Somali Bantu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Somali Bantu (also called Jareer by ethnic Somalis) are a minority ethnic group in Somalia, a country largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis. Bantus primarily reside in southern Somalia, near the Jubba and Shebelle rivers. They are the descendants of people from various Bantu ethnic groups in what are modern-day Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique who were brought to Somalia as slaves in the 19th century.
Those Bantu are not to be confused with the members of Swahili society in coastal towns – like the Bravanese or the Bajuni of Kismaayo – who speak the Bantu language Swahili.
It is estimated that the Bantu of Somalia number around 600,000 out of a total population of over 11 million.
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[edit] History
From 1800 to 1890, between 25,000–50,000 black African slaves are thought to have been sold from the slave market of Zanzibar to the Somali coast. Most of them were from the Yao, Makua, Chewa (Nyanja), Zigula, Ngidono and Zaramo ethnic groups.
In the 1840s, the first fugitive slaves from the Shebelle valley began to settle in the Jubba valley. By the early 1900s, an estimated 35,000 former Bantu slaves settled there.
The Italian colonial administration abolished slavery in Somalia at the turn of the 20th century. Some Bantu groups, however, remained enslaved well until the 1930s, and continued to be despised and discriminated against by large parts of Somali society.
The Bantus were also conscripted to forced labor on Italian-owned plantations since the Somalis themselves were averse to what they deemed menial labor, and because the Italians viewed the Somalis as racially superior to the Bantu.
While upholding the perception of Somalis as distinct from and superior to the European construct of "black Africans", both British and Italian colonial administrators placed the Jubba valley population in the latter category. Colonial discourse described the Jubba valley as occupied by a distinct group of inferior races, collectively identified as the WaGosha by the British and the WaGoscia by the Italians. Colonial authorities administratively distinguished the Gosha as an inferior social category, delineating a separate Gosha political district called Goshaland, and proposing a "native reserve" for the Gosha.[1]
[edit] Contemporary situation
Bantus simply refer to themselves as Bantu. Like the Somali, many of them speak the Somali language. Only a minority have retained their own identity and language called Mushungulu. The majority have converted to Islam but many still practice their ancestral animist traditions. Unlike the Somalis, most of whom are nomadic herders, the Bantu are mainly sedentary farmers. Sharp physical differences also distinguish the Bantus from Somalis. The former have darker skin and are shorter and more muscular with broader features and kinkier hair than the Somalis.[2]
During the Somali Civil War, many Bantu were evicted from their lands by various armed factions of Somali clans. Being visible minorities and possessing little in the way of firearms, the Bantu were especially vulnerable to violence and looting by gun-toting militiamen.
[edit] Refugees
Fearing war and famine, tens of thousands of Bantus fled to refugee camps like Kakuma and Dadaab in neighboring Kenya with most vowing never to return to Somalia. Around 12,000 Bantu are presently being resettled to the USA with the help of the UNHCR.
In the year 2000, the United States classified the Bantu as a priority and began preparations for resettlement to select cities throughout the United States. Among those, it is known that Salt Lake City, Utah received about 1,000 Bantu refugees. Other cities in the Southwest such as Denver, Colorado and Tucson, Arizona have received a few thousand as well. In New England, Manchester, New Hampshire and Burlington, Vermont have seen an influx of Bantus numbering in the hundreds. Plans to resettle the Bantu in smaller towns, such as Holyoke, Mass., and Cayce, S.C., were scrapped after local protests. The resettlement patterns are in contrast to those of ethnic Somalis whom are concentrated in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Columbus, Ohio, Washington, DC, Atlanta, San Diego, Boston, and Seattle with a notable presence in Maine.
The Tanzanian government has also begun granting Bantus citizenship and land in areas of Tanzania where their ancestors are known to have been removed from.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Catherine Lowe Besteman, "Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery", (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), p. 120
- ^ Refugees Vol. 3, No. 128, 2002 UNHCR Publication Refugees about the Somali Bantu
- ^ Tanzania accepts Somali Bantus
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
About Somali Bantu refugees in the U.S.:
