Meru People were created by God somewhere (in the Holy Bible in the Garden of Eden) and they lived there until the day they crossed the Red Sea into Egypt where they lived until the day they were forced out of Egypt by some enemy. The fact is that, Ameru people were the original inhabitants of Egypt and the builders of the Pyramids (Mbiira in Kimeru language). Due to their expertise, they were chased out of Egypt by the Libyan mercenaries and Mohammedans when they invaded Egypt to spread their Muslim religion around AD 750.When Ameru left Egypt, they left in a hurry and out of pressure and fear, because they never wanted to be traced by the enemy. That is why in Egypt, no one knows for sure who were the original inhabitants of Egypt even today. On their way, they encountered many, many hardships and many generations died on the way (in the wilderness) with all the knowledge they had acquired in Egypt. The had to start from the scratch to gain some knowledge once again.At last, they traveled through Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mtito Andei in Kenya to Manda Island (Mboa) around AD 910. There they lived in peace until the day they were once again disturbed by a new enemy they called NGUUNTUNE (red clothes), the Portuguese, who started to hunt them for slaves to export to America.When the new enemy subdued the community and started to make harsh demands upon the people, they decided to escape from the Island and seek new homes elsewhere. That was around AD 1560's when they succeeded to escape out of the Island after which they found their way to Meru, their present home.Their journey from Mboa to Meru was another difficult journey that fatigued the community where many of their giants and men of valor perished in defense of their people against the wild animals that teamed the region. It is at that region where they encountered some enemies who teased them and gave them courage to fight on for existence.Finally, they reached Meru region where they settled and found peace to share in their different sub tribes and clans. Today, Meru community are social and hospitable people who can be relied upon by other communities. Their history is open and interesting to read. Read to know why, how and when they settled in their lovely Home Lands.

Besides searching book reviews, an interview with the writer Tijan M. Sallah, a full report on the 6th Ethiopian International Film Festival, and a stimulating selection of creative writing (including a showcase of recent South African poetry), this issue of Matatu offers general essays on African women’s poetry, anglophone Cameroonian literature, and Zimbabwean fiction of the Gukurahundi period, along with studies of J.M. Coetzee, Kalpana Lalji, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Aminata Sow Fall, Wole Soyinka, and Yvonne Vera. The bulk of this issue, however, is given over to coverage of cultural and sociological topics from North Africa to the Cape, ranging from cultural identity in contemporary North Africa, two contributions on Kenyan naming ceremonies and initiation songs, and three studies of the function of Shona and Ndebele proverbs, to national history in Zimbabwean autobiography, traditional mourning dress of the Akans of Ghana, and the precolonial origins of traditional leadership in South Africa. Contributors: Jude Aigbe Agho, Nasima Ali, Uchenna Bethrand Anih, Aboneh Ashagrie, Francis T. Cheo, Gordon Collier, Abdel Karim Daragmeh, Geoffrey V. Davis, Nozizwe Dhlamini, Kola Eke, Phyllis Forster, Frances Hardie, James Hlongwana, Pede Hollist, John M. Kobia, Samuelson Freddie Khunou, Mea Lashbrooke, María J. López, Brian Macaskill, Evans Mandova, Richard Sgadreck Maposa, Michael Mazuru, Corwin L. Mhlahlo. Zanoxolo Mnqobi Mkhize, Kobus Moolman, Thamsanqa Moyo, Felix M. Muchomba, Collins Kenga Mumbo, Tabitha Wanja Mwangi, Bhekezakhe Ncube, Christopher Joseph Odhiambo, Ode S. Ogede, H. Oby Okolocha, Wumi Raji, Dosia Reichhardt, Rashi Rohatgi, Kamal Salhi, Ekremah Shehab, Faith Sibanda, John A Stotesbury, Nick Mdika Tembo, Kenneth Usongo, Wellington Wasosa.

This collection brings together a carefully curated selection of researchers from law, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, social ontology and international relations, in order to examine how law and custom interact within specific material and spatial contexts. Normativity develops within these contexts, while also shaping them. This complex relationship exists within all physical places from traditional agrarian spaces to the modern shifting post-industrial workplace. The contributions gathered together in this volume explore numerous examples of such spaces from different disciplinary perspectives to interrogate the dynamic relationship between custom and law, and the material spaces they inhabit. While there are a dynamic series of conclusions regarding this relationship in different material realities, a common theme is pursued throughout: a proper understanding of law and custom stems from their material locatedness within the power dynamics of particular spaces, which, in turn, are reflexively shaped by that same normativity. The book thus generates an account of the locatedness of law and custom, and, indeed, of custom as a source of law. In this way, it provides a series of linked explorations of normative spaces, but, more fundamentally, it also furnishes a cross-disciplinary toolkit of concepts and critical tools for understanding law and custom, and their relationship. As the diversity of the contributors indicates, this book will be of great interest to legal theorists of different traditions, also legal historians and anthropologists, as well as sociologists, historians, geographers and developmental economists.

Rabbi on the Ganges: A Jewish-Hindu Encounter is the first work to engage the new terrain of Hindu-Jewish religious encounter. The book offers understanding into points of contact between the two religions of Hinduism and Judaism. Providing an important comparative account, the work illuminates key ideas and practices within the traditions, surfacing commonalities between the jnana and Torah study, karmakanda and Jewish ritual, and between the different Hindu philosophic schools and Jewish thought and mysticism, along with meditation and the life of prayer and Kabbalah and creating dialogue around ritual, mediation, worship, and dietary restrictions. The goal of the book is not only to unfold the content of these faith traditions but also to create a religious encounter marked by mutual and reciprocal understanding and openness.

From the time Buddhism entered the mythical land of the snows, Tibetans have expressed their spiritual devotion and celebrated their culture with dance. This book--lavishly illustrated with color and rare historic photographs depicting the dances, costumes, and masks--is the first to explore the significance and symbolism of the sacred and secular ritual dances of Tibetan Buddhism.