Loma people
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 309,000[citation needed] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Guinea | 144,000[1] |
 Liberia | 165,000[2] |
| Languages | |
| Loma,French,English | |
| Religion | |
| Traditional,Christianity,Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mende people,Kpelle people,Kissi people,Mano people,Vai people,Kono people,Gbandi people | |
TheLoma people,sometimes calledLoghoma,Looma,LormaorToma,are aWest Africanethnic groupliving primarily in mountainous, sparsely populated regions near the border betweenGuineaandLiberia.[3][4]Their population was estimated at 330,000 in the two countries in 2010.[5]They are closely related to theMende people.[4]
The Loma speaka languagein the Southwestern branch of theMande languages,belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages. The language is similar to theKpelle,Mende,Vai,andBandilanguages.[3]The Loma refer to their language asLöömàgòòi[lɔːmàɡòːi]or Löghömàgòòi[lɔɣɔmàɡòːi]).[3]The Loma people, led by Wido Zobo and assisted by a Loma weaver named Moriba, developed a writing script for their language in the 1930s.[5]This writing script contains at least 185 characters.[6]
TheMandinka,Koniaka,andKissirefer to the Loma asToma.[1][3]Loma refer to themselves as Löömàgìtì (IPA:[lɔːmàɡìtì],or Löghömagiti[lɔɣɔmaɡiti]in Guinea).[3]They have retained their Traditional Religion, and resisted the Islamic jihads. The Loma people called the religious conflict withMandinka peopleas a historic 'rolling war'.[7]
The Loma people are notable for their large wooden masks that merge syncretic animal and human motifs. These masks have been a part of theirPorosecret rites of passage. The largest masks are about six feet high, contain feather decorations and believed by Loma to have forest spirits.[8]
The Loma people farm rice, but in shifting farms. They are exogamous people, with patrilineal social organization in matters related to inheritance, succession and lineage affiliations with one-marriage rule. Joint families, or virilocal communities are common, wherein families of brothers settle close to each other.[9]
The Loma people are also referred to asBuzi,Buzzi,Logoma,Toale,Toali,Toa,orTooma.[10]
Loma patronyms
[edit]| Loma surnames |
|
|---|
Notable Loma people
[edit]- Louis Lansana Béavogui,former prime minister of Guinea from 1972 to 1984
- Joshua Guilavogui,French footballer
- K. Guilavogui,Guinean politician
- Michel Guilavogui,Guinean footballer
- Mohamed Guilavogui,Malian footballer
- Morgan Guilavogui,French footballer
- Pépé Guilavogui,Guinean footballer
- Balla Onivogui,Guinean trumpet player
References
[edit]- ^abLewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009)."Toma".Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition.SIL International.
- ^Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009)."Loma".Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition.SIL International.
- ^abcdeLeopold, Robert Selig (1991)."2".Prescriptive Alliance and Ritual Collaboration in Loma Society(Thesis). Indiana University. Archived fromthe originalon 2011-07-16.
- ^abAnthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (2010).Encyclopedia of Africa.Oxford University Press. p. 84.ISBN978-0-19-533770-9.
- ^abFrank Sherman (2010).Liberia: The Land, Its People, History and Culture.New Africa Press. pp. 211–212.ISBN978-9987-16-025-9.
- ^Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (2010).Encyclopedia of Africa.Oxford University Press. p. 552.ISBN978-0-19-533770-9.
- ^Christian K. Højbjerg (2010), Victims And Heroes: Manding Historical Imagination In A Conflict-Ridden Border Region (Liberia-Guinea), inThe Powerful Presence of the Past,Brill Academic,ISBN978-9004191402,pages 273-294
- ^Ayodeji Olukoju (2006).Culture and Customs of Liberia.Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 61–62.ISBN978-0-313-33291-3.
- ^Currens, Gerald E. (1972). "The Loma Avunculate: An Exercise in the Utility of Two Models".Ethnology.11(2). University of Pittsburgh Press: 111–121.doi:10.2307/3773294.JSTOR3773294.
- ^RAMEAU,BnF[1]
