Rendille (ethnicity)

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The Rendille are an ethnic group in northern Kenya , southeast of Lake Turkana in the Kaisut Desert, to which over 60,000 people belong. They are related to the Somali, allied with the neighboring Samburu and also culturally influenced by the Borana .

history

Until around 1500 the forerunners of today's Rendille, Gabbra , Garre and Sakuye formed a common, linguistically and culturally related group called "Proto-Rendille-Somali" or "Somaloid". From the 16th century the Proto-Rendille-Somali in the area between the rivers Juba and Tana were partly displaced, separated from one another or assimilated to the Oromo by the expansion of the Borana - Oromo . The Rendille are said to have separated from the other Proto-Somali Rendille earliest and to have remained in their traditional area; the Gabbra also stayed behind and joined the Borana, while other Proto-Somali Rendille groups left to evade the Borana. The Rendille took over certain cultural elements from the Borana, but remained politically independent from them and, as the southernmost of the somaloid groups, were able to keep their language and culture relatively intact.

The Sakuye emerged from Rendille and other Proto-Rendille Somali who allied themselves with the Borana. Emigrants from the Rendille also joined the Gabbra and Borana.

Neighboring Muslim communities such as the Somali and Rendille who converted to Islam hold the view that the Rendille descended from Somali brothers who were separated from the rest of Somali, married Samburu women and were coerced by the Samburu to give up Islam .

Todays situation

The Rendille are divided into different subgroups / clans. The real Rendille are the northern or "white Rendille" who traditionally live as nomads with camels and next to them goats and sheep. They are divided into nine clans and next to them the Odoola clan, which holds a special position and probably later joined them.

The southern Rendille or Ariaal are generally counted among the Rendille, but speaking today in addition to the Cushitic languages belong to the Somali related Rendille language well or better the Maa , the Nilotic language of southern neighbor Samburu , from which they also culturally strong are influenced. In addition to camels and small cattle, the Ariaal also keep cattle, which are the most important cattle for the Samburu. They are divided into five clans with Samburu names, four of which also occur with the Samburu; the name of the fifth, Ilturia , means "mixture" in Samburu. Wearing lavish jewelry made of colored pearls and painting the body with red ocher for decoration are common among all Rendille.

Due to drought and cattle theft, a large part of the Rendille has meanwhile become sedentary and partly dependent on food aid .

literature

  • Günther Schlee : Identities on the move: clanship and pastoralism in northern Kenya , Manchester University Press 1989, ISBN 978-0-7190-3010-9 (pp. 9-14, 40-42, 49-51, 99-102, 111 –116, 158, 223)
  • Günther Schlee: Loanwords in Oromo and Rendille as a mirror of past inter-ethnic relations , in: Richard Fardon, Graham Furniss: African Languages, Development and the State , Routledge Chapman & Hall, London 1994, ISBN 978-0-415-09476 -4 (pp. 191-212)
  • Sabine Schwartz: When Laeduma dreams. Nomadic life in Kenya. Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf / Vienna 1980; Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt 1986, ISBN 3-596-23886-2
  • ER Turton: Bantu, Galla and Somali Migrations in the Horn of Africa: A Reassessment of the Juba / Tana Area , in: Journal of African History , 1975
  • Kenya: In the clan of the "Red Camels" . Geo 2/1978, pages 82-102. Verlag Gruner + Jahr, Hamburg, by Günther Schlee with photos by Amos Schliack: "A German became a Rendille, the first white tribal brother of this pastoral people. In 18 months he had to learn a lot."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2009 Population & Housing Census Results. Kenya Census 2009. Nairobi 2010, p. 35 (PDF; 1.7 MB), accessed on June 21, 2013.