DOCSLIB.ORG

'Being Maasai' in Markets and Trade, the Role of Ethnicity-Based

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
'Being Maasai' in Markets and Trade, the Role of Ethnicity-Based See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301339976 ‘BEING MAASAI’ IN MARKETS AND TRADE: THE ROLE OF ETHNICITY-BASED INSTITUTIONS IN THE LIVESTOCK MARKET... Article in Nomadic Peoples · February 2017 CITATION READS 1 50 1 author: Antonio Allegretti Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT) 6 PUBLICATIONS 3 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Fisheries and climate change: the fishermen of lake Victoria View project All content following this page was uploaded by Antonio Allegretti on 06 June 2016. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately. Forthcoming in Nomadic Peoples. Cite as ‘forthcoming in Nomadic Peoples ’. http://www.whpress.co.uk/NP/NPart.html Copyright White Horse Press ‘BEING MAASAI’ IN MARKETS AND TRADE: THE ROLE OF ETHNICITY-BASED INSTITUTIONS IN THE LIVESTOCK MARKET OF NORTHERN TANZANIA Abstract The strong cultural and ethnic identity awareness among the Maasai of Tanzania is very well known, as are the recent diversification and market integration processes that Maasai are undertaking. It has seldom been highlighted, however, how the first is involved in the second, i.e. if and how being Maasai ‘matters’ in market exchange. Here I argue that practices, values and social relationships underlying Maasai ethnic identity are crucial when applied to the realm of the livestock market. They are part of the structural organization of the livestock market in that they aid Maasai market actors in minimizing risk and costs, maximizing returns, and dealing with the constraints of the market. A better understanding of the local dynamics of market exchange has important policy implications in that it can open policy-makers' eyes to the benefits of the traditional pastoral system for raising livestock. Keywords: market, ethnicity, pastoralism, Maasai, Tanzania INTRODUCTION Ethnicity has historically had and continues to have a strong influence on various aspects of the social and political life of Africa (Berman 1998, Chimhundu 1992, Lentz 1995, Ranger 1983, Vail 1989). Today in Tanzania, despite the abolition of ethnicity as an administrative category as used by the British colonial authorities for the purpose of ‘indirect rule’ (Coulson 1982, Iliffe 1979), ethnic labels and categorizations persist. The pastoralist Maasai are only one among almost one hundred and twenty ethnic groups in Tanzania, yet they are probably the best known group in the country, and certainly one of the best known in the African continent. In this article, I will discuss one particular area in which Maasai ethnicity ‘matters’, namely, the dynamics and organizational structure of the 1 livestock markets in the northern part of the country, which hosts the greatest share of Maasai communities. This article focuses on a series of cultural institutions and social relationships characteristic of ‘being Maasai’ and how they aid Maasai producers, sellers, buyers, and traders to minimize costs, maximize returns, minimize the risk of purchasing stolen animals, and deal with the constraints of the market. Some of these practices and institutions are: decision-making processes in livestock sales, elders as custodians of livestock within the traditional family, customary law and ethnicity-based trust. The article intends to move beyond a purely ‘instrumental’ role of Maasai ethnicity by focusing on practices, values and social relationships that are not intended to be market-oriented (existing prior to the market), but that nevertheless deeply affect its organization. Instrumentalists tended to highlight a conscious manipulation of identity for private and group gains (Cohen 1969); this analysis resonates with some researchers highlighting the ‘instrumental’ role of Maasai ethnic identity in accessing either natural or financial resources (Igoe 2006, Spear & Waller 1993). In this article, ‘traditional’ practices, values, and social relationships at the base of Maasai ethnic identity resemble more the kind of ‘market institutions’ depicted by Douglass North and the economists of the New Institutional Economics, in that they are generated away from the pure economic realm, but nevertheless “reduce uncertainty by establishing a stable (but not necessarily efficient) structure to human interaction” (North 1990: 1). This approach does more justice to cultural and social relations and networks that connote a deeply grounded sense of ethnic identity, as opposed to ethnicity as a label which the individual can use for personal advantage. MAASAI ETHNICITY IN HISTORY AND MARKETS The ‘market’ is at least as slippery a concept as ethnicity. Anthropologists have underlined the impossibility of separating the profit-making and self-interested motives of a market actor from the broader social context which can be the 2 reproduction of ‘community’ (Gudeman 2001) or of an alleged ‘moral economy’ (Scott 1976), the domestic realm (Godelier 1972[1966], Meillassoux 1981) or peasant production within a capitalist system (Bernal 1994). Contemporary studies of livestock markets in east Africa have acknowledged that traditional practices of livestock raising exemplifying collective and family values in fact exist side by side with highly individualistic and for-profit transactions (Eaton 2010, Fleisher 2000, Quarles van Ufford 1999, Quarles van Ufford & Zaal 2004). In the case observed here, these two sets of practices and registers of value have emerged (and merged) as a result of historical continuities and transformations. The British administration in Tanganyika pursued a policy of top-down interventions to support foreign and internal elite meat markets by targeting the Maasai purely as livestock producers rather than active actors (e.g. traders) (Kerven 1992, Raikes 1981), while confining them geographically to less fertile lands (Hodgson 2001). These discriminatory measures resulted in a strong sense of ethnic identity generated by the assumptions that ‘the Maasai’ are a homogeneous socio-cultural group and that ‘Maasai’ equals 'pastoralist' (Hodgson 2001). This strong socio-cultural awareness of the Maasai as an ethnic group is the foundation for socio-cultural traits of Maasai society that this article will show to be vital for the functioning of the livestock market. In the last two to three decades, conditions have arisen in which the customary or ‘traditional’ practices, institutions and social relationships that are at the core of (Maasai) ethnic identity can thrive within the market realm. Firstly, on the assumptions that pastoralists are eager to sell their animals and that better market services are the answer to challenges such as environmental degradation, poverty, and food insecurity, the East African livestock market sector has received the support of governments and donors (McPeak & Little 2006). Secondly, and most importantly, as a result of market liberalization, networks shaped from the bottom and ‘informal’ institutions have become part and parcel of market organization (Tripp 1997). With respect to the case described here, for instance, not only have Maasai individuals finally become active market actors after decades of top-down measures that worked in the opposite direction (Allegretti 2015), but they also 3 have been able to capitalize on their ethnic identity and take advantage of informal networks to pursue their career goals as small scale traders. Certainly, the foundations of the social relationships at issue here are in a state of transformation when compared with classical studies (Rigby 1992, Spencer 1965). I am referring here, for instance, to elders’ power and authority as well as enkanyit (respect), which form the basis for decision-making processes and customary law. Contrasting opinions exist among researchers as to the energy and vitality of these values in Maasai society today, that is to say, between those who document an increasing lack of enkanyit (Hodgson 2001) and lessening elders’ authority (Zaal 1999), and those who consider ‘traditional’ values an important capital to be used for more participatory development (Goldman 2014) or already in use for solving household conflicts (Holtzman 2001) 1. The point is not whether or to what extent these ‘traditional’ values are on the wane, but rather how they adapt to different domains and arenas, in this case, the market realm. In a country such as Tanzania where the greatest share of red meat sold and consumed comes directly from the traditional livestock raising system (Letare, MacGregor & Hesse 2006), a better understanding of the local grassroots dynamics of market exchanges and networks may be a useful tool for development. This article therefore proposes an ethnography-based analysis of today’s livestock market, organized on three different but overlapping levels, that intends both to advance anthropological knowledge on the topic and to aid the development of the market as a poverty reduction tool. The Maasai of Tanzania The Maasai are a pastoral Nilotic group living on both sides of the Kenya-Tanzania border, occupying east African rangelands over an area of roughly 150,000 km 2 (Homewood et al. 2009: 1) (fig 1.). Maasailand is a diverse and composite eco- system which hosts other ethnic groups. Today, east African rangelands have 1Holtzman refers to the pastoral Samburu
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A History Under Siege
    A History under Siege Intensive Agriculture in the Mbulu Highlands, Tanzania, 19th Century to the Present Lowe Börjeson Department of Human Geography Stockholm University 2004 Abstract This doctoral thesis examines the history of the Iraqw’ar Da/aw area in the Mbulu Highlands of northern Tanzania. Since the late nineteenth century this area has been known for its intensive cultivation, and referred to as an “island” within a matrix of less intensive land use. The conventional explanation for its characteristics has been high population densities resulting from the prevention of expansion by hostility from surrounding pastoral groups, leading to a siege-like situation. Drawing on an intensive programme of interviews, detailed field mapping and studies of aerial photographs, early travellers’ accounts and landscape photographs, this study challenges that explanation. The study concludes that the process of agricultural intensification has largely been its own driving force, based on self-reinforcing processes of change, and not a consequence of land scarcity. Keywords: Landscape, environmental history, geography, land use change, population pressure, incremental change, landesque capital, self-reinforcing processes, detailed mapping, participatory mapping, oral history, farming practices, aerial photographs, landscape photographs, Iraqw. Copyright The Author and the Dept of Human Geography, 2004. All rights reserved. Department of Human Geography Stockholm University ISBN 91-22-02095-0 ISSN 0349-7003 Printed by Intellecta DocuSys AB, Sollentuna,
    [Show full text]
  • SECLUSION, PROTECTION and AVOIDANCE: EXPLORING the METIDA COMPLEX AMONG the DATOGA of NORTHERN TANZANIA Astrid Blystad Ole Bjørn Rekdal Herman Malleyeck
    Africa 77 (3), 2007 SECLUSION, PROTECTION AND AVOIDANCE: EXPLORING THE METIDA COMPLEX AMONG THE DATOGA OF NORTHERN TANZANIA Astrid Blystad Ole Bjørn Rekdal Herman Malleyeck This article deals with metida avoidance practices as they exist in daily and ritual practice among the Southern Nilotic, agro-pastoral Datoga- speaking peoples of the Mbulu/Hanang districts of northern Tanzania.1 The avoidance practices are particularly elaborate in connection with death or death-like events and birth or birth-like events, but are also set in motion by many other events that are experienced as abnormal or threatening. Metida implies the seclusion of people, animals and parts of land perceived to be temporarily highly ‘infertile’ in order to contain and control their inherently ‘dirty’ and ‘contagious’ elements and prevent them from affecting fecund elements or segments. Through diverse forms of seclusion, metida also aims to protect the potential of particularly fertile people, animals and parts of land from ‘dirt’ (ririnyeanda) or from unlucky events perceived to be contagious and dangerous. All Datoga who believe in and practise metida may be liable to protection or seclusion at particular times in their lives, but women of procreative age are regarded as particularly susceptible to the threats and consequences caused by death and misfortune, and thus commonly experience the most severe restrictions. We are talking about a set of avoidance practices where in some instances women may spend years of their lives with severe restrictions on their conduct in terms of movement and socialization. In this article we shall explore the metida complex as a domain of meaning, experience and power that affects large spheres of Datoga lives, and guides and guards Datoga conduct in particular ways.
    [Show full text]
  • The Classification of the Bantu Languages of Tanzania
    i lIMFORIVIATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document h^i(^|eeh used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the qriginal submitted. ■ The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. I.The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Mining Page(s)". IfJt was'possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are^spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you'complete continuity. 2. When an.image.on the film is obliterated with li large round black mark, it . is an if}dication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during, exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing' or chart, etc., was part of the material being V- photographed the photographer ' followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to .continue photoing fronTleft to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued, again — beginning below the first row and continuing on until . complete. " - 4. The majority of usefs indicate that the textual content is, of greatest value, ■however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from .'"photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • Safeguarding Practices for Intangible Cultural Heritage in Tanzania: National Vs Local
    Safeguarding Practices for Intangible Cultural Heritage in Tanzania: National vs Local Perspectives Richard Nandiga Bigambo A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage School of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham 2019 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. I dedicate this work to my parents Mr and Mrs B. Nandiga ‘All that I am, I owe that to you’ ABSTRACT Recent decades have seen a growing interest by individuals, government, and international organisations to safeguard Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Such efforts arose from the perceived impact of globalisation and modernisation towards this form of heritage among different communities in the world. Most of the previous research has focused on why ICH is in danger and ways that can be used to remedy the situation. Few efforts have been directed towards understanding how the local community ‘cultural practitioners’ have traditionally been safeguarding their ICH, and how such knowledge can be integrated into the present-day safeguarding initiatives.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Growth of the Iraqw People in Colonial and Post-Colonial Times
    Propagation Under Pressure Exploring the Growth of the Iraqw People in Colonial and Post-Colonial Times by Julia Daniel Parks and Peoples: Dilemmas of Protected Area Conservation in East Africa P r o f e s s o r Bill Durham and Susan Charnley Sophomore College 2014 2 A Brief History of the Iraqw People and Land The Iraqw people are agropastoralists living on the Mbulu Plateau above the Great Rift escarpment in northern Tanzania (Bartul 1969: 18). Unlike the surrounding Bantu and Nilotic peoples, the Iraqw are a Cushitic-speaking people with a unique culture and history. Their relationship to the land also differs profoundly from neighboring groups’, due to both traditional Iraqw cultural values and the unusual historical interactions between the native Iraqw and European colonizers and missionaries. The Iraqw are a southern Cushitic group, tracing their roots back two millennia to Yemen, Jordan, and Ethiopia (Langay 2014). As Cushites, their lighter skin, facial structure, and language set them apart from their Bantu and Nilotic neighbors. According to local oral tradition, the Iraqw people came south via Kenya and arrived in the Serengeti, in northwestern Tanzania. They were pushed east, however, first by the pastoralist Sukuma of the Serengeti to the Ngorongoro highlands, and then by the Ngorongoro Datoga (also spelled Datooga) to the Mbulu area (Langay 2014). During this time, the Iraqw people established themselves at sites such as Engaruka, a once-thriving agricultural settlement with complex irrigation and intercropping systems whose stone ruins Figure 1: Mbulu Highlands and Iraqw settlement areas 3 remain today. There is evidence that the Iraqw settled in the Kainam area, southeast of the modern town of Mbulu, by the beginning of the 18th century (Lawi 1999a: 2).
    [Show full text]
  • The Collapse of a Pastoral Economy
    his research unravels the economic collapse of the Datoga pastoralists of central and 15 Göttingen Series in Tnorthern Tanzania from the 1830s to the beginning of the 21st century. The research builds Social and Cultural Anthropology from the broader literature on continental African pastoralism during the past two centuries. Overall, the literature suggests that African pastoralism is collapsing due to changing political and environmental factors. My dissertation aims to provide a case study adding to the general Samwel Shanga Mhajida trends of African pastoralism, while emphasizing the topic of competition as not only physical, but as something that is ethnically negotiated through historical and collective memories. There are two main questions that have guided this project: 1) How is ethnic space defined by The Collapse of a Pastoral Economy the Datoga and their neighbours across different historical times? And 2) what are the origins of the conflicts and violence and how have they been narrated by the state throughout history? The Datoga of Central and Northern Tanzania Examining archival sources and oral interviews it is clear that the Datoga have struggled from the 1830s to the 2000s through a competitive history of claims on territory against other neighbouring communities. The competitive encounters began with the Maasai entering the Serengeti in the 19th century, and intensified with the introduction of colonialism in Mbulu and Singida in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The fight for control of land and resources resulted in violent clashes with other groups. Often the Datoga were painted as murderers and impediments to development. Policies like the amalgamation measures of the British colonial administration in Mbulu or Ujamaa in post-colonial Tanzania aimed at confronting the “Datoga problem,” but were inadequate in neither addressing the Datoga issues of identity, nor providing a solution to their quest for land ownership and control.
    [Show full text]
  • Afrika Zamani an Annual Journal of African History Revue Annuelle D’Histoire Africaine
    Association of African Historians Association des historiens africains Afrika Zamani An Annual Journal of African History Revue annuelle d’histoire africaine No. 26, 2018 CODESRIA would like to express its gratitude to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY), Andrew Mellon Foundation, Oumou Dilly Foundation, Ford Foundation and the Government of Senegal for supporting its research, training and publication programmes. Le CODESRIA exprime sa profonde gratitude à la Swedish International Development Corporation Agency (SIDA), à la Carnegie Corporation de New York (CCNY), à la fondation Andrew Mellon, à la fondation Oumou Dilly, à la fondation Ford ainsi qu’au Gouvernement du Sénégal pour le soutien apporté aux programmes de recherche, de formation et de publication du Conseil. Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Conseil pour le développement de la recherche en sciences sociales en Afrique Editors / Rédacteurs Ismail Rashid Department of History, Vassar College, New York, USA Chikouna Cissé Département d’Histoire, Université Houphouët Boigny, Cocody-Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire Scientific Committee / Comité scientifique Ayodeji Olukoju, University of Lagos, Nigeria ● Tayeb Chentouf, Université d’Oran, Algérie ● Sylviane Diouf, USA ● Bill Freund, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, ● Eginald P. Mihanjo, Tanzania ● Bahru Zewde, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia Editorial Team / Comité de rédaction Shiferaw Bekele, Ethiopia ● Issiaka Mandé, SEDET, Paris, France ● Penda Mbow, UCAD, Dakar, Sénégal ● Rokhaya Fall, UCAD, Dakar, Sénégal ● Joel Das Neves-Tembe, Mozambique ● Paul T. Zeleza, United States International University-Africa, Nairobi, Kenya Afrika Zamani is a yearly journal published by CODESRIA for the Association of African Historians.
    [Show full text]
  • Tanzania Cultural Tourism
    Tanzania Cultural Tourism Issue No. 6 Authentic Cultural Experiences Unforgettable Tanzania We are in: Sponsored by: Tanzania Tourist Board @ttbtanzania @TtbTanzania Tanzania Tourist Board For enquiries: Utalii House - Laibon street/Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road Cultural Tourism Programme Opposite French Embassy Boma Road, P.O.Box 2348, Arusha, Tanzania P.O.Box 2485, Dar es Salaam, Tel: +255 27 2050025, Fax: +255 27 2507515, Mobile: +255 786 703 010 Tanzania. E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected] Email: [email protected] Website: www.tanzaniaculturaltourism.com Email: [email protected] or Web: www.tanzaniatourism.go.tz Tanzania Tourist Board General +255 2664878 Boma Road, P.O.Box 2348, Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 27 2503842-3 E-mail: [email protected] CULTURAL TOURISM PROGRAMME We are in: culturaltourismtanzania @CULTURALTOURISMTANZANIA @culturaltourismtz tanzaniaculturaltourismprogramme Whilst every care has been taken to ensure all information is accurate and up-to-date, responsibility cannot be taken for any errors or omissions. © 2016 (All photos courtesy: Cultural Tourism Programme, Tanzania Tourist Board) FOREWORD Welcome, To Tanzania, The Soul of Africa! Tanzania is one of Africa’s Top Destinations, home to Africa’s highest peak, Mt.Kilimanjaro; Serengeti, where the world’s most spectacular annual wildlife migration takes place; Selous, Africa’s largest Game Reserve; the mystical and enchanting spice islands of Zanzibar; blended with a unique and divers culture and rich history to mention a few .All these give the traveler incredible experiences and unforgettable memories of Tanzania. Besides all these attractions, it goes without saying that another attraction which stands equally tall is the Tanzanian people –considered as one of the most friendly and hospitable people on the African continent.
    [Show full text]
  • Wnnnner5 TMAT War"Ln5mef
    E wnnnner5 TMAT wAr"ln5mEF The roots of erosion in a Tanzanian village Meddelanden series B 94 Department of Human Geography Stockholm University VESA-MATTI LOISKE THE VILLAC-E THAT VANISHED The roots of erosion in a Tanzanian village Doctoral dissertation 1995 Department of Human Geography University of Stockholm S-706 91 Stockholm ABSTRACT In the village'of Citing in the northern highlands of Tanzania, the fac- tors: social stratification, land tenure, production strategies, invest- ment patterns and the economic uncertainties of society are studied and their relationship to land degradation is examined. The main as- sumption of the study is that the causes of land degradation are so complex that a methodology that emphasises contextualisation has to be used. A methodological framework that considers inter-link- ages between all these factors is developed and tested. The result of the test shows that contextualisation gives a more in-depth and com- plex explanation than conventional, positivist research. The study gives a detailed account of the relationship that various wealth groups have to land and land degradation in the village. It is found that all wealth groups are destructive to the land but in varying ways. The rich farm- ers are over-cultivating land marginal to agriculture, the middle peas- ants have too many cattle in the village while the poor peasants are so marginalised socially that they hardly influence land management. Those identified as having economic as well as social incentives to maintain soil fertility are the middle peasants, while the rich farmers are shown to be consciously soil-mining the former grazing areas.
    [Show full text]
  • Factors Influencing Language Shift: a Case of Iraqw
    The University of Dodoma University of Dodoma Institutional Repository http://repository.udom.ac.tz Humanities Master Dissertations 2018 Factors influencing Language shift: a case of Iraqw Bayo, Phaustini Banga The University of Dodoma Bayo, P. B., (2018). Factors influencing Language shift: a case of Iraqw. Dodoma: The University of Dodoma. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/705 Downloaded from UDOM Institutional Repository at The University of Dodoma, an open access institutional repository. FACTORS INFLUENCING LANGUAGE SHIFT: A CASE OF IRAQW PHAUSTINI BANGA BAYO MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA OCTOBER, 2018 FACTORS INFLUENCING LANGUAGE SHIFT: A CASE OF IRAQW BY PHAUSTINI BANGA BAYO A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA OCTOBER, 2018 DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT I, Phaustini Banga Bayo, declare that this dissertation is my own original work and that it has not been presented and will not be presented to any other University for a similar or any other degree award. Signature……………… No part of this dissertation may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author or the University of Dodoma. If transformed for publication in any other format shall be acknowledged that, this work has been submitted for degree award at the University of Dodoma”. i CERTIFICATION The undersigned certifies that she has read and hereby recommends for the acceptance by the university of Dodoma a dissertation entitled: “Factors Influencing Language Shift: a Case of Iraqw”; in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics of the University of Dodoma.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Lexical Borrowing in Africa with Special Attention to Outcomes of Languages in Contacts in Tanzania Amani Lusekelo Department
    Mgbakoigba, Journal of African Studies. Vol.7, No.2. June 2018 LEXICAL BORROWING IN AFRICA WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO OUTCOMES OF LANGUAGES IN CONTACTS IN TANZANIA ---- Amani Lusekelo Lexical borrowing in Africa with special attention to outcomes of languages in contacts in Tanzania Amani Lusekelo Department of Languages and Literature Dar es Salaam University College of Education University of Dar es Salaam P. O. Box 2329, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania [email protected] [email protected] Abstract This article provides the impact of contact of Bantu and non-Bantu languages of Tanzania. Much attention is paid to the dispersal of Swahili words into Hadzabe, Iraqw and Maasai; and exemplary cases of Bantu-to-Bantu contacts have been included. Findings indicate that a layer of Swahili and English words exist in many languages of South-Western Tanzania such as Nyakyusa, Nyamwanga, Ndali, among others. Along the coast of Tanzania, influence of Swahili lexis is massive in such languages as Maraba. The Bantu to non-bantu contacts yielded numerous loans across Greebergian language phylums in Tanzania as evidenced in, for example, Swahili loans in Burunge and Hadzabe. Findings demonstrate distinct mechanisms of incorporation of loans. In Cushitic and Nilotic languages such as Hadzabe, Iraqw and Maasai, gender marking is the primary mechanism of adaptation of Bantu loans whilst Bantu languages assign noun classifications to the loanwords from English and non-Bantu languages. Keywords: Contact linguistics, Lexical borrowing, Bantu languages, Non-Bantu languages, Tanzania Introduction Tanzania is one of the interesting grounds for the research on the outcome of languages in contact because it contains all language phyla postulated by Greeberg (1963).
    [Show full text]
  • Bulletin De L'apad, 27-28 | 2008 Changing Life Worlds and Contested Space : Seclusion Practices Among the Ira
    Bulletin de l'APAD 27-28 | 2008 Violences sociales et exclusions. Le développement social de l'Afrique en question Changing life worlds and contested space : Seclusion practices among the Iraqw of Northern Tanzania Jonathan Baker et Hege Wallevik Édition électronique URL : http://journals.openedition.org/apad/3083 DOI : 10.4000/apad.3083 ISSN : 1950-6929 Éditeur LIT Verlag Édition imprimée Date de publication : 4 avril 2008 Référence électronique Jonathan Baker et Hege Wallevik, « Changing life worlds and contested space : Seclusion practices among the Iraqw of Northern Tanzania », Bulletin de l'APAD [En ligne], 27-28 | 2008, mis en ligne le 19 juin 2008, consulté le 08 septembre 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/apad/3083 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/apad.3083 Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 8 septembre 2020. Bulletin de l'APAD Changing life worlds and contested space : Seclusion practices among the Ira... 1 Changing life worlds and contested space : Seclusion practices among the Iraqw of Northern Tanzania Jonathan Baker et Hege Wallevik Introduction 1 This paper focuses on the seclusion practices (meeta) of the Cushitic‑speaking Iraqw people of northern Tanzania who are mainly concentrated in Mbulu District. The headquarters of Mbulu District is the town of Mbulu. Despite its size, Mbulu town can be considered as a ‛node of economic and social opportunity’ (Baker 2001 : 122) and is an important place providing a wide range of goods and services for its own population, as well as a large hinterland. At present, Mbulu town is undergoing what might be termed as a process of modernization.
    [Show full text]