Talk:Mijikenda peoples

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This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Fingers o'toole.

Above undated message substituted from

(This last sentence was incorrect as it implies that culture in Kenya was destroyed by colonial presence; and, colonial presence was heavy on the coast as an economic center) [This is not my own statement.] Dogru144 09:37, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Their languagw was known as Nika

A Nika-English dictionary By Johannes Rebmann

http://books.google.com/books?id=OysOAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Thank you Fingers o'toole (talk) 16:46, 17 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Rough draft for Archaeology section of The Mijikenda Peoples.

Mijikenda Origins The orthodox view of the Mijikenda’s origins is that the Mijikenda peoples originated in Shungwaya (Singwaya) and various other parts of the northern Somali coast, and where pushed south by the Galla (Oromo) and reached Kenya around the 16th century. This view of the Origins of the Mijikenda people was argued by Thomas Spear in the Kaya Complex, and was also confirmed by many Mijikenda oral traditions. Furthermore oral tradition states that the precise reason for the Galla pushing the Mijikenda from Singwaya was the murder of a Galla Tribesman by a Mijikenda youth, and the Mijikenda tribes subsequent refusal to pay compensation to the Galla. (Unesco Heritage site application for Kayas). However it has also been theorized that the Mijikenda peoples may have originated in roughly the same places they currently reside (Martin Walsh: Mijikenda Origins, a Review of the Evidence). One possible explanation for this is that the Mijikenda peoples adopted the Singwaya narrative in order to create an ethnic identity that allowed them to create a relationship to the Swahili who also claimed Singwaya origins. (David Bresnahan: Sacred Spaces, Political authority, and the dynamics of tradition in Mijikenda history).

Importance of Kayas in Mijikenda Archaeology The Kayas were the first homesteads of the Mijikenda peoples after their exodus from Singwaya, Oral tradition states that it was the Digo who were the first to migrate southward and establish the first Kaya. The period after the establishment of the Kayas and was portrayed as a time of stability by these oral traditions, this period ended in the mid to late 19th century with the rise of Colonialism (David Bresnahan: Sacred Spaces, Political authority, and the dynamics of tradition in Mijikenda history). The Kayas also represented an important political symbol to the Mijikenda peoples, as well as being an important cultural symbol to the Mijikenda peoples. The Political symbolism of the Kayas also played a part in the resistance of Colonialism for the Mijikenda peoples. Sometime during the late 19th century the Mijikenda peoples began leaving their Kaya homesteads and settling areas elsewhere.

The layout of the Kaya settlements usually had centrally positioned areas devoted to leadership and worship, with other areas devoted to initiation ceremonies, areas for developing magic and medicine, and areas devoted to burials and entertainment placed around them. The forests of the Kaya surrounding the settlement acted as a buffer between the settlement itself and the outside world. As the populations of these Kaya grew, security grew which lead to a period of stability which allowed the Mijikenda people to spread outwards along the coasts and southwards along the border of Tanzania. Eventually all nine of the original Kaya were abandoned as the Mijikenda settled elsewhere, however the importance of these Kaya did not diminish, and they were still held as sacred sites. (Kaingu Kalume Tinga: The Presentation and interpretation of ritual sites: The Mijikenda Kaya Case)

Fingers o'toole (talk) 20:54, 23 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Fingers o'toole: Looking good so far. I do think you'll need sections that deal specifically with the archaeology that's been done. Mutoro's thesis will be critical, and I think you can get it through ILL - An Archeological Study of the Mijikenda Kaya Settlements on the Hinterland Kenya Coast. There's also some info about the archaeology of this region in this: Helm, Richard, et al. "Exploring agriculture, interaction and trade on the eastern African littoral: preliminary results from Kenya." Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 47.1 (2012): 39-63.. Hope that helps. Nice job, keep going! Ninafundisha (talk) 20:21, 28 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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