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

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.