Gumuz people
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 250,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Ethiopia | 159,418[1] |
 Sudan | 88,000[2] |
| Languages | |
| Gumuz Dialects Disoha (Desua), Dakunza (Degoja, Dukunza, Gunza, Ganza, Dukuna, Dugunza), Sai, Sese (Saysay), Dekoka, Dewiya, Kukwaya, Gombo, Jemhwa, Modea: 151,000[3] | |
| Religion | |
| Predominatelytraditional faith;minorityChristianity,Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Gule,Kwama,Shita,Uduk,Komo | |
TheGumuz(also spelledGumazandGumz) are an ethnic group speaking aNilo-Saharan languageinhabiting theBenishangul-Gumuz Regionin westernEthiopia,as well as theFazogliregion inSudan.They speak theGumuz language,which belongs to theNilo-Saharanfamily.[citation needed]The Gumuz number around 250,000 individuals.[citation needed]
History
[edit]
The Gumuz have traditionally been grouped with other Nilotic peoples living along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border under the collective nameShanqella(Pankhurst 1977). As "Shanquella", they are already mentioned by Scottish explorerJames Brucein hisTravels to Discover the Source of the Nile,published in 1790. He notes that they hunted with bows and arrows, a custom that survives today.
Most Gumuz members live in a bush-savanna lowland environment. According to their traditions, in earlier times they inhabited the western parts of the province ofGojjam,but were progressively banished to the inhospitable area of theBlue Nileand its tributaries by their more powerfulAfroasiatic-speaking neighbors, theAmharaandAgaw,who also enslaved them (Wolde-Selassie Abbute 2004).Slaverydid not disappear inEthiopiauntil the 1940s. Descendants of Gumuz people taken as slaves to the area just south ofWelkitewere found to still be speaking the language in 1984 (Unseth 1985).
Language
[edit]The Gumuz speak theGumuz language,which belongs to theNilo-Saharanfamily (Bender 1979). It is subdivided in several dialects (Ahland 2004, Unseth 1985).[citation needed]
Demographics
[edit]As of 2024, there were around 159,418 Gumuz people in Ethiopia.[1]Around 88,000 Gumuz people also lived in Sudan.
Total population is around 250,000.
Culture
[edit]The Gumuz practiceshifting cultivationand their staple food issorghum(Wallmark 1981). Cereal crops are kept ingranariesdecorated with clay lumps imitating femalebreasts.Sorghum is used for cookingporridge(nga) and brewingbeer(kea). All the cooking and brewing is carried out in earthen pots, which are made by women. The Gumuz also hunt wild animals, such asduikersandwarthogs,and gatherhoney,wild fruits, roots and seeds. Those living near the Sudanese borderland converted toIslamand a few are Christians, but most Gumuz still maintain traditional religious practices. Spirits are calledmus'aand are thought to dwell in houses, granaries, fields, trees and mountains. They have ritual specialists calledgafea.Originally, all Gumuz adorned their bodies withscarifications,but this custom is disappearing through government pressure and education. All Gumuz are organized inclans.Feuds between clans are common and they are usually solved by means of an institution of conflict resolution, calledmangemaormichu[4]depending on the region. As it used to be among the SudaneseUduk,marriage is throughsister exchange.[5][6][7]
Conflict with highland settlers
[edit]Many changes occurred for the Gumuz people from the 1980s through to the 2010s. There was resettlement of highlanders to their area, particularly linked to the availability of land and water. An example is that settlers were attracted to a large irrigation project along theKusa.Often the Gumuz' lands were allocated to transnational or domestic investors. In several parts of the Gumuz area, the settlers' economy dominated by 2018. Many Gumuz became sedentary while continuing their agricultural system. Though a transit road has been built and commercial farms established in the lower basin the Gumuz people were seen in 2018 as politically "peripheral" in regard to the Ethiopian highlands that hold the power in the country.[8]
In theMetekel conflict,starting in 2019, Gumuz militia were allegedly involved in attacks againstAmhara,Agaw,OromoandShinashacivilians.[9][10][11]
References
[edit]- ^ab"Census 2007"Archived2012-06-04 at theWayback Machine,first draft, Table 5.
- ^"Gumuz".Ethnologue.Retrieved29 September2023.
- ^"Ethnologue"
- ^"SSRR No. 25".www.ossrea.net.Archived fromthe originalon 2005-01-24.
- ^James, W.(1975). Sister-Exchange Marriage. Scientific American, 233(6), 84–94.https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1275-84
- ^James 1986
- ^Klausberger 1975
- ^Nyssen, J. and colleagues (2018). "Persistence and changes in the peripheral Beles basin of Ethiopia".Regional Environmental Change.18(7): 2089–2104.Bibcode:2018REnvC..18.2089N.doi:10.1007/s10113-018-1346-2.hdl:10067/1541370151162165141.S2CID158683399.
- ^"12 killed in latest attack in western Ethiopia".News24.Retrieved2020-12-26.
- ^"Benishangul: At least 60 civilians mostly women, children killed".borkena.com.12 January 2021.Retrieved17 January2021.
- ^"More than 100 killed in latest ethnic massacre in Ethiopia".AP.2020-12-23.Archivedfrom the original on 2020-12-23.Retrieved2020-12-23.
Bibliography
[edit]- Abbute, Wolde-Selassie. 2004.Gumuz and Highland resettlers. Differing strategies of livelihood and ethnic relations in Metekel, Northwestern Ethiopia.Münster: Lit.
- Ahland, Colleen Anne. 2004.Linguistic variation within Gumuz: a study of the relationship between historical change and intelligibility.M.A. thesis. University of Texas at Arlington.
- Ahmad, Abdussamad H. 1995. The Gumuz of the Lowlands of Western Gojjam: The frontier in History 1900-1935.Africa50(1): 53-67.
- Ahmad, Abdussamad H. 1999. Trading in slaves in Bela-Shangul and Gumuz, Ethiopia: border enclaves in history, 1897-1938.Journal of African History40(3): 433-446.
- Bender, M. Lionel.1979. Gumuz: a sketch of grammar and lexicon.Afrika und Übersee62: 38-69.
- Bender, M. Lionel. 1994. Comparative Komuz grammar.Afrika und Übersee77: 31-54.
- Grottanelli, Vinigi, L. 1948. I Preniloti: un’arcaica provincia culturale in Africa.Annali Lateranensi12: 280-326.
- Haberland, Eike.1953. Über einen unbekannten Gunza-stamm in Wallegga.Rassegna di Studi Etiopici12: 139-148.
- James, Wendy. 1975. Sister exchange marriage.Scientific American233(6): 84-94.
- James, Wendy. 1980. “From aboriginal to frontier society in western Ethiopia. InWorking papers on society and history in Imperial Ethiopia: The southern periphery from 1880 to 1974,edited by Donald L. Donham and Wendy James. Cambridge: African Studies Center, Cambridge University Press.
- James, Wendy. 1986. “Lifelines: exchange marriage among the Gumuz”. InThe southern marches of Imperial Ethiopia. Essays in history and social anthropology,edited by D.L. Donham and W. James. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 119-147.
- Klausberger, Friedrich. 1975. Bashanga, das Strafrecht der Baga-Gumuz.Ethnologische Zeitschrift(Zürich) 1: 109-126.
- Pankhurst, Richard.1977. The history of Bareya, Sanquella and other Ethiopian slaves from the borderlands of the Sudan.Sudan Notes and Records58: 1-43.
- Simmoons, Frederick. 1958. The agricultural implements and cutting tools of Begemder and Semyen, Ethiopia.South West Journal of Anthropology14: 386-406.
- Unseth, Peter. 1985. Gumuz: a dialect survey report.Journal of Ethiopian Studies18: 91-114.
- Unseth, Peter. 1989. Selected aspects of Gumuz phonology.Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Ethiopian Studies,Addis Ababa, 1984: 617-32.
- Uzar, Henning. 1993. “Studies in Gumuz: Sese phonology and TMA system”. InTopics in Nilo-Saharan linguistics,edited by M.L. Bender. Hamburg: Helmut Buske: 347-383.
- Wallmark, Peter. 1981. “The Bega (Gumuz) of Wellega: Agriculture and subsistence”. InPeoples and cultures of the Ethio-Sudan borderlands,edited by M.L. Bender. East Lansing: Michigan State University, African Studies Centre: 79-116.
- Zanni, Leone. 1939-40. La Tribù dei Gumus. Note Etnografiche.La Nigrizia.Verona.
External links
[edit]- Field recordings from 1980 of traditional musicof the Gumuz ethnic group in Sudan’sBlue Nile State
