Vol. 33 No. 4 (2024): NJAS Special Issue: Framing Difference in Age and Generation in Africa
Special Issue: Framing Difference in Age and Generation in Africa

The Linguistic and Discursive Construction of Age Grades Among Maasai Women

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  • Sabrina Msangi
Sabrina Msangi
University of Cologne

Published 2026-09-15

Keywords

  • Age-set system,
  • age grades,
  • socio-temporal location,
  • Masaai women,
  • s-tFoRs

Copyright (c) 2024 Sabrina Msangi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

The Linguistic and Discursive Construction of Age Grades Among Maasai Women. (2026). Nordic Journal of African Studies, 33(4), 448–467. https://doi.org/10.53228/kn25ce72

Abstract

This article explores the socio-temporal dimensions of Kisongo Maasai women’s age grades and their entanglement with the male age-set system. Although Maasai women lack an institutionalized age-set system, their age grades are linguistically and culturally constituted to serve as socio-temporal frames of reference (s-tFoRs) that allow people to position women as they traverse the life course. These age grades - endito, esyangiki, endasat, and engoko – anchor women’s social positions and responsibilities relative to the age-set system. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Tanzania, this article analyses the narratives and experiences of a woman named Ninalenyo to illuminate how seniority and social status are negotiated among contemporary Maasai women. By situating Ninalenyo’s experiences within broader anthropological discourses on gender and age, this paper highlights critical roles in sustaining and shaping the Maasai socio-cultural system. The article concludes by showing that in the life of Maasai women, age grades serve as a crucial, seniority-based organizational element that defines and interrelates different women and is organized by women (not men).

Editorial note: This article was appended to the Special Issue  “Framing Difference in Age and Generation in Africa” in August 2026.

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