Sociocultural Dimensions of Children’s Physical Activity in Contemporary Pastoralist Maasai Society

Xiaojie Tian, Tetsuhiro Kidokoro and Francis Mundia Mwangi
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Xiaojie Tian: Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8574, Japan
Tetsuhiro Kidokoro: Faculty of Sport Science, Nippon Sport Science University, Tokyo 158-8508, Japan
Francis Mundia Mwangi: Department of Physical Education, Exercise & Sports Science, Kenyatta University, Nairobi 43844-0010, Kenya

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-12

Abstract: Children’s physical activity (CPA) in low- and middle-income regions has received increasing attention, but research is still very limited. This study explores the CPA in contemporary pastoralist Maasai society in rural Kenya by considering its sociocultural dimensions. The physical activity of 25 children (15 girls and 10 boys) was documented with mixed methods, including an epidemiological assessment of the CPA and semi-structured interviews with the targeted children regarding their daily activities. These methods were integrated with the ethnographic data on children’s socialization in the same area. Results showed a very high level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) of these children with significant gender differences especially outside school. Children reported their continued social participation in local gender–age labor divisions outside of school. As their activities outside school strongly contributed to their empirical learning of local knowledge and skills, a high MVPA plays an active role in enhancing the children’s ability to access and manage livestock and different natural resources. Findings from this study first show that the CPA is not merely physical, but also has significant sociocultural meanings in the process of in situ learning of local wisdom. We call more attention to children’s social roles in future investigations of CPA among less examined populations.

Keywords: pastoralist Maasai children; physical activity; sociocultural roles; subsistence work; outside school activities; gender differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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