In the
African Great Lakes region, the clan is a unit of social organisation. It is the oldest societal structure in the region, other than family and direct lineage. The structure is found in modern-day
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
,
Burundi
Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...
,
Tanzania and
Uganda.
Etymology
The term ''clan'' was first used in the nineteenth century by Europeans, due to the similarities to other
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
systems found across the world. The people of the area use a variety of vernacular terms to describe the concept: ''ubwoko'' in Rwanda, ''umuryango '' in Burundi, ''ruganda'' in the
Bunyoro and
Buhaya kingdoms, ''igise'' in
Buha, ''ishanja'' in
Buhavu and ''ebika'' in Buganda.
Description
Clan membership is a loose concept, with the correlation to lineage based more on oral tradition and personal belief than on concrete evidence. Clan members have dispersed over time, and are no longer associated with particular regions. Clans differ somewhat in their nature from country to country: in Rwanda the clan is a very structured unit, with twenty in total, themselves divided into subclans. The same holds in Nkore, which has only four clans.
Notes
References
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Clans
History of Africa