Songhaiborai
Koyra Chiini | |
Religion | |
---|---|
Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Zarma, Tuareg |
Person | Songhaiboro |
---|---|
People | Songhaiborai |
Language | Songhai Sanni |
The Songhaiborai (also Songhai, Songhay, Sonrhaï) are a distinct subgroup within the larger
In Niger and Burkina Faso, differentiating the Songhaiborai from the Zarma people poses a challenge, as both are subgroups within the same language family, sharing a very similar dialect and culture. Despite the significant commonalities, the Songhaiborai may identify themselves and their dialect as "Zarma," emphasizing the shared heritage. However, both groups acknowledge their distinct branches within the same ethnicity, often adopting the collective name "Zarma," making it difficult for outsiders to discern any noticeable differences. Additionally, in Mali, they are recognized as the Koyraboro.[4]
The Songhai originally were the descendants and partisans of the
Aristocracy
According to oral history, the Songhai nobles came to be known as "Songhai" during the reign of
The main factions of the Songhai are the "Si Hamey" and the "Mamar Hamey". The Si Hamey (meaning: descendants of Sonni), as the name implies, are the descendants and partisans of the
It is also worth noting that both groups use the title surname "Maiga" (meaning, "King or Prince").[11]History
After the ruler and founder of the
After the defeat of the
Askia Wayki (Muhammed Gao) installed his base on the banks of the Niger river in the current locality of
Recognizing the strength of the Moroccan army, they later decided to abandon the struggle for the re-establishment of the
Society and Culture
The language, society and culture of the Songhai people is barely distinguishable from the Zarma people.[14] Some scholars consider the Zarma people to be a part of and the largest ethnic sub-group of the Ayneha.[15] Some study the group together as Zarma-Songhai people.[16][17] However, both groups see themselves as two different peoples.[14]
The Songhai proper have traditionally been a socially stratified society, like many West African ethnic groups with castes.[18][19] According to the medieval and colonial era descriptions, their vocation is hereditary, and each stratified group has been endogamous.[20] The social stratification has been unusual in two ways; it embedded slavery, wherein the lowest strata of the population inherited slavery, and the Zima, or priests and Islamic clerics, had to be initiated but did not automatically inherit that profession, making the cleric strata a pseudo-caste.[14]
Louis Dumont, the 20th-century author famous for his classic Homo Hierarchicus, recognized the social stratification among Zarma-Songhai people as well as other ethnic groups in West Africa, but suggested that sociologists should invent a new term for West African social stratification system.[21] Other scholars consider this a bias and isolationist because the West African system shares all elements in Dumont's system, including economic, endogamous, ritual, religious, deemed polluting, segregative and spread over a large region.[21][22][23] According to Anne Haour – a professor of African Studies, some scholars consider the historic caste-like social stratification in Zarma-Songhay people to be a pre-Islam feature while some consider it derived from the Arab influence.[21]
The different strata of the Songhai have included the kings and warriors, the scribes, the artisans, the weavers, the hunters, the fishermen, the leather workers and hairdressers (Wanzam), and the domestic slaves (Horso, Bannye). Each caste reveres its own guardian spirit.
Livelihood
The Songhay are mostly agriculturalists (mostly growing rice and millet), hunters, fishers and cattle owners which they let the Fulani tend.
See also
Notes
References
- ^ "Africa: Niger - The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ Niger, retrieved 2021-03-12
- ^ Zarma, a Songhai language, retrieved 2021-02-23
- ISBN 9780226775487, retrieved 2021-06-04
- ISBN 9780810870901, retrieved 2021-03-17
- ^ Olivier de Sardan, Jean-Pierre (2000), Unité et diversité de l'ensemble songhay-zarma-dendi
- ^ ISBN 9782810709519, retrieved 2021-03-30
- ^ Southern Songhay Speech Varieties In Niger:A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Zarma, Songhay, Kurtey, Wogo, and Dendi Peoples of Niger (PDF), Byron & Annette Harrison and Michael J. Rueck Summer Institute of Linguistics B.P. 10151, Niamey, Niger Republic, 1997, retrieved 2021-02-23
- ISBN 9782865378517, retrieved 2021-04-14
- ^ Bornand, Sandra (2012), Is Otherness Represented in Songhay-Zarma society? A case study of the 'Tula' story (PDF), London, United Kingdom., retrieved 2021-04-12
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Journal de la Société des africanistes, Volume 36, France: Société des africanistes, 1966, p. 256, retrieved 2021-04-21
- ^ Michel, Jonathan (1995), The Invasion of Morocco in 1591 and the Saadian Dynasty, retrieved 2021-04-17
- ^ Askia Mohammed V Gao, Fr Wiki
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8108-7090-1.
- ^ Songhai people, Encyclopædia Britannica
- ISBN 978-0-415-05931-2.
- ISBN 978-2850695513.
- ^ ISBN 978-2-86537-106-8.
- S2CID 162509491., Quote: "[Castes] are found among the Soninke, the various Manding-speaking populations, the Wolof, Tukulor, Senufo, Minianka, Dogon, Songhay, and most Fulani, Moorish and Tuareg populations".
- ^ I. Diawara (1988), Cultures nigériennes et éducation : Domaine Zarma-Songhay et Hausa, Présence Africaine, Nouvelle série, number 148 (4e TRIMESTRE 1988), pages 9-19 (in French)
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-969774-8.
- ISBN 978-1-84520-290-3.
- ISBN 978-1-139-49908-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59884-362-0.
- ^ Songhai people Encyclopædia Britannica
- ISBN 978-0-19-514890-9.
- ISBN 978-2901161509(in French)