Makabila ya Tanzania: Tamaduni zao na Historia yao

[mfianchi]

MC...........`Haya haya lin`goma lya ndandalo liingie.(ngoma ya ndandalo iingie).
Lin`goma...`Badu kubaba.(bado inapashwa moto)
MC............`Mbona mnachelewa?
Lin`goma.....`Mwee kwani manyi mlitukwanyia?(we vipi kwani majani mlituchumia?)

Ing'oma lya ndandalo ,nyumbani Ndandalo ,east or west Ndandalo is the place to be mwe ngumbwike kukaja ku Ndandlalo.

 

[mfianchi]

Mkuu mambo yakikaa kama ninavyopanga itakuwa haki kukujulisha, bado niko kwenye early stages but hope things to be good. Asante kwa misamiati hiyo hapo ya Unyafu na Imbalaga

Karibu sana mkwe jisikie ulikukaja(uko nyumbani) ndaga fijo

 

[Ndahani]

Very interesting to read this. But what more is there for the history of these people? I would like to read their history

 

[Ogah]

Naambiwa hapa kuwa asili ya Wanyakyusa ni Ivory Coast......duuhh

 

[Sipo]

Karibu sana mkwe jisikie ulikukaja(uko nyumbani) ndaga fijo

Asante bra mfianchi, i will be there

 

[Bondeni]

Wanyakyusa ni Wabantu. Asili yao ni West Africa kama Wabantu wengine. Wabantu wote walipitia Kongo kutoka Afrika Magharibi kabla ya kwenda mahali pengine East Africa na Southern Africa - not just South Africa.

Wanyakyusa siyo Wanubi kutoka Sudan. Lugha yao ni ya Kibantu kama lugha zingine za Kibantu. Ndiyo maana kuna maneno mengi katika lugha hizo za Kibantu yanayofanana. Lugha zinafanana kwa sababu zina asili moja. Wenyeji wa lugha hizo pia wana asili moja.

Kwa mfano, kuna maneno katika Kikamba ambayo ni sawa na maneno katika lugha ya Kinyakyusa na lugha zingine za Kibantu. Kuna maneno katika lugha za Afrika Kusini yanayopatikana katika lugha za makabila ya Afrika Mashariki na katika nchi kama Congo na Angola.

Kuna watu wanaosema Wanyakyusa walitoka Afrika Kusini. Ikiwa ni kweli, walipitia Mozambique mpaka walipofika sehemu za Morogoro na Mahenge. Imesikika kwa muda mrefu kwamba Wanyakyusa walitoka Mahenge. Ni ndugu wa Waluguru, Wapogoro na wengineo sehemu hizo. Walihamia Rungwe karne nyingi zilizopita.

Kuna wanahistoria, kwa mfano S.R. Charsley katika kitabu chake The Princes of Nyakyusa, wanaosema Wanyakyusa wameishi katika wilaya ya Rungwe kwa muda mrefu sana - zaidi ya miaka mia tano. Pia Wandali ni Wanyakyusa. Kuna tofauti kidogo sana kati ya lugha zao. Hata majina mengi sana ya Kindali ni sawa na majina ya Kinyakyusa. Pia maana ya majina hayo ni sawa katika lugha hizo mbili.

Inawezekana Wanyakyusa walitoka Afrika Kusini. Kuna maneno mengi katika lugha za Afrika Kusini yanayo fanana na maneno katika lugha ya Kinyakyusa. Lakini tukumbuke kwamba maneno mengi katika lugha za Afrika Kusini pia yanapatikana katika lugha zingine za Kibantu huku Afrika Mashariki na Afrika ya Kati.

Mwandishi mmoja wa Afrika Kusini amelijadili suala hilo katika kitabu chake ifwatavyo:

"In Kinyakyusa or Nyakyusa, a language spoken by more than one million people who constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in Tanzania (there are also hundreds of thousands of Nyakyusa people in Malawi who are also called Ngonde or Bangonde), mundu means person, and abandu or bandu means people; a term very close to Bantu. Terms similar to that are found in other Bantu languages....

The Zulu and other black South Africans say lenja ifile, meaning "the dog is dead"....The Nyakyusa...say imbwa jifwile, which means the same thing as lenja ifile: "the dog is dead"....

There are many other similarities. For example, the Zulu say amandhla, which means "power." The Nyakyusa say amaka, which also means "power." The emphasis in Nyakyusa, as in Zulu, is on the second syllable.

The Zulu, the Ndebele and the Xhosa also say amanza, meaning "water." The Nyakyusa say amisi – emphasis on the second syllable - which means "water" in Nyakyusa language.

Another example: the Zulu say ngiphuma, meaning “I'm from”; the Nyakyusa say ngufuma, which also means, “I'm from.”

And the language of the Nyakyusa people is called ikiNyakyusa. That's what the Nyakyusa call their language, while the Zulu call theirs isiZulu, the Ndebele call their language isiNdebele, the Xhosa call theirs isiXhosa as do other black South Africans who also use the prefix isi- in their tribal languages.

And what are the people themselves called in their own languages?

The Nyakyusa are known as abaNyakyusa or simply baNyakyusa depending on the context in which either of those terms is used. Now look at the similarities.

The Zulu are amaZulu, the Xhosa are amaXhosa, not very different from abaNyakyusa.

And in Nyakyusa language, the Zulu are abaSulu, the Xhosa are abaXhosa, the Ndebele – abaNdebele, and the Swazi – abaSwasi, to give only a few examples....

Also, among the Nyakyusa, the word for father is tata. In Southern Sotho, a language spoken by millions of people in South Africa and which is also the most widely spoken language in the country of Lesotho, the word for father is ntate; very little difference between the two – tata and ntate....

Ingamu jangu means “my name is...” in Nyakyusa, not very much different from Xhosa and Zulu.

The Xhosa and the Zulu say, igama lam ngu - “my name is....”

Ingamu jako gwe jwani? means “what's your name?” in Nyakyusa. In Xhosa, it's Ungubani Igama lakho? And in Zulu it's Igama lakho ngubani? Meaning the same thing, “what's your name?”

Nangisya injila means “show me the way” in Nyakyusa. In Xhosa, it's Ungandikhombisa indlela.

While injila means “way,” in Nyakyusa, it's indlela in Xhosa. Very little difference between the two terms.

Even the other two terms, nangisya and Ungandikhombisa, both of which mean “show me” in Nyakyusa and Xhosa, respectively, sound similar."

Hiyo ni mifano michache kutoka South African author W. Seth in his book South Africa: The Land, Its People and History (kurasa 18 - 21).

Still, there is no conclusive evidence showing that the Nyakyusa are a branch of the Zulu or the Xhosa and that they came from South Africa, although linguistic similarities raise this possibility.

Pia tukumbuke kwamba Wanyakyusa ni watani wa Wangoni. Is there something there in terms of blood connection between the two going all the way back to South Africa?

Ni suala ambalo wanahistoria itawabidi wachunguze zaidi. Labda hata DNA comparison itasaidia. Time will tell.

 

[Andindile]

Kwa taarifa nilizo nazo ni kuwa wanyakyusa historia yao ni mashariki mwa Kongo DRC. Baada ya kutoka huko walipita maeneo ya Kigoma, Usukumani hadi kuelekea maeneo ya usagala. Baadaye walisafiri kuelekea kusini kupitia morogoro mpaka Liwale. Baada ya kuona mazingira hayaridhishi kule kusini walirudi tena Morogoro ambako waliishi maeneo ya Uluguruni, Undamba, na Upogoroni kwa nyakati tofauti kabla ya kuanza safari ya kulekea Nyanda za juu kusini.

-Mfano mmoja wapo unaodhihirisha kuwa wanyakyusa walitokea mashariki mwa kongo ni Jina na ukoo wa akina Bukuku. Ukoo huu unapatikana Kongo mashariki, Kigoma na Eneo la Nyika wilayani Rungwe.

Pia usukumani kuna majina mengi sana ya vijiji na watu yanayofanana sana na yawanyakyusa kama alama ya maeneo waliyopitia

Waluguru ni wajomba wa wanyakyusa. Ujomba huu ulitokana na mwingiliano wa makabila haya mawili wakati yalipokuwa yakiishi pamoja. Ndiyo maana utakuta Myankusa anajisifia kuwa Nendugulu. Mi Mluguru

Mwenye taarifa zaidi aongezeee

 

[Bulesi]

Mnazungumzia historia ya karibuni yaani baada ya Wanyakyusa kufika maeneo ya ukanda wa juu; Historia ya namna hiii ndiyo inayowafanya watu wafikirie kuwa Zanzibar ina historia ya kale zaidi kuliko sehemu nyingine yoyote katika mwambao wa Bahari ya HIndi au kwamba historia yetu imeanza miaka mia tatu hivi iliyopita. Wanyakyusa wana historia tofauti sana.. ukitaka kujua historia yenu.. someni historia ya Wanubi!!

Wanyakyusa walitokea Ethiopia!! Msishangae nyie wasokile huko ndiko mlikotoka!!

 

[Lekanjobe Kubinika]

Bondeni umenisaidia sana kutafakari, ukanichochea kupata maswali mapya zaidi. Ndio maana wakienda Joni wazee wetu walikuwa hawapati shida sana kujifunza lugha za kule Afrika Kusini. Hata walioenda Zambia hawakupata taabu kujifunza kiwemba, nakubaliana na Andindile, everything count towards possibilities. Kama alivyosema Obheli, wanakyusa wanaweza kuwa waliburuzwa na utafutaji ardhi ya kilimo maana kulima ndio jadi yao.

It is difficult to conclude based on one approach of thinking, kwani kama tulivyosema, wanyakyusa ni uzao uliobadilika kwa miingiliano kama makabila mengine yalivyo pia. Pleas keep it digging, we may find the core. Leo ndio najuviwa kwamba wabantu asili yao Cameroon. That is another possibility ndio maana west africa kuna Amanise (Amanyisye?) Amunike (Amulike?). Hata Mandela wengine wanalinganisha na Mwandela.

Leka

 

[Natasha Ismail]

Mimi ni mnyakyusa wa kyela,nakumbuka babu aliwahi kunambia kuwa sis asili yetu ni morogoro yaani maeneo ya kilosa au ifakara ingawa yeye pia hii habari alisimuliwa na babu yake.Wanyakyusa wa kyela wanaitwa (VA MUNGONDE) yaani wa bondeni akaendelea kusema kuwa wenzetu wa Tukuyu sio wanyakyusa halisi ni wazambia na malawi ndio maana hata sura zetu kiasi fulani hazifanani.Habari hii haina research yoyote ni maelezo ya babu kama yalivyo.

 

[Ndaga]

Niliambiwa kuwa wanataokea bondeni uko kwa mzee madiba then wakaja mpaka maeneo ya morogoro wakasetle kidogo then wakashuka mpaka Tukuyu then baadae wengine wakashuka Kyela.
Wandali ni wanyakyusa ila tofauti ni kuwa wakati wenzao walipita shortcut kuja mbeya wenyewe wakapita njia ndefu ie Ndali

Nganyelite bukomu!!!

 

[Lekanjobe Kubinika]

Just got a piece of interesting story. from a biography of a very important person, also Nyakyusa by tribe. It displays that there was no such tribe known as Wanyakyusa until the emergence of colonialism, when registration of people living in different parts of the land was being exercised. There being a language barrier between the whites and the locals, the whites recorded what they asumed perfect as a reference to what they sought. This is almost unanimously acceptable, because many names of our cities and towns in our modern era are as a result of the whites' decision to name in their easy pronounciation, reflecting some historical local backgrounds. Look what the biographist says:

"Kuna hadithi nyingine pia, inaeleza kwamba zamani hakukuwapo kabila lililoitwa la Wanyakyusa. Inasemekana watu hawa katika kusafiri kwao walikuwa wakiamkiana asubuhi kutakiana hali endapo wameamka salama na kupona maangamizo ya maadui zao. Ili kutambuana, waliulizana Musokile? Maana yake mmeamka salama? Hata wakikutana njiani waliulizana swali hilo kila mtu akielekeza kwa mwenzake. Endapo utaulizwa Usokile na usijibu na wewe usokile, ulitambuliwa kwamba sio mwenzao, na kwa maana hiyo walikuchukulia kama adui yao. Kwa mwenendo huo wakajulikana kama Wasokile. Baadaye wakoloni walipoingia walianza utafiti wao kujua ni watu gani wanaoishi kule. Wazungu hao waliotokea Malawi wakielekea kaskazini walikutana na watoto maeneo ya Masoko.

Walipowauliza watoto hao "hapa wanaishi watu gani?" watoto hawakuwa wanaelewana na wazungu, wakawa wanajibu kwamba wao ni watoto wa Kyusa. Kila jitihada ya kutafuta ni kabila gani la watu wanaoishi eneo hilo iligonga mwamba maana wenyeji walijua kwamba wazungu sio wenzao na hawakuwa na haja kuuliza musokile, maana ilikuwa wazi kwamba hawajui kujibu. Kwa kuwa wazungu walikuwa na nguvu ya kuandika na kutunza taarifa, wakandika kwamba wamepita katika enao la watoto wa Kyusa yaani Wanyakyusa. Kwa kuwa lugha ilifanana eneo lote hilo, wazungu waliamua kuliita eneo lote kwa ujumla kama kabila la watoto wa Kyusa yaani Wanyakyusa. Amri zote na taarifa zozote kutoka eneo hilo ziliandikwa kwa jina hilo na ikawa ndio batizo lenyewe la Kabila".


Leka

 

[Bondeni]

Just got a piece of interesting story. from a biography of a very important person, also Nyakyusa by tribe. It displays that there was no such tribe known as Wanyakyusa until the emergence of colonialism, when registration of people living in different parts of the land was being exercised. There being a language barrier between the whites and the locals, the whites recorded what they asumed perfect as a reference to what they sought. This is almost unanimously acceptable, because many names of our cities and towns in our modern era are as a result of the whites' decision to name in their easy pronounciation, reflecting some historical local backgrounds. Look what the biographist says:

"Kuna hadithi nyingine pia, inaeleza kwamba zamani hakukuwapo kabila lililoitwa la Wanyakyusa. Inasemekana watu hawa katika kusafiri kwao walikuwa wakiamkiana asubuhi kutakiana hali endapo wameamka salama na kupona maangamizo ya maadui zao. Ili kutambuana, waliulizana Musokile? Maana yake mmeamka salama? Hata wakikutana njiani waliulizana swali hilo kila mtu akielekeza kwa mwenzake. Endapo utaulizwa Usokile na usijibu na wewe usokile, ulitambuliwa kwamba sio mwenzao, na kwa maana hiyo walikuchukulia kama adui yao. Kwa mwenendo huo wakajulikana kama Wasokile. Baadaye wakoloni walipoingia walianza utafiti wao kujua ni watu gani wanaoishi kule. Wazungu hao waliotokea Malawi wakielekea kaskazini walikutana na watoto maeneo ya Masoko.

Walipowauliza watoto hao “hapa wanaishi watu gani?” watoto hawakuwa wanaelewana na wazungu, wakawa wanajibu kwamba wao ni watoto wa Kyusa. Kila jitihada ya kutafuta ni kabila gani la watu wanaoishi eneo hilo iligonga mwamba maana wenyeji walijua kwamba wazungu sio wenzao na hawakuwa na haja kuuliza musokile, maana ilikuwa wazi kwamba hawajui kujibu. Kwa kuwa wazungu walikuwa na nguvu ya kuandika na kutunza taarifa, wakandika kwamba wamepita katika enao la watoto wa Kyusa yaani Wanyakyusa. Kwa kuwa lugha ilifanana eneo lote hilo, wazungu waliamua kuliita eneo lote kwa ujumla kama kabila la watoto wa Kyusa yaani Wanyakyusa. Amri zote na taarifa zozote kutoka eneo hilo ziliandikwa kwa jina hilo na ikawa ndio batizo lenyewe la Kabila".


Leka

Ikiwa hakukuwa na kabila la Kinyakyusa kabla ya enzi ya ukoloni, kwa nini kulikuwa na lugha ya Kinyakyusa kabla ya enzi hiyo? Lugha hiyo ilitoka wapi, na kwa nini watu wanaoitwa Wanyakyusa walikuwa wanaelewana katika lugha hiyo, ikiwa hakukuwa na kabila la Kinyakyusa kabla ya Wazungu kuja kuanzia na Wajerumani?

Mnyakyusa mmoja mwenye asili ya Malawi, Walusako Mwalilino, amewahi pia kulizungumzia swala hilo katika maandishi yake nitakayoweka hapa baadaye.

Ni wakoloni wanaosema hakukuwa na makabila kabla ya wao kuja katika bara letu.

Wanyakyusa waliwahi kwenda vitani kupigana na Wajerumani. Mmoja wa viongozi wao mashuhiri alikuwani Chifu Mwakalinga. Lakini kwa sababu hawakuwa na silaha za kutosha, bali mikuki na ngao, walishindwa kuwaondoa Wajerumani. S.R. Charsley ameandika katika kitabu chake, "The Princes of Nyakyusa," kuhusu Chifu Mwakalinga na ujasiri wake pamoja na wa machifu wengine wa Kinyakyusa waliokwenda vitani kupambana na Wajerumani na walivyouawa kinyama migombani na sehemu zingine na askari wa Kijerumani.

Machifu hao walikuwa ni machifu wa nani, na walikuwa wanazungumza lugha gani na watu wao, ikiwa hakukuwa na kabila la Kinyakyusa kabla ya enzi ya Wajerumani?

Charsley pia anasema katika kitabu chake kwamba Wanyakyusa wameishi katika wilaya ya Rungwe miaka mia tano. Kitabu hicho kilichapishwa kwa mara ya kwanza 1968 au 1969. Na bado sijasoma maandishi yoyote ya mtu mwingine aliyepinga kauli hiyo.

Ikiwa ni kweli Wanyakyusa - pamoja na Wandali ambao pia ni Wanyakyusa waliohamia milimani ingawa labda kuna miongoni mwao ambao hawataki kuitwa Wanyakyusa - ikiwa ni kweli wameishi katika wilaya ya Rungwe miaka yote hiyo, zaidi ya miaka mia tano, ni dhahiri kwamba ni kati ya makabila ya kwanza yaliyofika katika nchi ambayo sasa inaitwa Tanzania.

Kuna uwezekano wameishi hapa nchini kwa muda wa miaka mia sita au mia saba kwa sababu kabla ya kuhamia Rungwe, Wanyakyusa walikuwa wanaishi sehemu zingine za nchi ambayo sasa inaitwa Tanzania. Walitokea Mahenge, Morogoro, Kilosa na sehemu zingine huko, na bila shaka waliishi huko kwa muda mrefu - inawezekana kwa karne moja au mbili au zaidi. Ukijumlisha miaka yote hiyo, utaona kwamba Wanyakyusa wameishi kwa muda mrefu sana, karne nyingi sana, hapa nchini kuliko makabila kama ya Kingoni na Kimasai na labda mengine, ingawa sisi sote ni Watanzania hata kama ulihamia hapa jana kutoka nchi nyingine au bara lingine.

Na ikiwa Wanyakyusa walitokea Afrika Kusini, inawezekana waliishi huko pia kwa muda mrefu sana kwa sababu Wazulu, Wakosa na watu wa makabila mengine walifika Afrika Kusini karne ya 500 A.D. Na labda ndiyo maana kuna maneno mengi katika lugha ya Kinyakyusa yanayofanana na maneno katika lugha za kule kusini - Xhosa, Zulu, Sutu, Swazi na zingine.

Bila shaka kuna watu wengi ambao wamewahi kusikia kwamba Winnie Mandela alikuwa anamwita mume wake, Nelson Mandela, "tata," kwa sababu ya tofauti mkubwa kati yao kiumri (miaka kumi na sita hivi). Neno hilo la "tata" katika lugha ya Kikosa lina maanisha "baba." Wanyakyusa pia wanasema "tata" kumaanisha "baba." Na kuna wimbo wa Kikosa ambao nimewahi kuusikia unaosema "Batata bosa," yaani akina baba wote - labda hata kwa ujumla unamaanisha pamoja na wajukuu. Wanyakyusa pia wanasema "Batata bosa." Hakuna tofauti hata kidogo kati ya Kikosa na Kinyakyusa katika maana ya usemi huo - "batata bosa."

Mfano mwingine: Kuna ndege mmoja mkubwa ambaye anaitwa "impududu" katika lugha ya Kikosa. Wanyakyusa wanamwita ndege huyo "imbututu." Ukilinganisha, unaona kwamba kuna tofauti kidogo sana kati ya "impududu" - na "imbututu." Ni rahisi kabisa Wanyakyusa na Wakosa kuelewana wanamaanisha nini wanaposikia neno hilo katika lugha zao ingawa lugha zao ni tofauti.

Lakini bado swali halijajibiwa ikiwa ni kweli Wanyakyusa walitoka Afrika Kusini kama Wangoni. Ila kuna ukweli kuhusu makabila hayo mawili. Ukweli huo ni kwamba wamehusiana kwa muda mrefu tangu Wangoni walipohamia huku kutoka Afrika kusini. Ndiyo maana unasikia Wangoni wanasema kuhusu Wanyakyusa, "Ni watani wetu." Wanyakyusa pia wanasema kuhusu Wangoni: "Ni watani wetu."

Pia inasemekana lugha ya Kinyakyusa ni tofauti na lugha za makabila ambayo ni jirano zao, kwa mfano Wasafwa, jambo linalo maanisha walitokea mahali pengine. Nadhani ni Monica Wilson aliyezungumzia jambo hilo katika maandishi yake kuhusu Wanyakyusa na tofauti kati ya lugha yao na za jirani zao. Lakini tukumbuke pia kwamba Wakinga ni jirani za Wanyakyusa na ni ndugu zao. Kwahiyo si jirani wote katika mkoa wa Mbeya na Iringa ambao ni tofauti na Wanyakyusa katika lugha na mambo mengine.

 

[Bondeni]

In defense of the Nyakyusa - Tanzanian people

Walusako Mwalilino, "Monthly Review," January 1994

The debate between Mahmood Mamdani and Basil Davidson in the Monthly Review of July-August 1993, which was sparked by Davidson's new book on Africa, The Black Man's Burden, requires an important correction. Both scholars present illuminating comments. My concern, however, is about one aspect only: the rectification of Nyakyusa history, of which both men seem to have insufficient understanding.

Davidson claims in his book that the Nyakyusa, who live in southwest Tanzania, as a tribe, were "invented" by European colonialism. He states: At first, the British set themselves to the work of inventing tribes for Africans to belong to; later, with possible independence looming ahead, they turned to building nation-states.(1)

Among such formed "new tribes," he goes on, were: the Sukuma and the Nyakusa [sic], [who] rose fully formed from the mysterious workings of "tradition." Not being worried by such workings, whatever Europeans supposed them to be, such coagulated clans and segments do not seem to have minded becoming "tribes"with exotic names. .but rather pleased about it.(2)

While I cannot speak for the Sukuma because of my unfamiliarity with their history, the origins of the Nyakyusa do not jibe with Davidson's historiography at all. His mistake is based on John Iliffe's book, A Modern History of Tanganyika, which, on the subject of the creation of African tribes, Davidson lauds as "exemplary" and "excellent."(3) But what does Professor Iliffe say that Davidson finds so.

The most spectacular new tribe were the Nyakyusa. In the nineteenth century their name described only inhabitants of certain lakeshore chiefdoms. Some German observers and early British officials extended it to embrace also the Kukwe and Selya further north, their culture being broadly similar. After failing to impose paramounts on this essentially stateless people, the British established a council of chiefs in 1933 and described it as the tribal system. Buttressed by distinctive culture, common language, and sheer isolation, the newly-invented Nyakyusa tribe soon became an effective political unit.(4)

In my opinion, this type of revisionist history is less than "exemplary" or "excellent." To start with, it's not true that in the nineteenth century the name Nyakyusa "described only inhabitants of certain lakeshore chiefdoms;" that they were a "stateless people;" or that they were an "invented" tribe. Let's consider the facts.

The heartland of the Nyakyusa is bordered by the Rungwe mountain in the north, the Songwe river in the south, and Lake Malawi in the east. Residents below the mountain, forty miles away from the lakeshore, also called themselves Nyakyusa. The whole area is now part of Mbeya Region, but the people still call their country Unyakyusa. The Songwe river forms the Tanzania-Malawi boundary; a smaller number of Nyakyusa live on its south bank, inside Malawi. The Nyakyusa are closely related to the Ngonde, of north Malawi, who occupy the river's south bank and stretching forty-two miles south on the lake's plain. The two groups speak the same language (with a minor difference in accents), although the Nyakyusa refer to their version as Kinyakyusa, while the Ngonde call theirs Kyangonde. And both groups pray to Kyala (God).(5) According to Malawian historian, Professor Owen Kalinga, the Nyakyusa settled in Rungwe valley between 1550 and 1650, a fact now supported by carbon dating.(6) The founders of the Ngonde nation settled in Malawi in 1600.(7)

Thus, centuries prior to the arrival of the British consul, Frederic Elton, in 1877, the first European to travel in Unyakyusa, the people had developed a political system of independent chiefdoms, without a central authority. Elton negotiated with Nyakyusa chiefs to be given men--porters--to carry his luggage en route to Zanzibar.(8) But what Elton didn't know then--and what Iliffe didn't know in 1979, and Davidson in 1992--is that the Nyakyusa, with their developed chiefdoms and sense of identity, had been living in Unyakyusa at least since 1650--a good two hundred years before their encounter with a white man! Indeed, anthropologist Godfrey Wilson, who conducted field research in Unyakyusa from 1954 to 1958, has said as much: "The Nyakyusa, when the Europeans reached them, were organized in small independent chiefdoms."(9) These chiefdoms were bonded together by their common history and Kinyakyusa language, and other cultural factors: rituals, customs, and conventions.(10) So the question arises: How could a people with this background have been "invented" by European colonialism?

Professor Iliffe is right, of course, to note that, "The common belief that colonialism imposed law and order on Africa needs always to be weighed against its tendency to disrupt the legal mechanisms of small societies.(11) This certainly applies to the Nyakyusa, whose form of governance was severely altered by colonialism.

The destructive process was begun by the Germans who were the first to colonize Tanganyika (now the mainland of Tanzania) in 1895, nine years after the Berlin Conference allowed European nations to partition Africa. Their task of influencing the Nyakyusa directly, however, proved difficult because the Nyakyusa had a system of chiefs of equal standing; whereas the Germans wanted a paramount leader whom they could use as a conduit. To overcome the problem, the Germans "introduced a paramount political authority among the Nyakyusa...in the persons of European officials.''(12) The Nyakyusa bitterly resented this alien set-up, which led to their confrontation with the Germans on December 2, 1897. The Nyakyusa say "five hundred"of their men were machine-gunned to death that day; while Germans say they killed "thirty to fifty" men.(13) This massacre ensured German rule over the Nyakyusa for the next twenty-one years--that is, until 1918, when Germany was defeated in the First World War.

The British then took over Tanganyika, as mandated by the League of Nations, and introduced indirect rule among the Nyakyusa. They "created new Native Authorities under [a white] District Commissioner and [who was] superior to the chiefs. The traditionally independent chiefs were grouped together in eleven court districts." (14) But unlike the Germans, the British paid to newly-appointed higher chiefs. Iliffe quotes a paramount chief who, "shortly after his invention in 1926" (and here the word "invention" is quite appropriate), thanked British authorities in writing, saying, "You have given our country back to us." (15) Iliffe somehow thinks this is how the Nyakyusa tribe was invented for the first time; he forgets that the newly invented chief had his own reason for thanking his new masters: he was on their payroll!

Iliffe further quotes a Nyakyusa person telling anthropologist Monica Wilson (wife of Godfrey Wilson): "Before you Europeans came,"--meaning, the British colonial administration--"the chiefs like Mwaipopo were not awe-inspiring, they feared the commoners very much .... It is you Europeans who have created chieftainship and awe."(16) Again, Iliffe fails to realize that, implicit in the man's statement is the admission that prior to the coming of European colonial rule the Nyakyusa had a democratic system which did not allow for a big chasm between the chief and the commoners. A chief was easily accessible to the people; this eliminated the need for the people to be in awe of him. Only a corrupt or dictatorial chief had a founded reason to fear the commoners.

I also disagree flatly with Iliffe's assertion that the European "effort to create a Nyakyusa tribe was...honest and constructive.''(17) To repeat, the Nyakyusa tribe was not "invented" by European colonialism; rather, it was the victim of colonialism. The problem with Iliffe and Davidson, is this: they fail to make a distinction between the centuries-old origins of the Nyakyusa tribe and the imposition of new colonial institutions-- failure which leads them to confuse the two.

As for Professor Mamdani, he also makes the mistake--although not as serious as Davidson's---of gullibly accepting, in passing, Davidson's historiography about the Nyakyusa. At no point in his long critique of Davidson's book does he question the author's accuracy about the Nyakyusa. Indeed, Mamdani's apparent lack of knowledge about the Nyakyusa is further revealed when he spells their name as "Nyakusa" (MR, p. 39), thereby repeating the typographical error in Davidson's book (p. 100), from which he quotes.

In conclusion, the scholarship of Africa cannot truly advance if experts, no matter how liberal or progressive, take lightly--to say nothing of distorting, trivializing, or denigrating--the history of some African tribes, and particularly if those tribes are small and appear to be insignificant. The history of the Nyakyusa, although they are a small tribe, still deserves a better reading and interpretation.

NOTES

1. Basil Davidson, The BlackMan's Burden (New York: Times Books, 1992), pp. 11-12.

2. Ibid., pp. 100-101.

3. Ibid., p. 101 and p. 328 (note 1).

4. John Iliffe, A Modern History of Tanganyika (London: Cambridge University Press, 1979), pp. 331-332.

5. Godfrey Wilson, The Constitution of Ngonde (Livingstone: The Rhodes-Livingstone Papers, 1939), p. 37. Monica Wilson, Rituals of Kinship Among the Nyakyusa (London: Oxford University Press, 1957), p.4.

6. Owen J.M. Kalinga, A History of the Ngonde Kingdom of Malawi (Berlin: Mouton Publishers, 1985), p. 53. Monica Wilson, "Reflections on the Early History of North Malawi," in Bridglal Pachai (ed.), The Early History of Malawi (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1972), p. 140. '

7. Owen J.M. Kalinga, op. cit., p. vii.

8. J.F. Elton, Travels and Researches Among the Lakes and Mountains of Eastern and Central Africa (London: Frank Cass and Co., 1968; 2nd edition), pp. 317-340.

9. Godfrey Wilson, op. cit., p. 8.

10. Monica Wilson, Good Company: A Study of Nyakyusa Age-Villages (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1983; reprint).

11. John Iliffe, op. cit., p. 296.

12. Godfrey Wilson, "The Nyakyusa of South-Western Tanganyika," in Elizabeth Colson and Max Gluckman (eds.), Seven Tribes of Central Africa (London: Oxford University Press, 1951 ), p. 284.

13. Marcia Wright, "Nyakyusa Cults and Politics in the Later Nineteenth Century," in T.O. Ranger and I.N. Kimambo (eds.), The Historical Study of African Religion (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p. 168.

14. Godfrey Wilson, "The Nyakyusa of South-Western Tanganyika," op. cit., p. 284.

15. John Iliffe, op. cit. p. 324.

16. Ibid., p. 328.

17. Ibid. p. 324.

I should very much like to see communism tried for awhile before we give up civilization as a purely pathological phenomenon. At any rate, it can hardly produce worse results than capitalism. --George Bernard Shaw.

Walusako Mwalilino is a journalist and former Associate Officer in the department of Political and General Assembly Affairs at the United Nations. He is a contributor to The oxford Companion to Politics of the World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).
COPYRIGHT 1994 Monthly Review Foundation, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group.

 

[Katavi]

Jamani kuna kautaratibu fulani ambako mimi huwa kananifurahisha sana pale inapotokea sherehe kama vile harusi na wakati mwingine misibani, kunakuwa na utani wa kikabila ambao huwa unatolewa na watu ambao ni wa kabila tofauti na mtu mwenye shughuli.

Lakini jambo ambalo huwa sielewi ni nani alianzisha haka kamchezo na faida yake ni nini?

Na kwa nini watu ambao makabila yao kijiografia yako mbali kwa mfano Wamakonde na Wahaya unakuta hawana asili ya utani badala yake yale makabila yaliyo karibu kama vile Wachaga na Wapare, Wamakuwa na Wayao, Wangoni na Wahehe, Wafipa na Wanyakyusa n.k ndio yanakuwa na utani wa kupitiliza.

Nini asili ya huu utani!

 

[Kiranja Mkuu]

Wakati w harakati za kuupinga ukoloni ndipo makabila yalipo anza kushirikiana na kuwa kitu kimoja.

 

[Fundi Mchundo]

Nasikia ni makabila ambayo yalikuwa na historia ya kupigana. Pengine kutokana kuwa vita vya wakati huo viliambatana na kuteka mabinti wa upande mwiningine basi haya makabila haya yakatambua kuwa wao ni ndugu! Hawa ndio wakawa wenye mamlaka ya kuwazika wenzao wanapofariki.

Amandla.....

 

[Babuyao]

Sababu kubwa za utani ni 2: (1) Ni mapambano ya kivita ya mara kwa mara kati ya makabila hayo kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu; (2) Safari za kibiashara ya baadhi ya makabila kiasi kwamba huko walikopita walipambana na adha ya makabila ya njiani wakajenga urafiki na hata kuoleana na mwisho kukawa na mahusiano ya utani (wa kishemeji). Mfano mzuri kwa hili ni wanyamwezi. Hawa jamaa wana watani wengi sana nadhani kuliko kabila lolote lile hapa Tz kwa sababu ya safari zao nyingi za biashara kwenda pwani - Bagamoyo, Zanzibar. Unakuta wanataniwa na makabila mengi sana ambamo wanyamwezi walikuwa wakipita na bidhaa zao za kibiashara - tena kuna wakati walikuwa wakivamia na hayo makabila na kunyang'anywa baadhi ya bishaa. Basi alimradi mahusiano yalianza kujengeka.

Lengo la utani kwa kweli ni kuimarisha/ kujenga mahusiano mazuri kati ya makabila husika. Ule utani japo ukiuangalia kwa nje unaweza kudhani mashambulizi ya kiuadui, lakini kwa undani wake ni chachu na kielelezo cha mahusiano mazuri kati ya makabila. It is a sign of familiarity and closeness between the tribes. Mtaniwa hapaswi kukasirika. Lakini pia utani unalenga kurekebisha baadhi ya tabia zinazodhaniwa kuwa ni mbaya za makabila watani. Mfano watataniana kwa kupashana juu ya tabia za za wizi, uvivu, uchafu, nk wa kabila lingine ili kudeliver msg yenye lengo la kuwafanya watani wenye kasoro hizo wajirekebishe. Msg inakuwa delivered kwa njia ya utani, vicheko na mbwembwe!

 

[Katavi]

Kumbe huu utani ulianza toka wakati wa ukoloni!

 

[Fundi Mchundo]

Kumbe huu utani ulianza toka wakati wa ukoloni!

Haswa!

Amandla........