Author meeting with Elżbieta Wiejaczka

21 October (Wednesday), 18:00-19:00 How much do we know about today's Maasai? Does their magic work? The author will talk about why it is increasingly difficult for the Maasai to make a living from cattle herding, about their daily hardship of obtaining food and the unusual hardship of childbirth. We will learn whether the Maasai encountered on Zanzibar are authentic, in what circumstances they drink blood, whether female circumcision will ever end, and what draws Maasai and white women to each other. We will also reflect on whether black magic works. This will be a story not only about the Maasai community, but also about the author's fifteen years of friendship with Isaya, the titular Maasai. The book by Elżbieta Wiejaczka will be available for purchase at the meeting. About the author Elżbieta Wiejaczka is an expedition leader, mainly African, a traveler, and an anthropologist. She graduated in biology from AP, philosophy from UJ, ethnology and cultural anthropology from UJ, as well as the Rafalski Press School of Practical Journalism in Kraków. As part of her work she has summited Ras Dashen several times, Jebel Toubkal, and Kilimanjaro multiple times; in her private time she traveled to Maasai ceremonies in Tanzania. Over five months, together with her husband, she cycled across ten African countries (7560 km) as part of their honeymoon (from December 2014 to April 2015), which is documented in the book (co-authored by Tomasz Budzioch) titled "Pięć kilometrów do bomby. Rowerem przez Afrykę" ("Five Kilometers to the Bomb. By Bike Across Africa"). In 2025 she completed her doctoral thesis titled "Turystyka i migracje małżeńskie w postkolonialnym świecie. Antropologiczne studium długotrwałych intymnych relacji Masajów i białych kobiet" ("Tourism and Marriage Migrations in the Postcolonial World. An Anthropological Study of Long-Term Intimate Relationships Between Maasai and White Women") (Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology, UAM), and also published the book "Mój przyjaciel Masaj" ("My Friend Maasai"), which is a record of her more than a dozen years of friendship with Isaya, but also a story about the Maasai, one of the most recognizable ethnic groups in Africa. Link to the article on the Library's website Link to the event on FB