Maasai Tourist Experiences, The New Colonialism or East African Pastoralist Adaptation

I just finished reading Maasai on the Lawn: Tourist Realism in East Africa - it tells of the Maasai "moran" (junior warrior age-set) who performed at the Mayers Ranch in Kenya where  gives tribalism and colonialism second life bringing them back as representations of themselves in economy of performance

There are a few major themes to the paper on the Mayers Ranch and that Maasai moran that performed there for tourists that gave me the most to think about. The first is that of the colonial undertones of the experience which to some has moral implications - even I have to admit looking at this as an outsider this has a bit the appearance of a zoo. On the other hand, through their relationship with the Mayers, the Maasai that live there gain access to land and water as well as a regular income for food and cattle. This economic and social decision by these particular Maasai was likely only one aspect of their adaptation to the new Kenyan landscape and economy. With access to lands threatened during colonial and post independence rule, this would have threatened their livestock keeping abilities and possibly secure places to build the manyattas for the moran. As an alternative to going to a more urban location to make a living, the Mayers Ranch allowed them to affirm their cultural identity and subsist by their traditional modes which the Maasai have been vocal about wanting to protect. That being said, while this might have been incongruous for some tourists and the modern Kenyan government, I don't know necessarily that this can be simply perceived in terms of unequal distribution of power between the Mayers and the Maasai, at least it would not have been so by the participants. The Maasai were not servants in the home, they performed and sold their handiwork as souvenirs, retaining all profits from the sale of spears and jewellery.