to summarize its main ideas and to discuss questions such as: What are the values conveyed by the source (pride, respect, discipline, cleanliness)? Who or what should Thälmann Pioneers love, respect, or honor (their parents, the Soviet Union, their bodies, health)? What is the main symbol of the Thälmann Pioneers, and what does it stand for (the red scarf, the working class). What other themes or main ideas can the students find here (opposing imperialists, loving peace, study and learning, etc). I have students chart or list their observations, then comment on them. What, if anything, do they agree with? What, if anything, do they disagree with?

Reflections

To reflect, I ask students to return to the conversation we had prior to our study of the source, and think again about youth groups in the United States. I ask, rhetorically, who wouldn't want to be a part of an organization that all your friends were a part of, that conveyed such positive values, and offered fun activities and service? Students overwhelmingly embrace the idea of the Thälman Pioneers. Then we discuss some of the differences between American youth groups and comparable organizations in communist societies.

The first divergence is the intense social and political pressure to join, as well as disadvantages experienced by those who did not participate (being left out, ostracism, pressures felt by parents at work, limits placed on educational and professional opportunities later in life). Second, youth groups in communist societies had a strong political dimension (refer to the students' analysis for examples). Third, for these reasons, communist youth groups served to coordinate and indoctrinate youth in values and ideals that supported the state regime.

Students begin to see that the picture is no longer black and white—even among East German youth. The youth groups offered fun, social experiences for young people—yet participation was almost compulsory. In addition, it was very hard for many people to experience the problems of daily life in communist society and at the same time embrace the positive beliefs included in propaganda such as this. Many young people participated in communist youth groups with a high degree of cynicism, which, in the long run, served to undermine the state.

I find students are very responsive to the source and the conversations we have about it. They appreciate the insight into the daily life of young people in a communist society. Many become curious about this and other youth organizations. They may make comparisons to youth groups under National Socialism, if they learned about them previously. This is a rich, interesting activity for high school students that sharpens critical thinking by drawing upon an already familiar aspect of youth culture.