The Gorowa, also known as Fyomi are a
Cushitic
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...
ethnic group and Iraqw Comunities inhabiting the
Manyara and
Dodoma regions in
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
. They speak the
Gorowa language
Gorowa is a Cushitic language spoken in Tanzania in the Dodoma and Manyara Region
Manyara Region (''Mkoa wa Manyara'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital is the town of Babati. According to the 20 ...
as a mother tongue, which belongs to the
South Cushitic
The South Cushitic or Rift languages of Tanzania are a branch of the Cushitic languages. The most numerous is Iraqw, with half a million speakers. These languages are believed to have been originally spoken by Southern Cushitic agro-pastoralist ...
branch of the
Afro-Asiatic family. Estimating the Gorowa population is difficult, as ethnic affiliation or language is not recorded in the national census. The number of Gorowa speakers is estimated to be 132,748, though it is important to recognize that some Gorowa people may not speak the language, so this number will not correspond exactly to the population.
Early history
Identification and location
The Gorowa have been in their present location for approximately 250–300 years (about 10 generations).
Demography
The population of the Gorowa at the turn of the previous century was estimated to be between 3000 and 8000 people.
Daily life and culture
Traditional Gorowa belief systems see the natural world as sacred, and a suite of indigenous land management practices, inspired by myth, have developed around this view. Gorowa rituals and social gatherings often take place in forests and sacred groves carefully preserved for these purposes, that large trees (especially ficus) are protected as dwellings of rain-bringing sprits, and various unsustainable land use practices were prohibited.
[Maganga, Faustin Peter. 1995. Local Institutions and Sustainable Resource Management: The case of Babati District, Tanzania. Doctoral dissertation. University of Dar es Salaam.]
References
Ethnic groups in Tanzania
Indigenous peoples of East Africa
Cushitic-speaking peoples
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