Bari (people)

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The Bari are a Nilotic people who reside in eastern South Sudan on the banks of the White Nile . Their population is 60,000 to 70,000, according to other sources, several hundred thousand. The area of ​​the Bari speakers is in the state of al-Istiwa'iyya al-wusta (Central Equatoria) with the settlement center around the city of Juba .

Culture

Your language Bari is one of the East Nilotic languages . Bari-speaking ethnic groups live as arable farmers and ranchers in the savannas in the area of ​​the Nile. They mainly operate subsistence farming , with cattle being an addition to agriculture and a socio-economic and economic investment; it is used as a dowry and for offerings and is sold when money is needed. Commercial vegetable cultivation is carried out on a smaller scale to supply the city of Juba.

The cultural differences to the Dinka are minor, but reference is made to these differences in the self-definition as an ethnic group . Within the Bari there are some subgroups, such as the Bari around Juba, who also delimit themselves culturally or often only through the settlement area.

There are Christians (Catholics and Protestants), Muslims and animists among the Bari. Their traditional religion includes an almighty God, good and bad spirits.

society

The Bari society is traditionally divided into lupudyöt (boys), kö'disi (young girls), kalipinök (initiates), teton (warriors) and temejek (elders). At least earlier, the front teeth of both sexes were removed during initiation, and girls were also tattooed.

Another division is that of lui (free) and dupi (servants), the latter being mainly craftsmen, hunters and fishermen. The kimak (chiefs) and komonye-kak ("fathers of the soil") are recruited from the lui . The latter are the kworiniko , a noble class of wealthy cattle farmers .

Weddings

A wedding at the Bari is preceded by a time of choosing a partner. Traditionally, weddings could also take place to strengthen the friendship between two families. Here children were sometimes engaged to be 10 years old. A dowry is paid for the bride so poor families may be interested in arranging a wedding for their sons.

After the time of choosing a partner, the person wishing to marry often presents himself to the girl's family to declare the engagement ( nyera ). He is accompanied by some close relatives and friends. Before the wedding day ( budu ), the amount of the bride price is negotiated for three days. After the successful conclusion of the negotiations, the marriage is blessed by both families and a feast is held. The groom then goes home alone, and after about two weeks the bride follows him to move into her house. The bride must be a virgin at the wedding.

The wedding tradition becomes more complicated with the introduction of Christianity, especially since Christian parents of the bride ask to be married in a church. If one can afford it, they sometimes get married again in the traditional Bari style and a few months later in the Christian-European style. Others combine tradition and Christianity.

history

Historically, the Bari, like neighboring peoples, were harassed by slave hunters ( see also : Slavery in Sudan ) and, especially in the occasional Belgian Lado enclave , used by colonial powers for forced labor. The ivory present here also aroused desires. At first the Bari sold the ivory freely to Turkish and Arab traders before they began to acquire it by force in the mid-19th century. There were occasional armed clashes with the Dinka , Azande and Turkish slave traders. In Gondokoro depots were built, had to wait in the slaves from the Bari and other ethnicities on their further transport.

More recently, numerous Bari have been displaced to other regions of Sudan as a result of the civil war in South Sudan.

literature

  • Pierre Crabites: Gordon, The Sudan and Slavery . Greenwood Press, 1970. ISBN 0-8371-1764-X
  • David Northrup: Beyond the Bend in the River: African Labor in Eastern Zaire, 1865-1940 . Ohio University Center for International Studies, 1988. ISBN 0-89680-151-9
  • John O. Udal: The Nile in darkness: conquest and exploration, 1504-1862 . Michael Russell Publishing, 1998. ISBN 0-85955-238-1
  • John Hanning Speke : Journal of the discovery of the source of the Nile. Edinburgh / London, Blackwood and sons, 1863.

Web links

Commons : Bari  - collection of images, videos and audio files