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Shona people
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Shona is the name collectively given to several groups of people in Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. Numbering about nine million people, who speak a range of related dialects whose standardized form is also known as Shona (bantu).
A small group of Shona speaking migrants of the late 1800s also live in Zambia, in the Zambezi valley, in Chieftainess Chiawa's area.
The Shona were traditionally agricultural, growing: beans, peanuts, corn, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes.
pretext to the following list of Zimbabwe Tribal Groups by dialect we need to list several Bantu Word Prefixes.
BANTU WORD PREFIXES: a, ama, u, ma, mu, va, chi, isi,... are examples of Bantu Word Prefixes used in chiZezuru (chiShona- normally referred to as Shona), isiXhosa, isiZulu, isiNdebele, isiSwahili, and others.
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Shona is the name collectively given to several groups of people in Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. Numbering about nine million people, who speak a range of related dialects whose standardized form is also known as Shona (bantu).
A small group of Shona speaking migrants of the late 1800s also live in Zambia, in the Zambezi valley, in Chieftainess Chiawa's area.
The Shona were traditionally agricultural, growing: beans, peanuts, corn, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes.
Zimbabwe Tribal Groups By Dialect
As a pretext to the following list of Zimbabwe Tribal Groups by dialect we need to list several Bantu Word Prefixes.
BANTU WORD PREFIXES: a, ama, u, ma, mu, va, chi, isi,... are examples of Bantu Word Prefixes used in chiZezuru (chiShona- normally referred to as Shona), isiXhosa, isiZulu, isiNdebele, isiSwahili, and others. The preceeding prefixes are non-gender prefixes. For the origin of the word BANTU see next section.
ZIMBABWE TRIBAL GROUPS
NOTE: Shona is the tribal name given to maZezuru by amaNdebele when they settled in Matebeleland section of Zimbabwe under Chief M'zilikazi of The Ndebele when they migrated out of South Africa during the rein of King Tshaka of Zulu nation, during umFecane. The Ndebele People refered to The Zeruru People as amaShonalanga (many tongues of The Shona Language).
Why some African people are refered to as 'Bantu People'
These are people notablly south of the Sahara Desert
In the literature of African poeple you will run into the word Bantu, as either BANTU MIGRATION or BANTU LANGUAGES. The original usage of the word BANTU can be traced to one possible scenario, the arrival of explorers and settlers in Southern Africa.
As an example, in Zimbabwe they refered then to the 'White Man' as munhuasinamabvi (singular) or vanhuvasinamabvi (plural) when they first saw the settlers around 1800; munhu- person, vanhu- people. Thus vanhu vasinamabvi translates into 'People with no knees'. The native Africans (Zimbabweans in this case) could not see the knees of the white men because they wore trousers(pants).
Now, coming back to the word BANTU. When these recent white explorers sailed the Cape Of Good Hope, South Africa, led by Vasco da Gama from Portugal, in 1452, under consignment from Queen Isabella I of Castille, and touched ashore. The native, black South Africans, in this case, saw mankind of different skin color, in this case caucasian, they had to be extremely suprised. It is possible that the uttered exclamation in Xhosa or Zulu was Jong'ani aBantu by the natives. Out of this uttered phrase the word that probably stood the most to the explorers was aBantu, plural for uMuntu- person in isiXhosa (Xhosa) or isiZulu (Zulu). It is then possible from this encounter that the explorers referred to the natives as aBantu which became to be generalised as BANTU. Thus these tribal groups of Africans- sons of Afri, became to be called The Bantu People. See Greek history for inquiry as to the whereabouts of 'The Sons of Afri'. Afri' is the root word from which we get the name of the continent of Africa; also reference King Owusu Afriyie of Ghana for word 'Afri'.
In conclusion, Jong'ni aBantu means 'look at those people' in isiZulu or isiXhosa; and the word Bantu is traceable to Southern Africa.
Politics
Robert Mugabe muZezuru. The Karanga provided the bulk of the fighting forces and military leaders who fought in ZANLA in the Bush War. ZANLA was essentially Shona in composition, while the rival group ZIPRA was drawn from the Ndebele ethnic group, which is separate from, although related to, the Shona.
Language and identity
Most Zimbabweans identify themselves as either belonging to the amaNdebele or maShona (muZezuru) ethnic group. Dialect groups are nowadays almost irrelevant because 'standard' Shona is spoken throughout Zimbabwe. Dialects only help to identify which kumusha or village kraal a person is from (e.g. a person claiming to be a Manyika would be from Eastern Zimbabwe, ie. towns like Mutare). The above differences in dialects developed during the dispersion of tribes across the country over a long time. The influx of immigrants, into the country from bordering countries, has obviously contributed to the variety.
Totems
People of the same clan use a common set of totems. Examples include Mbizi/Tembo - Zebra, Shumba- Lion, Tsoko- Monkey, Nzou-Elephant etc. These were further broken down into gender related names. For example Zebra group would break into Maduve for the females and Mazvimbakupa for the males. People of the same totem are the descendants of one common ancestor (the founder of that totem). Shona people recognize this totem unity even across tribal boundary lines. This identification by totem has very important ramifications at traditional ceremonies such as the burial ceremony.
A person with a different totem cannot initiate burial of the deceased. A person of the same totem even when coming from a different tribe, can initiate burial of the deceased. For example a Ndebele of the Mpofu totem can initiate burial of a Shona of the Mhofu totem and that is perfectly acceptable in Shona tradition. But a Shona of a different totem cannot perform the ritual functions required to initiate burial of the deceased.
If a person initiates the burial of a person of a different totem, he runs the risk of being asked to pay a fine to the family of the deceased. Such fines traditionally were paid with cattle or goats but nowadays substantial amounts of money can be asked for.
Similarly Shona chiefs are required to be able to recite the history of their totem group right from the initial founder before they can be sworn in as chiefs.
See also
External links
- , Knowledge Chikuse, June 13, 2007.
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