Dorobo peoples

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Dorobo (or Ndorobo, Wadorobo, dorobo, Torobo) is a derogatory umbrella term for several unrelated hunter-gatherer groups of Kenya and Tanzania. They comprised client groups to the Maasai and did not practice cattle pastoralism.

Contents

Kikuyu tradition says that intermarriage with the Gumba produced the Ndorobo people, who were of a stature in between the Gumba and Kikuyu. [1] :44

Etymology

The Water Hole Ambush/Hunters: The Wandorobo diorama at the Milwaukee Public Museum Milwaukee Public Museum February 2023 50 (Africa--Eastern Africa--The Water Hole Ambush-Hunters- The Wandorobo).jpg
The Water Hole Ambush/Hunters: The Wandorobo diorama at the Milwaukee Public Museum

The term 'Dorobo' derives from the Maa expression il-tóróbò (singular ol-torróbònì) 'hunters; the ones without cattle'. Living from hunting wild animals implies being primitive, and being without cattle implies being very poor in the pastoralist Maa culture.

Classifications

In the past it has been assumed that all Dorobo were of Southern Nilotic origin; accordingly, the term Dorobo was thought to denote several closely related ethnic groups. [2]

Groups that have been referred to as Dorobo include:

Relations with neighbours

A historical survey of 17 Dorobo groups in northern Kenya found that they each maintained a close rapport with their surrounding territory through their foraging. Speaking the same language as their nomadic pastoralist neighbours, they would maintain peaceful relations with them and accepted a lower status. Occasional intermigration and intermarriage between the two groups was even possible. If the political landscape shifted and new pastoralists entered the area, then the local Dorobo would switch to the new language and build up new relations, while clinging to their territorial niche. [3]

See also

Notes

  1. Juwayeyi, Yusuf M. (2020). "The origins and migrations of the Chewa according to their oral traditions". Archaeology and Oral Tradition in Malawi: Origins and Early History of the Chewa. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN   978-1-84701-253-1.
  2. Huntingford for example writes (1931:228): "...all the Dorobo dialects, as now spoken, are based on Nandithis was first shown by Hobley, who was a pioneer in this field, and whose vocabularies are fairly reliable..." (for Hobley, see Hobley 1903, 1905, 1906).
  3. Spencer, Paul, 1973, Nomads in Alliance: Symbiosis and Growth among the Rendille and Samburu of Kenya, Oxford University Press, London. (pp. 199-219, “The Dorobo and Elmolo of Northern Kenya.”)

References