Recreating a religious past in a Muslim setting: ‘Sacrificing’ coffee‐beans among the Waso Boorana of Garba Tulla, Kenya*

Fieldwork in Garba Tulla was conducted during 1987–1988 and during a period of eight months in 1992. The Society of the Divine Word (SVD) provided the funds, while the School of Oriental and African Studies gave me an Additional Fieldwork Award. I am thankful to Paul Baxter, Gudrun Dahl, Paul Spencer and Richard Tapper, who made fruitful comments on this particular material.

The Buna Qalla ceremony is a central ritual practice of the Oromo peoples of East Africa. In the case of the Muslim Waso Boorana the ritual has been transferred to a domestic sphere of local settlements. It is in that context that the ritual can be related to public statements of Boorana identity, and the social importance of women; the ritual being performed so as to create communal ties and to instruct younger generations on the Waso Boorana religious past and traditions. This article explores such ritual statements in the context of the historical and religious changes of the Waso Boorana since 1934.

Notes

Fieldwork in Garba Tulla was conducted during 1987–1988 and during a period of eight months in 1992. The Society of the Divine Word (SVD) provided the funds, while the School of Oriental and African Studies gave me an Additional Fieldwork Award. I am thankful to Paul Baxter, Gudrun Dahl, Paul Spencer and Richard Tapper, who made fruitful comments on this particular material.