Background

The Bantu-speaking Gusii people (also called Kisii) occupy what is probably Kenya's most fertile and abundantly-watered district, the Kisii Highlands, 50km east of Lake Victoria. Rising to around 2000 metres, the hills and steep ravines are also one of the most densely populated areas of Kenya, with an average of 500 people per square kilometre, with a peak of 729 recorded in 1989 (probably much more now). Until the ravages of AIDS hit western Kenya, the Gusii also had one of the fastest growing populations in the world. The effect of all this, not surprisingly, has been far from pacific. Kisii town is now Kenya's second most violent place, after Nairobi; instances of mob justice in the form of lynching suspected witches, for example, surged in the 1990s, and the unemployment rate remains one of the country's highest.

Their history isn't any more peaceful, being an unfortunate litany of flight from stronger and more aggressive enemies such as the Luo and Maasai. Yet somehow, despite centuries of having been scattered about western Kenya through force of arms, their identity and their social cohesion has remained intact.
To be honest, the multiple paradox that is the Gusii only began to make sense to me while I was working on this website section: Indeed, some might even say that all these problems are what made the Gusii who they are today: some of the most charming, open and friendly people I was to come across in Kenya.

Facts & Figures

Also known as: Gusii, Abagusii, Kisii,Kosova, Ekegusii. They are different from Kisi of Tanzania. The name appears to come from Gwassi, which is a location on the shore of Lake Victoria.

Ethnic group: Western Bantu (Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Southern Bantu, Narrow Bantu). With the exception of their Kuria near-neighbours, they are now isolated from other Bantu-speakers.

Neighbouring tribes: Luo, Kipsigis, Nandi, Maasai, Kuria (separated by a narrow strip occupied by Luo), Suba.

Language: Kisii. 15% to 25% literate.

Population: 1,582,000 (1994), up from 1,318,409 (1989). Their region is one of the most densely populated areas of Kenya, and the Gusii constitute the country's sixth largest ethnic group, comprising around 6.3% of the national population. They are the second largest ethnic group in Nyanza, after the Luo.

Location: The fertile and abundantly-watered Kisii (or Gusii) Highlands, 50km east of Lake Victoria, Kisii District, Nyanza Province, in southwestern Kenya. The main river is the Kuja and its tributaries. Total land area is about 800 square kilometres. The altitude reaches over 2000 metres, and averages about 1850 metres above sea level.

Way of life: Agriculture par excellence, both food and cash crops. Traditional food crops include millet, sorghum, yams, pumpkins and some vegetables. All manner of fruits are grown in abundance, including exotic varieties (for Kenya) such as apples and oranges. Fishiung and considerable cattle herding was practised before the Gusii were pushed up into the hills by the Luo.The Gusii are also known for their soapstone carvings.

Religion: 82% Christian, 18% traditional religion.

The Kisii, or Gusii, claim Mogusii as their founder, and have taken their name from him. From Mogusii they track back to his gre

at-great-great-grandfather Kintu (alias Muntu, Mundu or Wantu) as the leader of the migration of the Bantu. The ancestral Gusii population entered western Kenya from Uganda and then moved on from the foothills of Mount Elgon towards their present lands. On the way, for two generations, they stayed at Goye Bay, by Lake Victoria then they moved first to the Kano plains and later, to their present location due to the expansion of the Luo and the Maasai and Kuria from 1540 to the colonial times.

When in the plains the Gusii experienced a process of evolution from individual family units, sufficient unto themselves, towards more inclusive groupings, interdependent membership in larger entities with distinct identities. Clans began to come into being. Association during the migration from Kisumu under the different warrior leaders resulted in the eventual development of sub-groups amongst the Gusii, and these in turn incorporated the clans. A family head was still responsible for making the daily decisions in and around his homestead, but a clan leadership was starting to emerge in the person of the most senior member of the most influential family. Clan and subgroup consciousness of membership in entities with distinct identities was fostered by the identification of group founders with animal totems - leopards, zebras, etc. Kinship and membership in the same totem group became synonymous. The Kisii Highlands, fifty kilometres from LakeVictoria and two thousand metres above sea levelare now where the Gusii live. The hills may seem cold, but they are fertile, and watered with close to a metre and a half of rain.The Gusii exploit their highland environment for cash crops, such as pyrethrum and tea, and for other agricultural products, such as millet, maize, cassava, bananas and much else. Little uncultivated land remains. Kisii District is one of the most densely populated areas of Kenya, with 304 people per square kilometre. The Gusii have undergone great changes environmental, economic and other - in the course of their cultural evolution. Yet certain traits from the past persist.
Whenever and wherever possible, livestock is still kept. Children continue to be initiated into adulthood and into the Gusii as a group by circumcision and clitoridectomy. The crafts of basketry and pottery are practised throughout Gusii. Like the crafts of making lyres and other musical instruments, they may have been influenced generations ago originally by the Luo. Perhaps the best known products of their crafts are the soapstone carvings and the "Kisii stool," on the seat of which are embedded coloured beads in decorative patterns.
In general Gusii culture is a blend of their own ancestral Bantu-speaking one of traits contributed by Luo speakers, and of lesser influences assimilated from the Maasai and Kipsigis