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Mijikenda Peoples
Mijikenda ("the Nine Tribes") are a group of nine related Bantu ethnic groups inhabiting the coast of Kenya, between the Sabaki and the Umba rivers, in an area stretching from the border with Tanzania in the south to the border near Somalia in the north. Archaeologist Chapuruka Kusimba contends that the Mijikenda formerly resided in coastal cities, but later settled in Kenya's hinterlands to avoid submission to dominant Portuguese forces that were then in control. Historically, these Mijikenda ethnic groups have been called the Nyika or Nika by outsiders. It is a derogatory term meaning "bush people." The nine Ethnic groups that make up the Mijikenda peoples are the Chonyi, Kambe, Duruma, Kauma, Ribe, Rabai, Jibana, Giriama, and Digo. The Digo are southern Mijikenda while the others are northern Mijikenda. The Digo are also found in Tanzania due to their proximity to the common border. Culture Each of the Mijikenda groups has a sacred forest, a ''kaya'', which is a place ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mijikenda Language
Mijikenda is a Bantu dialect cluster spoken along the coast of East Africa, mostly in Kenya, where there are 1.9 million speakers (2009 census) but also in Tanzania, where there are 100,000 speakers. The name ''Mijikenda'' means "the nine settlements" or "the nine communities" and refers to the multiple language communities that make up the group. An older, derogatory term for the group is ''Nyika'' which refers to the "dry and bushy country" along the coast. Varieties The New Updated Guthrie List from 2009 lists the following varieties and Guthrie codes as part of the Mijikenda cluster: * E72 – North Mijikenda (Nyika) ** E72a – Giryama yf** E72b – Kauma ** E73c – Chonyi oh** E73d – Duruma ug** E73e – Rabai ** E73F – Jibana ** E72G – Kambe ** E72H – Ribe * E73-732 – South Mijikenda ** E73 – Digo ig** E731 – Segeju eg** E732 – Degere The Degere are former hunter-gatherers like the Cushitic Waata, and are said to have once spoken a Cushitic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duruma
Duruma is a settlement in Kenya's Kwale County. Duruma is the local dialect of Mijikenda language Mijikenda is a Bantu dialect cluster spoken along the coast of East Africa, mostly in Kenya, where there are 1.9 million speakers (2009 census) but also in Tanzania, where there are 100,000 speakers. The name ''Mijikenda'' means "the nine settl .... References Populated places in Coast Province Kwale County {{CoastKE-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oromo People
The Oromo (pron. Oromo language, Oromo: ''Oromoo'') are a Cushitic people, Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya, who speak the Oromo language (also called ''Afaan Oromoo'' or ''Oromiffa''), which is part of the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are the largest List of ethnic groups in Ethiopia, ethnic group in Ethiopia and represent a large portion of Ethiopia's population. The Oromo people traditionally used the ''gadaa'' system as the primary form of governance.Harold G. MarcuA History of Ethiopia University of California Press (1994) pp. 55 Google Books A leader is elected by the ''gadaa'' system and their term lasts eight years, with an election taking place at the end of those eight years. Although most modern Oromos are Muslims and Christians, about 3% practice Waaqeffanna, the native ancient monotheistic religion of Oromos. Origins and nomenclature The Oromo people are one o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shungwaya
Shungwaya (also Shingwaya) is an origin myth of the Mijikenda peoples. Traditions known collectively as the "Shungwaya myth" describe a series of migrations of Bantu peoples dating to the 12th-17th centuries from a region to the north of the Tana River. These Bantu migrants were held to have been speakers of Sabaki Bantu languages. Other Bantu ethnic groups, smaller in number, are also suggested to have been part of the migration. From Shungwaya, the Mount Kenya Bantu (Kamba, Kikuyu, Meru, Embu, and Mbeere) are then proposed to have broke away and migrated from there some time before the Oromo onslaught. Shungwaya appears to have had its heyday as a Bantu settlement area between perhaps the 12th and the 15th centuries, after which it was subjected to a full-scale invasion of Cushitic-speaking Oromo peoples from the Horn of Africa. From the whole corpus of these traditions, it has been argued that Shungwaya comprised a large, multi-ethnic community. The "Zhongli" (中理) of Zha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguistics), variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. Under this definition, the dialects or varieties of a particular language are closely related and, despite their differences, are most often largely Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, especially if close to one another on the dialect continuum. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class or ethnicity. A dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect, a dialect that is associated with a particular ethnic group can be termed an ethnolect, and a geographical/regional dialect may be termed a regiolectWolfram, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convention (norm)
A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated, or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms, or criteria, often taking the form of a custom. In a social context, a convention may retain the character of an "unwritten law" of custom (for example, the manner in which people greet each other, such as by shaking each other's hands). Certain types of rules or customs may become law and sometimes they may be further codified to formalize or enforce the convention (for example, laws that define on which side of the road vehicles must be driven). In outline of physical science, physical sciences, numerical values (such as constants, quantities, or scales of measurement) are called conventional if they do not represent a measured property of nature, but originate in a convention, for example an average of many measurements, agreed between the scientists working with these values. General A convention is a selection from among two or more alternatives, where the rule or alternativ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kigango
''Kigango'' (''plural'': ''vigango'') is a carved wooden memorial statue erected by the Mijikenda peoples of the southeastern Kenya coast. The ''vigango'', which can be stylized, abstracted human-form effigies and are placed vertically rising out of the earth, honor a dead member of the secret Gohu society, or the "Society of the Blessed". They were traditionally allowed to stand until they naturally decomposed, or they were abandoned and replaced at subsequent village locations by a second generation figure known as a ''kibao'' (''plural: vibao''), thereby transferring away whatever spiritual power was thought to remain from the original ''kigango''. This was a natural result of the Mijikenda's centuries old practice of slash and burn agriculture and, subsequently, the periodic changing of village locations. The hard-wood ''kigango'' is approximately life-size and may have been painted. ''Vigango'' have been celebrated and collected by artists and collectors around the world, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance. The sites are judged to contain " cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity". To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be a somehow unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable and has special cultural or physical significance. For example, World Heritage Sites might be ancient ruins or historical structures, buildings, cities, deserts, forests, islands, lakes, monuments, mountains, or wilderness areas. A World Heritage Site may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet, or it might be a place of great natural beauty. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It has 193 member states and 12 associate members, as well as partners in the non-governmental, intergovernmental and private sector. Headquartered at the World Heritage Centre in Paris, France, UNESCO has 53 regional field offices and 199 national commissions that facilitate its global mandate. UNESCO was founded in 1945 as the successor to the League of Nations's International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.English summary). Its constitution establishes the agency's goals, governing structure, and operating framework. UNESCO's founding mission, which was shaped by the Second World War, is to advance peace, sustainable development and human rights by facilitating collaboration and dialogue among nations. It pursues this objective t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaya (Mijikenda)
''Kaya'' (plural ''makaya'' or kayas) is a sacred forest of the Mijikenda people in the former Coast Province of Kenya. The ''kaya'' forest is considered to be an intrinsic source of ritual power and the origin of cultural identity; it is also a place of prayer for members of the particular ethnic group. The settlement, ritual centre, and fortified enclosure associated with the forest are also part of the ''kaya''. In the present day, the ''kaya'' is also referred to as a traditional organizational unit of the Mijikenda. Eleven of the approximately 30 separate ''kaya'' have been grouped together and inscribed as the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Geography More than 50 ''kaya'' have been identified within the Kwale, Mombasa, and Kilifi counties. They measure between 30 and 300 hectares each. These are scattered over a coastal stretch of in the southern coastal plains area of Kenya, between the towns of Mombasa and Kilifi. While visitors are not al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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