Okiek (ethnicity)
As okiek people or Ogiek (singular form: Ogiot ) are about two dozen groups of hunters and honey gatherers in west central Kenya and in Tanzania called. They live surrounded by larger ethnic groups such as the Maasai , Kipsigis , Nandi and Kikuyu , but mostly in the vicinity of other Ogiek groups. Sometimes they are also called Torobbo , Dorobo or Ndorobo , after the derogatory term Il Torobbo , which the Maasai use for hunters and gatherers and poor people without livestock.
The groups each include around 600 to 900 people. Most live in wooded areas of west-central Kenya ( Mau Forest , Tindiret and north of Nakuru ), but there are also groups in the flat savannas under the Maasai. By far the southernmost group, the Akie , live near the Maasai steppe in Tanzania.
Their original language is Okiek , a South Nilotic language belonging to the Kalenjin languages . However, some of them now speak the Maa , the language of the Maasai, as their mother tongue. Others speak the languages of their respective neighbors at least as a second language.
history
Little is known about the history of the Ogiek before 1900. Some groups say they migrated a little south in the late 1800s.
During the colonial period, the Ogiek groups living further north lost land to the establishment of hunting and forest reserves and to European settlers, while southern groups were able to keep their land. From the 1930s onwards, they diversified their economy and also began to farm and / or raise livestock. The Kipchornwonek group began to plant millet gardens, and the Kaplelach later began to grow maize. Gradually agriculture gained in importance, so that the groups increasingly settled near their fields, kept their few animals in one place and from there hunted and collected honey.
After Kenya gained independence, the highest forests were declared protected areas. Due to land laws, individual land rights were introduced instead of the groups' collective land ownership, whereupon many Ogiek sold their land, often without knowing its real value. The proceeds from such sales were invested in building new metal-roofed houses, in small shops, and for household needs; alcoholism has also increased significantly. Meanwhile, numerous non-Ogiek have settled in their former areas and the forest areas have been severely reduced by deforestation. This has caused serious environmental problems, especially in the Mau forest. Ogiek have been protesting violations of their land rights since the 1990s. On the Kenyan side of Mount Elgon there has been armed clashes over land rights since 2006 between the Sabaot , who were settled in this area originally inhabited by Ogiek in the 1930s, and the Kenyan army.
Way of life and culture
Animals traditionally hunted by the Ogiek included bushbuck , buffalo, elephant, duiker , hyrax , bongo antelope and giant forest pigs . Hunting was done with dogs, bows and arrows, spears and clubs and also with the help of traps. In contrast to other hunter-gatherer groups, the Ogiek rarely collect wild plants, also because there are few plants with larger edible components (tubers, nuts, fruits) in the region. Honey was eaten and brewed with beer and also sold or traded in exchange for grain. The men were responsible for hunting and gathering honey, while women were responsible for processing food, building traditional dwellings, collecting firewood, making bags and clothing, and raising children.
The religion of the Ogiek includes the belief in a good god Torooret or Asiista and in ancestral spirits who can bring bad luck if they are not worshiped or if bad deeds are committed. More recently there has also been Christian proselytizing among them.
Ogiek material art includes bead jewelry made by women and worn by women and men, as well as tightly woven baskets, ceramics, and weapons and tools made by men. Intangible art includes rhetoric and songs.
A sparsely equipped primary school was opened in the Kipchornwonek area in 1978; other groups such as Maresionik had contact with schooling earlier. A few Ogiek have also completed secondary schools or even higher levels of education (vocational school or university).
literature
- Corinne A. Kratz: The Okiek of Kenya . (PDF) In: Foraging Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Hunter-Gatherers . Cambridge University Press, 1999
Individual evidence
- ↑ James Morgan / BBC News, 2009: Kenya's heart stops pumping
- ↑ Thilo Thielke / Spiegel Online, May 3, 2008: The forgotten war on Mount Elgon.