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Cecilia Lim | all galleries >> travel >> kenya >> the samburu > The Bachelorette
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21 July 2004 Samburu National Reserve

The Bachelorette

The elaborate head-dress that a Samburu woman wears is not purely for beautification, but it also serves as an "advertisement" that she is still single and available for marriage. The shorter woman next to her is married and hence does not wear one. The Samburu society is a polygamous society where the man can take as many wives as he desires. Whether the man is married to that shorter woman or not, it appears that this attractive, young Samburu female has her eye on him.


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Phil Douglis02-Aug-2005 02:05
Excellent use of selective focus and vantage point to tell the story of what may be the beginning of what could be a courtship. The costume and headdress are incongruous, the man is abstracted, and once again you evoke basic human values: judgement, evaluation and selection.