Warning to Travellers

Publication Instance Details #1159

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	No	No	No	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies Displacement/Forced Migration Indigenous Rights (incl. culture & language)
Languages	English
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	The speaker of the poem describes the displacement and disenfranchisement of the Maasai people, who originate from South Kenya and North Tanzania. In this poem, the Maasai have been forced off their traditional lands. This is likely in reference to 10,000 acres of Maasai pastoral land in the Loliondo district of Tanzania being sold off to Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) to cultivate wheat and barley, in the 1980s. In this poem, the speaker describes how the Maasai attempt to keep their traditions and place names alive in their new living areas, despite the unfamiliarity of the place. The speaker acknowledges that without their names and traditions, the Maasai fear losing 'the shape of their souls'.