Involvement in Tourism and Bodily Changes: Long Braided Hair and Beaded Neck of the Pastoral Samburu

The body of the pastoral Samburu of northern Kenya is in the process of reorganization. Under the tourism context their beaded adornments or their “traditional” appearances become commoditized. In this presentation I will introduce examples of heavily beaded neck, long braided hair, and holed earlobes, etc., which have played significant role to indicate the persons’ social and ritual status, are now drastically changing in their meanings. I indicate the process that the interaction with the tourists, for example, makes people redefine their body parts and manipulate their ethnic or personal identity.