Surma people

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Surma (Suri, Mursi, Me'en)
Total population

80,000 (1998)
Regions with significant populations
Ethiopia and Sudan
Languages
Suri (suq), Mursi (muz) & Me'en (mym)
Religion
Traditional, some Christian
Related ethnic groups
Kwegu of Ethiopia, and
Didinga, Murle and Tennet of Sudan

Surma is the Ethiopian government's collective name for the Suri, the Mursi and the Me'en. Altogether they number about 80 thousand people. There is no current census. All three speak language of the southeast branch of the Surmic language cluster. Some have used the terms "Suri" and "Surma" interchangeably (Unseth 1997), or for contradictory purposes, so readers should note carefully what group an author is referring to.

Suri or Shuri is the name of a sedentary pastoral people and its Nilo-Saharan language in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR) in Ethiopia, to the Sudan border, and across the border in Sudan. Some are located west of Mizan Teferi.[1] Population: 20,622 (1998 est.).[1]

Mursi or Murzu is the name of a closely related sedentary pastoral people whose language (Mursi) is over 80% cognate with Suri.[1] They are located next to the Suri in the center of the SNNPR and the lowlands southwest of Jinka in the Debub Omo Zone.[2] The Mursi do not regard themselves as Surma, despite the cultural and linguistic similarities.[3]Population: 3,258 (1998 census).[2] Anthropologist David Turton estimates the Mursi Population at 6-10,000.[4]

Me'en is the name of a closely related sedentary pastoral people whose language (Me'en) is over 80% cognate with Mursi. They are located in and around Bachuma, and in lowlands to the south, near the Omo River. Population: 56,585 (1998 census)[5]

Contents

[edit] Shared culture

All three peoples share a similar culture. Their homeland is remote, located in desolate mountains, and traditional rivalries with their tribal neighbors such as the Nyangotam have become quite bloody as automatic firearms have become available from the parties in the Sudanese Civil War.[6] The police allow foreigners to travel there only with a hired armed guard.

They have a macho culture, with an obsession for stick fighting called donga bringing great prestige to men - it is especially important when seeking a bride - and they are very competitive, at the risk of serious injury and occasional death. The males are often shaved bald, and frequently wear little or no clothes, even during stick fights.[6]

At a young age, to beautify themselves for marriage, most women have their bottom teeth removed and their bottom lips pierced, then stretched, so as to allow insertion of a clay lip plate. Some women have stretched their lips so as to allow plates up to five inches in diameter.[7] Increasing with exposure to other cultures, however, a growing number of girls now refrain from this practice. Their children are sometimes painted with white clay paint, which may be dotted on the face or body (Beckwith ad Fisher 1991).[6]

Village life is largely communal, sharing the produce of the cattle (milk and blood, as do the Maasai). Though their chief (styled komaro) wears the fur crown of a pagan priest-king, he is merely the most respected elder and can be removed. Few are familiar with Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and their literacy level is very low.[1][2][5]

[edit] Reports of Displacement

According to a tribal peoples advocacy groups (Survival International and Native Solutions to Conservation Refugees), these peoples, particularly the Mursi, are in danger of displacement and denial of access to grazing and agricultural land, by the African Parks Foundation, also known as African Parks Conservation, of the Netherlands.[8][4]

These advocacy groups report that the Surma were coerced by government park officials into thumbprinting documents they could not read. The documents reportedly said the Surma agreed to give up their land without compensation and are being used to legalize the boundaries of the Omo National Park, which African Parks has taken over. This process, when finished, will make the Surma 'illegal squatters' on their own land. A similar fate is befalling the other groups who also live within the park, the Dizi, and the Nyangatom.[9]

In November 2004, it is reported that 463 Guji houses were burned down in Nechisar National Park, Ethiopia, by government park officials and local police. The people had been evicted but were refusing to leave the area after the African Parks Foundation signed an agreement with the government to take over management of the park.[9]

Survival International reports that, "according to the African Parks 2004 annual report, the resettlement of the Kore and Guji people was an internal affair of the Federal and regional governments, and African Parks had no role to play in the matter." [9]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Ethnologue Report: Suri
  2. ^ a b c Ethnologue Report: Mursi
  3. ^ Dimmendaal, Gerrit (2002) "Sociolinguistic survey report on Tirma, Chai, Baale and Mursi." SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2002-033
  4. ^ a b Turton, David (2006) "African Parks Foundation and the Omo National Park"
  5. ^ a b Ethnologue Report: Me'en
  6. ^ a b c Chmielarski, Dariusz (2005) "Shadows of Old Africa" Tripsource.com - Ethiopia
  7. ^ Close, Jánis Miglavs (2005) "Mother Making New Lip Plate, Muris tribe, Omo River region, Ethiopia"
  8. ^ Native Solutions to Conservation Refugees (2006) "Suri, Dizi, Mursi, Me'en, Nyangatom threatened by Ethiopian National Park"
  9. ^ a b c Hurd, Will (8 August 2005) "Ethiopia: Mursi land threatened by government" Survival International

[edit] Sources and references

  • BBC/Discovery Channel TV-docu series Tribe (UK)/Going Tribal (US) showed British explorer Bruce Parry living among them a few weeks
  • Abbink, Jon (1998) 'Ritual and political forms of violent practice among the Suri of southern Ethiopia', Cahiers d'études africaines, 38, cah. 150/152, pp. 271–295.
  • Beckwith, Carol and Angela Fisher (1991). "The eloquent Surma of Ethiopia," National Geographic, 179.2:76-99.
  • Unseth, Peter (1997). "Disentangling the Two Languages Called 'Suri'", Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages, 7:49-69.
  • African Parks Foundation