Iraqw (people)

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The Iraqw are an ethnic group with about half a million members in the Arusha region in Tanzania lives. They settle on the high plateau between Lake Manyara and Lake Eyasi . The administrative and economic center of their area is the city of Mbulu (Imboru), after which the Iraqw in Swahili are also called Mbulu or Wambulu . Their language, Iraqw , is a South Cushite language .

According to their oral tradition, the Iraqw originally came from a place called Maʿangwatay , which is said to be in the vicinity of Kondoa . The Iraqw lost a battle against the Datooga and then moved to Irqwa daʿaw ("East Iraqw") southeast of Mbulu. From there they came to their present area.

The Iraqw are farmers and grow maize, beans, wheat, sorghum, millet, finger millet, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, potatoes and bananas, all of which, with the exception of millet, finger millet and sorghum, have only recently been introduced. In addition, most Iraqw keep cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys and, more recently, pigs and chickens, whose manure is used as fertilizer. The cattle have great cultural significance and are usually given names.

Neighboring ethnic groups are the Datooga / Barabaig , the Hadza , Nyiramba, Mbugwe, Massai and Gorowa . The Iraqw have the closest relations with the neighboring Datooga in the south, and there are mixed marriages and cultural rapprochement, with the Iraqw spreading southwards. The Iraqw sell corn to the Datooga and buy hardware from them. In the southeast there are close contacts with the Gorowa around Babati , who speak the Gorowa language, which is closely related to the Irawq . The Iraqw buy pottery from the rural Bantu people of the Mbugwe - whom they call Manda daʿaw ("East Manda") - in the east, whereas the Nyiramba or Manda ʿuuwa ("West Manda") in the southwest have friendly but few intense relationships. The Iraqws trade tobacco for honey with the Hadza in the west. There is no direct relationship with the Maasai in the north, who are considered enemies.

The traditional religion of the Iraqw includes the belief in the sun god loo'a as creator and offerings to the spirits of deceased family members and to ward off evil forces that dwell in the water and on mountains. The idea of ​​ritual purity is important, and there are various rituals for cleansing people, houses, land and areas. Both boys and girls are circumcised. Clans are important for the marriage rules, since members of the same clan are not allowed to marry one another ( exogamy ), but they have no political significance. Clans are usually not confined to one area, but rather scattered. Only certain clans can provide medicine men. The elders of each area meet to resolve problems within the community.

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  • Maarten Mous: A Grammar of Iraqw (Cushitic Language Studies 9). Buske Verlag, Hamburg 1993, ISBN 978-3-87548-057-3 .
  • Katherine A. Snyder: The Iraqw of Tanzania. Negotiating rural development . Westview Books, Cambridge, MA 2005, ISBN 978-0-8133-4245-0 . 196 pp.
  • Robert J. Thornton: Space, Time, and Culture among the Iraqw of Tanzania . Academic Press, New York 1980, ISBN 978-0-12-690580-9 . 275 pp.