Mijikenda
Mijikenda ( Swahili : "the nine cities"), also Miji Kenda , is a collective name for the Bantu- speaking ethnic groups Digo , Chonyi , Kambe , Duruma , Kauma , Ribe , Rabai , Jibana and Giriama on the coast of Kenya and on the northernmost coast of Tanzania . The term has been used by these nine groups since around 1945 as a self-term.
The Swahili foreign name Nyika or Wanyika ("people from the hinterland" or "Bushmen") is now considered outdated and derogatory. In the English-language literature, terms such as Mijikenda, Nika and Nyika can be found for the population groups in this coastal region.
The individual ethnic groups are culturally similar. They speak different Bantu languages that are similar to each other and Swahili. They practice agriculture and trade. While keeping animals is an important source of income for the Duruma, the Dido prefer to live from fishing. Many of the Mijikenda (Nyika) are Muslim , some profess Christianity and a quarter practice their traditional beliefs.
The Mijikenda came at the end of the 19th century as a result of drought and famine (1898-1900) from fortified villages in the hinterland of Mombasa and Malindi to their current settlement area on the coast. Their original origin is not exactly known; own myths suggest the origin from an area called Shungwaya in today's Somalia , but its historical existence has not been proven.
In 2008, some of the Mijikenda's kaya forests and their sacred sites were declared World Heritage Sites.
A typical musical instrument of the Digo, Rabai, Duruma and Giriama is the bamboo flute chivoti . On the entire Kenyan coast, the raft zither kayamba is the essential percussion instrument for dancing with the Mijikenda .
literature
- RF Morton: The Shungwaya Myth of Miji Kenda Origins: A Problem of Late Nineteenth-Century Kenya Coastal History. In: The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1972, pp. 397-423
- Mike Davis : The Birth of the Third World. Famine and mass extermination in the imperialist age . Association A, Berlin 2005, p. 208, ISBN 3-935936-43-5
