Oku people (Sierra Leone)
Gambia, United States, United Kingdom | |
Languages | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Sunni Islam (99%) | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Yoruba people |
The Oku people or the Aku Marabout or Aku Mohammedans are an
Some Oku historically have intermarried since then with
The vast majority of Oku people are
During British rule, the colonial government officially recognized various Oku neighborhoods as historical communities in Sierra Leone. Since independence, the national Sierra Leonean government has classified the Oku people as non-native Creoles although the Oku people are distinct from the Sierra Leone Creoles.
The Oku people have an extensive diaspora with Oku communities established in The
Origin
While the Africans repatriated from England, North America, and the Caribbean between 1787 and 1800 came with their plethora of Christian churches and train of missionaries, the Oku people are descended exclusively from Muslim Yoruba Liberated Africans who were resettled in Sierra Leone during the nineteenth century.[1] The Yoruba Muslim elements among the general Liberated African population, formed a distinctive community and as early as the 1840s, there were references in documents and journals.
Prominent Oku families include the Dahniya, Zubairu, Mahdi, Iscandari, Aziz, Mustapha, Rashid, Abdullah, Lewally, Bassir, Deen, Tejan, Savage, Alghali, and some adopted Oku families acquired Creole surnames such as Cole, Williams, Carew, Gerber, Spilsbury, and Joaque. Some of the European or Creole surnames of the Oku people were appropriated to gain entry into colonial schools in Freetown and others retained European surnames given or assigned to their Aku Liberated African ancestors.
Culture
The Oku people have a distinctive culture that has strong similarities to that of larger communities of Muslim who adhere to
The Oku practice
.Relationship with the Sierra Leone Creole people
Several scholars such as Ramatoulie Onikepo Othman and Olumbe Bassir classify the Oku people as distinct from the Creoles because of their ancestry and strong Muslim culture.
In contrast to the Oku people, the Creoles or Krio are Christian and are a mixture of various ethnic groups including
More recently, some scholars consider the Oku people to be a sub-ethnic group of the Creoles, based on their close association with British colonists and their adoption of Western education and other aspects of culture.[6]
Those classifying the Oku as part of the Sierra Leone Creole people note their adoption of similar English or European surnames (although this was a minority of Oku) and cultural aspects such as komojade,
Cultural associations
The Oku people are represented by cultural associations such as the Ebilleh Cultural Organization, aiming to preserve and enhance Oku heritage of Sierra Leone and the Gambia.
Notable Oku in or from Sierra Leone
- Olumbe Bassir, scientist
- Mohammed Shitta Bey, businessman, aristocrat and philanthropist
- Abdul Tejan-Cole, legal practitioner and former Commissioner of Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission.
- Ahmed Deen, footballer
- Bill Hamid, footballer
- Isha Johansen (née Savage), president of Sierra Leonean Football Association
- Haja Afsatu Kabba (née Savage), politician
- Michael Lahoud, footballer
- Nemata Majeks-Walker (née Mahdi), women's activist
- Ramatoulie Othman, writer
- Umaru Rahman, footballer
- Mohamed Sanusi Tejan, Muslim scholar
- Madieu Williams, professional football athlete
- Mohamed Daramy, footballer
- Gibril Wilson, professional football athlete
- Walid Shour, footballer
Notes
- ^ Awujoh originates from the Yoruba Liberated African ancestry of the Creoles. Awujoh ceremonies are held for the protection of newborns and newlyweds by ancestral spirits and as a means to acquire guidance and wisdom regarding aspects of death.[10]
References
- ^ "The Krio of West Africa: Islam, Culture, Creolization, and Colonialism in the Nineteenth Century" (PDF). www.ohioswallow.com.
- Humboldt University. Archived from the originalon 29 September 2003. Retrieved 1 December 2012. citing Wolf, Hans-Georg (2001). "English in Cameroon". Sociology of Language (85). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- ^ Stefania Galli (2019) Marriage patterns in a black Utopia: Evidence from early nineteenth-century colonial Sierra Leone, The History of the Family, 24:4, 744-768, DOI: 10.1080/1081602X.2019.1637361
- ^ "Looking Back, Moving Forward: Documenting the Heritage of African Nova Scotians". www.archives.novascotia.ca.
- ^ S2CID 144809053.
- ISBN 9780821444788. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- ISBN 9781580460385.
- ^ King, Nathaniel (2014), Chapter 3, Freetown’s Yoruba-Modelled Secret Societies as Transnational and Transethnic Mechanisms for Social Integration, Berghahn Books OAPEN Library Edition
- ^ Bascom, W. R. (1952). The Esusu: A Credit Institution of the Yoruba. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 82(1), 63–69. https://doi.org/10.2307/2844040
- ^ "Creoles of Sierra Leone". www.encyclopedia.com.