Somali clan system
The Somali clan system is the social form of organization of the East African Somali people and plays an important role in the culture and politics of Somalia and the surrounding Somali areas. Every Somali belongs through his patrilineal lineage to a descent group called reer , which is part of a larger clan , which in turn belongs to a larger clan association, and so on. All Somali clans ultimately belong to one of the five or six large clan families (qaabiil) , which are derived from a common ancestor . Such a form of social organization of similar and equal groupings is called a segmentary society .
General
The large clan families (qaabiil) are the Hawiye , Darod , Isaaq , Rahanweyn (Reewin or Digil-Mirifle) and Dir . The Digil and the Mirifle are sometimes also regarded as two different clans, so that there are 5 or 6 clan families depending on the view. In addition to these large clan families, there are smaller groups such as the Yibir and Madhibaan who are limited to certain professions. Ethnic minorities in Somalia such as the Benadiri and the " Somali Bantu " have partly adopted the Somali clan system as their form of social organization. The proportions of the individual clans in the total population are not known beyond doubt and are controversial.
The clan membership is inherited via the paternal line (tol) of the descent group and can be seen from the name of a person; for men and women, the name of the father, the grandfather, and so on follows the own name. Somali children learn the sequence of their forefathers by heart over dozens of generations .
According to their own tradition, all Somalis are said to be descended from Hill , who was a descendant of Abu Talib , an uncle of the Prophet Mohammed . Hill's descendant Samaale is the common ancestor of Dir, Isaaq, Darod and Hawiye, while from Sab , another descendant, Rahanweyn / Digil-Mirifle emerged. The mostly nomadic Samaal clans are considered to be “real Somali” with purer Arab ancestry, while the mostly sedentary Sab are said to be genealogically impure due to mixing with black Africans and “Galla” ( Oromo ) (lineally impure) . They are viewed by parts of the Samaal as not having equal rights and are traditionally subject to social disadvantage.
The smallest political units are the individual groups that collectively pay or receive the blood money due for crimes (Arabic diya , Somali likes “blood”). These groups are called reer ("people from ...", "descendants of ...") and each comprise up to hundreds of families or a few hundred to a thousand men. If a member of such a clan has committed a crime, the other members share in the payment of the diya under collective liability .
Common features of all Somali clans are language ( Somali ), religion ( Sunni Islam ) and culture, with certain differences.
Origins
The clan system was probably introduced from the Arabian Peninsula and influenced by the patrilineal tribal society of the Arabs - the former Somali society was possibly organized through maternal lines ( matrilinear ).
Politics and potential for conflict
The clans traditionally have no head with greater powers and hardly any hierarchies and administrative structures ( freedom of rule ). The elders are persons of respect and authority ( principle of seniority ) who deliberate in meetings (shir) on issues relating to the clan, such as the payment of blood money or the declaration of war, and make amicable decisions ( principle of consensus ). These assemblies are not permanent institutions but are called as needed; In the case of larger conflicts, a kind of special committee can be formed (guurti) .
Within Somali society today there are different positions on the clan system. In the 20th century, Somalis in particular, who had been trained abroad, regarded the clan system as backward and sought to abolish it. In the course of nationalist efforts to unite all Somalis in one state ( Greater Somalia ), their commonality was emphasized and differences between clans were given less attention. For example, who gave Somali Youth League (Somali Youth League) was the first political party of Somalia, in the years after independence dominated the country's politics, the clan membership of its leading members unknown. The dictator Siad Barre , as part of his “scientific socialism”, declared the clans to be social classes that had to be overcome. The mention of clan names and terms associated with the clan system was banned and was sometimes enough to be arrested. However, this did little to change the importance of the clan system in everyday life. Barre also used the clan system in his favor by pitting clans against each other and relying on certain clans as a power base.
Women's rights activists criticize the Somali clan system for the fact that it functions exclusively through men and that women have practically no political role in it. The peace activist Asha Haji Elmi founded the Sixth Clan movement to emphasize the importance of women as the “sixth clan”.
Traditionally, clans clash over water and grazing rights and blood money due for crimes . Such conflicts can grow into feuds over generations. Here smaller, militarily weaker clans could enter into alliances ( heer or xeer ) with stronger clans, whereby they were ceremonially " adopted " and the ancestors of the other clan declared their own (sheegad) . Such alliances, however, often alternated, and treason for strategic reasons was not uncommon. In particular, the Rahanweyn in southwest Somalia took on numerous members - including Galla (Oromo) and black Africans ( Jarir or " Somali Bantu ") - through adoption, so that in many of their subclans and lineages, the original clan members only make up a small minority .
The clan elders are responsible for mediating disputes within and between clans. Certain rules and codes of honor applied to warfare, which forbade attacking women and children, looting small cattle and household items - which were necessary for survival - or destroying water points. However, these rules were broken many times during the civil war in Somalia . The fact that the traditional role of the elders had been changed during the colonial era (in part their influence was weakened, in part they were given powers that did not exist before) and that more modern weapons were introduced also contributed to the increased potential for conflict.
In civil war, clans often form the power base for warring parties and warlords . The war also changed political relations between clans in several cases. The Hawiye, for example, who dominate the fiercely contested state capital Mogadishu , are now enemies of sub-sub-sub-clans down to the lowest levels. On the other hand, in northeast Somalia ( Puntland ) an agreement was reached between the Harti, who had previously hardly acted as this joint group, but rather as Majerteen, Dolbohanta and Warsangeli.
Overview of clans and subclans
The following table provides an (incomplete) overview of the most important clans; In addition to the clans listed, there are various other smaller clans, and the clans mentioned are subdivided into further levels of subclans and lineages :
Darod
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to you
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Hawiye
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Isaaq
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Rahanweyn
(Rahanwein, Rahanwayn, Rahanwiin, Reewin , also Digil-Mirifle ; sometimes viewed as two different clans)
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literature
- Mark Bradbury: Becoming Somaliland. Progressio u. a., London a. a. 2008, ISBN 978-1-8470-1310-1 , in particular pp. 9-19: African Issues (English).
- Ioan M. Lewis: Blood and Bone. The Call of Kinship in Somali Society. Red Sea, Lawrenceville 1994, ISBN 0-932415-93-8 (English; excerpt from Google book search).
- Ioan M. Lewis: Understanding Somalia and Somaliland. Culture, History and Society. Hurst, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-85065-898-6 (English).
- Helen Chapin Metz: Lineage Segmentation and Civil War. In: Same (ed.): Somalia: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress, Washington 1992 (English; online at countrystudies.us, no page numbers).
Web links
- Janine Graf: Becoming Somaliland “… one thorn bush at a time…” (PDF; 322 kB) Academy for Cultural Diplomacy ICD, December 2012, accessed on August 1, 2014 (English, 11 pages; thesis, University of Kent).
Individual evidence
- ^ Helen Chapin Metz: Lineage Segmentation and Civil War. In: Same (ed.): Somalia: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress, Washington 1992 (English; online at countrystudies.us, no page numbers).
- ↑ Mark Bradbury: Becoming Somaliland. Progressio u. a., London a. a. 2008, p. 16.
- ^ Helen Chapin Metz: Somalia - Coastal Towns. In: Same (ed.): Somalia: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress, Washington 1992 ( online at countrystudies.us).
- ^ Ioan M. Lewis: Understanding Somalia and Somaliland. Culture, History and Society. Hurst, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-85065-898-6 , p. 4.
- ↑ Mark Bradbury: Becoming Somaliland. Progressio u. a., London a. a. 2008, p. 130.