The Bantu Tiriki of Western Africa

Scan of the second chapter in Gibbs, Peoples of Africa, 1st edition. This chapter was not included in subsequent editions.The Tiriki are one of twenty-two politically discrete, Bantu-speaking tribes living in the North Nyanza and Elgon districts of Nyanza Province, Kenya. These tribes in effect form a linguistic and cultural sub-area where closely related dialects are spoken, common bonds of kinship are recognized, and a large core of common customs and values prevails. In recent years they have becomes known collectively as the Abaluyia or Luyia. Their sense of similarity and communality is enhanced by their being surrounded on almost all sides by alien Nilotic and “Nilo-Hamitic” peoples. Today, they are emerging as a distinctive political bloc in Kenyan affairs