Haiǁom

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Main distribution area of ​​the Haiǁom (2019)

The Haiǁom , officially also Hai-ǁom (also Haikom , Haikum , Heikom , Heikom Bushman , Heikum , Heiǁom , Oshikwankala Haiǁom , Xwaga ; in German about tree sleepers ) are an indigenous ethnic group in Namibia that belongs to the San . With around 15,000 members, they are the largest San group in Namibia.

In Namibia they are led by a traditional leader , the Gaob , and are organized in the traditional administration of the Hai-ǁom . You led a hunter-gatherer existence. Their traditional settlement area is in the south, east and southeast of today's Etosha National Park and south and east of it.

The Haiǁom are linguistically not one of those "classic" San (such as the !Kung ). The Haiǁom language is a Khoisan language and is used under the collective term Khoekhoegowab .

Notation

The name of the ethnic group contains a click letter consisting of two vertical lines in the middle . The name is therefore occasionally spelled with two small ls accidentally , since in older sans serif fonts no distinction was made between the small l and the vertical line component of the clickable letters.

history

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Haiǁom lived in the region, which stretched from the so-called Ovamboland via the current Etosha National Park to Grootfontein , Tsumeb and Otavi , and south to Outjo and Otjiwarongo . They generally got on good terms with other ethnic groups and traded with them.

Nowadays the Haiǁom are among the most disadvantaged peoples in Namibia. In terms of education, employment, access to resources, land ownership and political representation, they are one of the most marginalized groups in southern Africa.

habitat

The more recent history of the Haiǁom is closely connected with the game reserve No. 2 founded in 1907, today's Etosha National Park.

The Etosha area was the settlement area of ​​the Haiǁom for thousands of years .

When it was founded and for almost another 50 years, the Haiǁom were tolerated as residents of the national park and they were able to continue their traditional life largely unchanged. In the surrounding area, the traditional settlement areas were increasingly declared commercial farmland for white settlers, and the Haiǁom were ousted from this land.

Hunting the Haiǁom in the game reserve was not considered a problem during the 1920s and 1930s. There were only certain restrictions: certain game species were not allowed to be shot, the use of firearms and dogs was prohibited.

Many of the Haiǁom resident here owned goats, cattle and donkeys. Inside and outside the game reserve, there were work opportunities for the Haiǁom , e.g. B. in road construction, in the maintenance of the water holes, at the police stations.

The Haiǁom were an integral part of the game reserve until the 1940s. According to official policy, there were two alternatives for the Haiǁom in the wider region outside Etosha: either work on the farms of the whites or retreat to the game reserve.

Life in the wildlife sanctuary changed over the years. In January 1954, an expulsion order was issued and the Haiǁom were forced to leave Etosha. They were only allowed to return if they had valid written authorization. The Bushmen should either settle in Ovamboland or look for work on farms south of Windhoek . A few months later, it was reported that all of the Haiǁom , except for the few approved employees at the stations, had left the park.

Due to the need for workers to expand and maintain the park, more Haiǁom were able to return from the farms to the park area a few years later. However, the time when they had lived in their own settlements by the watering holes was finally over.

Culture

The Haiǁom culture is the culture of a nomadic hunter-gatherer people that goes back far into human history. The Haiǁom share many aspects of this culture with other San peoples in northern Namibia. Today the culture is changing, which in its original form has almost disappeared.

In order to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the H Haiǁom and to improve the livelihoods of the Haiǁom , a joint project was founded in 1999 with the participation of researchers from the University of Cologne, the University of Cambridge and a group of Haiǁom elders. The project will be continued under the name "Xoms | Omis Project" and administered by the Legal Assistance Center (LAC) in Windhoek.

Places to live and change of location

The Haiǁom way of life was only partially nomadic. They lived in family groups at the various water holes. Each clan had a specific area available in which there were various temporary and permanent water sources as well as various vegetable resources and hunting grounds. Usually seasonal mobility took place within the own area, but extensive networks of relatives also guaranteed access to other areas. Fixed settlements were to be found near year-round water-bearing springs. The men went on seasonal hunting expeditions (! Hamis), the women set up seasonal camps (! Haros) depending on the availability of certain plant resources. As a rule, people (especially old people and children) stayed behind at the actual settlements.

People lived in huts made of long, dry sticks. These were covered with pieces of bark from dead acacias and grass.

Hunting and hunting paraphernalia

Various strategies are used when killing game. Hunting with the poison arrow is the most successful method for large game such as wildebeest, oryx, roan antelope, kudu and eland. In order not to spoil the taste, this type of hunting is not suitable for small game such as crown duikers, damara dik-diks, ibexes or springboks. Either non-poisoned arrows or snares are used for smaller animals.

Hunting is also used for animals such as eland, kudu or warthogs.

The hunt for the vultures and predators is done with strips of wet antelope skin. Meat is attached to one end as bait and the other end is tied to a tree. If the animal has swallowed the strip, it is easy prey.

The most important weapon in the hunt is a bow, which if possible is made from the wood of the raisin bush or rose thorn acacia. The shaft of the arrow is also made from the wood of the raisin bush. Wing feathers of a vulture are used to stabilize the arrow. The arrow poison is made from the bulb of the arrow poison plant (Adenium boehmianum).

Other weapons when hunting are the digging stick, the kirri or knot stick, which is used for throwing or hitting, and the ax, which is preferably made from wood from the ancestral tree or the raisin bush.

Collect

The most important foods included meat and natural vegetable gifts such as berries, grains, nuts, tubers, onions and roots. The menu was enriched with caterpillars, insects, eggs and resin. While hunting was the job of the men, gathering was the duty of women. Were collected z. B. the berries from the raisin bush, kernels of sour plums, fruits of the marula tree, tubers of Lapeirousia, caterpillars, egg beetles and termites. The ground pods from the moon leaf bush served as a coffee substitute.

The gray-white termite mushrooms ( Termitomyces reticulatus , also known under the Otjiherero name Omayova ) are a special delicacy. They sprout at the foot of the termite burrows right after the first rain. The cap diameter of the mushrooms can reach up to 30 centimeters.

The roots, seeds, leaves and bark of the various plants have also been used to cure various diseases.

The time

The Hai Datenom do not count birthdays, dates of major events, and years. The seasons are called "summer" or "winter", spring and autumn are described as "shortly before" or "shortly after" summer or winter. Hours, minutes and seconds are unknown. Time is measured according to the position of the sun, moon, morning and evening stars or the seven stars.

annotation

  1. ↑ Note: This article contains characters from the alphabet of the Khoisan languages spoken in southern Africa . The display contains characters of the click letters ǀ , ǁ , ǂ and ǃ . For more information on the pronunciation of long or nasal vowels or certain clicks , see e.g. B. under Khoekhoegowab .

literature

  • Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Hai // om and the Etosha area . Macmillan Education Namibia (Pty) Ltd, 2009, ISBN 978-99916-0-950-8 .
  • Ute Dieckmann: Born in Etosha - Homage to the Cultural Heritage of the Hai // om . Legal Assistance Center, Windhoek, Namibia 2009, ISBN 978-99945-61-37-7 .
  • Ute Dieckmann: Born in Etosha - Living and Learning in the Wild . Legal Assistance Center, Windhoek, Namibia 2012, ISBN 978-99945-61-43-8 .
  • Ute Dieckmann: Hai // om in the Etosha Region . Basler Afrika, 2007, ISBN 978-3-905758-00-9 .
  • Ute Dieckmann: The predicament of ethnicity: Evidence from the Haiǁom struggle, Namibia . In: Aridity, change and conflict in Africa, Colloquium Africanum 2 . Heinrich Barth Institute, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-927688-33-9 , p. 265 ff .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ethnologue - Languages ​​of the world . Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  2. ^ Just Conversation - The Hai // om bushmen of Namibia, Etosha and resettlement . Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  3. ↑ Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. P. 9.
  4. ↑ Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. Pp. 9-10.
  5. ↑ Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. P. 49.
  6. ↑ a b c Ute Dieckmann: Born in Etosha: Homage to the cultural Heritage of the Haiǁom. P. 4.
  7. ↑ Xoms | Omis Project . Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  8. ↑ Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. P. 11.
  9. ^ Ute Dieckmann: Born in Etosha: Homage to the cultural Heritage of the Haiǁom. P. 51.
  10. ↑ Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. P. 75.
  11. ↑ Xoms | Omis Project . Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  12. ↑ Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. P. 87.
  13. ↑ Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. Pp. 111-113, 121, 122, 124.
  14. ↑ Reinhard Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. Pp. 88-93.
  15. ^ Ute Dieckmann: Born in Etosha: Homage to the cultural Heritage of the Haiǁom. P. 61.
  16. ↑ Reinhard; Friederich, Horst Lempp (Ed.): Chased away, forgotten. The Haiǁom and the Etosha area. P. 76.