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Majang people

January 01, 1970

The Majang people, or Majangir, live in southwestern Ethiopia and speak a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic cluster. The 1998 census gave the total of the Majangir population as 15,341, but since they live scattered in the hills in dispersed settlements (Stauder 1971), their actual total number is undoubtedly much higher. They live around cities of Tepi, Mett'i, and scattered southwest of Mizan Teferi and towards Gambela.

Majangir
Total population
11,000 (2007)
Regions with significant populations
 Ethiopia
Languages
Majang
Religion
Christianity, Traditional religion
Traditional toom instrument

Culture edit

They traditionally lived in small groups, farming for three to five years, then moving on as the fertility of the soil diminished (Stauder 1971). They were active bee keepers, collecting honey from hives consisting of hollowed logs placed in trees. They did some hunting and snaring of game and trapping of fish. They raised the bulk of their own food by farming, animals providing only a small part of their diet.

Food production has changed since Stauder's time. The single most obvious change is that people are now living in permanent settlements. Livestock was not traditionally raised, but many Majangir have begun small scale livestock raising since about 1980. In addition, they have begun planting fruit and coffee trees, plants that take a number of years to produce a crop.

The Majangir traditionally had a very egalitarian society, with no standing political leaders (Stauder 1971, 1972). The only people in official positions were people in the role of "tapad" (final implosive d), who served as ritual leaders. These were from the Meelanir clan, a group has links with similar-named privileged clans in other Surmic groups (Unseth and Abbink 1998).

In case of a serious disagreement, one party would simply move away. There was no standard social reconciliation mechanism as is found in highland Ethiopian cultures.

The Majangir have over 70 clans, with clan identity passed down through the male line. A person cannot marry a person from the same clan (exogamy), nor should they marry a person from their mother's clan (Stauder 1971, Unseth 1998a).

 
Title page of the New Testament in the Majang language, 2018

The Majangir traditionally made two kinds of alcoholic drink: one from grain "tááján" (cf. tella) and one from honey "ògòòl" (cf. tej; Teramoto et al., 2005).

 
Traditional powaz mallet and wedge made of Baphia abyssinica wood.

The Majangir have traditionally used a number of musical instruments, sometimes to accompany singing and sometimes played without. Their instruments include a five-string lyre, thumb piano, drum, rattles, panflute. In addition, they play a vertically suspended marimba with as few as three wooden bars, but this is seen as a way of passing time, especially when guarding fields, rather than an instrument for music.

Their vocal music includes singing of both harmonies and antiphonal parts. Often, this results in two parts being sung by women and two parts by men.

Changes are happening rapidly to their traditional way of life. Since about 1971, many Majangir have become Christians (Hoekstra 2003 and Sato 2002). Further, since the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991, with its subsequent remapping of Ethiopia by ethnic lines, the Majangir have felt very marginalized politically, their territory now divided among three kalil or administrative Regions (Sato 2000 and 2002). This frustration has led to some armed fighting with the government (Vaughan 2003:268).

Currently, many outsiders are buying or leasing land from the Majang area. "This has led to the pauperization of the Majang and the looming environmental disaster of the massive deforestation of the Majang forest, part of south-west Ethiopia’s dwindling tropical rain-forest."[1]

Language edit

The Majangir language is part of the Surmic cluster, however it is the most isolated language in that cluster (Harold C. Fleming 1983). A language survey has shown that dialect variation from north to south is minor and does not seriously impede communication

The language has implosive consonants (bilabial and retroflex), but no ejective consonants (Bender 1983). There are seven vowels, and length of duration of the vowel is also distinctive, such as goopan 'punishment' and gopan 'road'. In addition, two tones also distinguish meaning, on both the word level and the grammatical level: táŋ (higher tone) 'cow', tàŋ (lower tone) 'abscess'.

References edit

  1. ^ p. 49. Ficquet, Éloi, and Dereje Feyissa. 2015. Ethiopians in the twenty-first century: the structure and transformation of the population. Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia Monarchy, Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi., pp. 15-62. Hurst Publications.

External links edit

  • Map showing approximate Majangir locations (Ethnologue)
  • Traditional Majang trickster story
  • Traditional Majang story on origin of fire

Bibliography edit

  • Bender, M. Lionel, 1983. "Majang Phonology and Morphology," in M. Lionel Bender, (ed.), Nilo-Saharan Language Studies, pp. 114–47. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, African Studies Center.
  • Fleming, Harold, 1983. "Surmic etymologies" in Nilotic Studies: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Languages and History of the Nilotic Peoples, Rainer Vossen and Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst, 524–555. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
  • Hoekstra, Harvey. 2003. From "knotted strings" to talking Bibles. Pasadena: William Carey Library.
  • Joswig, Andreas. LOT. The Majang Language. Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics, 2019.
  • Joswig, Andreas. "Syntactic sensitivity and preferred clause structure in Majang." Nilo-Saharan: models and descriptions (2015): 169-176.
  • Sato, Ren'ya. 1995. "Seasonal Labor Allocation and Diversification Strategy of Sweden Agricultural System: A Report from the Majangir, Southwest Ethiopia," Human Geography 47: 541–561.
  • Sato, Ren'ya, 1997a. "Christianization through Villagization: Experiences of Social Change among the Majangir," Ethiopia in Broader Perspective: Papers of 13th International Ethiopian Studies, vol.2.
  • Sato, Ren'ya, 1997b. "Formation of Historical Consciousness among the Majangir : A Preliminary View with an Analysis of a narrative on the Majangir History," Swahili & African Studies.
  • Sato, Ren'ya. 2000. "Ethiopian Decentralization and a Peripheral People : A Dispute Over Regional Borders and the Disruption of a Certain Development Project," Africa Report 30 12-15
  • Sato, Ren'ya. 2002. "Evangelical Christianity and ethnic consciousness in Majangir." Remapping Ethiopia Socialism and After, edited by Wendy James, Donald L. Donham, Eisei Kurimoto, and Allesandro Triulzi, pp. 185–197. Oxford: James Currey Ltd.
  • Sato, Ren'ya. 2003. Settlement dynamics of shifting cultivators, with special references to social factors of settlement abandonment. In H. Ishihara, ed., Studies of Agricultural Space (Noson Kukan no Kenyu) 1, 346–363. Tokyo: Taimedo. [in Japanese]
  • Sato, Ren'ya. 2007. Dynamics of subsistence and reproduction among the Majangir. 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Trondheim, Norway. draft paper
  • Stauder, Jack. 1971. The Majangir: Ecology and Society of a Southwest Ethiopian People. London: Cambridge University Press.
  • Stauder, Jack. 1972. "Anarchy and Ecology: Political Society among the Majangir". Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 28.2, pp. 153–168.
  • Tasew, Bayleyegn. "The Mythically Modelled Human–Environment Tradition of the Maǧaŋgir Society, South-Western Ethiopia." In Oral Traditions in Ethiopian Studies: Edited by Alexander Meckelburg, Sophia Dege-Müller, and Dirk Bustorf, 307–26. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2018. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcm4fb5.17.
  • Teramoto Y., Sato R., and Ueda S. 2005. "Characteristics of fermentation yeast isolated from traditional Ethiopian honey wine, ogol." African Journal of Biotechnology, 4 (2), pp. 160–163.
  • Tuno, Nobuko. 2001. Mushroom utilization by the Majangir, an Ethiopian tribe. Mycologist 15(2):78-79.
  • Unseth, Peter. 1988. "Majang Nominal Plurals: With Comparative Notes," Studies in African Linguistics 19.1:75-91.
  • Unseth, Peter. 1989. "Sketch of Majang Syntax," Topics in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics, M. Lionel Bender, ed., pp. 97–127. (Nilo-Saharan: Linguistic Analyses and Documentation, vol. 3. Series editor Franz Rottland.) Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
  • Unseth, Peter. 1998a. "Notes on Clan, Kinship, and Marriage Patterns Among the Majangir," in Surmic Languages and Cultures, ed. by Gerrit Dimmendaal, pp. 145–178. Köln: Köppe.
  • Unseth, Peter. 1998b. "Two Old Causative Affixes in Surmic," Surmic Languages and Cultures, ed. by Gerrit Dimmendaal, pp. 113–126. Köln: Köppe.
  • Unseth, Peter. 2007. "Majangir ethnography". Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, vol. 3, p. 629. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
  • Unseth, Peter and Jon Abbink. 1998. "Cross-ethnic Clan Identities Among Surmic Groups: The Case of the Mela," in Surmic Languages and Cultures, ed. by Gerrit Dimmendaal, pp. 103–112. Köln: Köppe.
  • Vaughan, Sarah. 2003. "" Doctoral dissertation, University of Edinburgh.

January 01, 1970
majang, people, majangir, live, southwestern, ethiopia, speak, nilo, saharan, language, surmic, cluster, 1998, census, gave, total, majangir, population, since, they, live, scattered, hills, dispersed, settlements, stauder, 1971, their, actual, total, number, . The Majang people or Majangir live in southwestern Ethiopia and speak a Nilo Saharan language of the Surmic cluster The 1998 census gave the total of the Majangir population as 15 341 but since they live scattered in the hills in dispersed settlements Stauder 1971 their actual total number is undoubtedly much higher They live around cities of Tepi Mett i and scattered southwest of Mizan Teferi and towards Gambela MajangirTotal population11 000 2007 Regions with significant populations EthiopiaLanguagesMajangReligionChristianity Traditional religion Traditional toom instrument Contents 1 Culture 2 Language 3 References 4 External links 5 BibliographyCulture editThey traditionally lived in small groups farming for three to five years then moving on as the fertility of the soil diminished Stauder 1971 They were active bee keepers collecting honey from hives consisting of hollowed logs placed in trees They did some hunting and snaring of game and trapping of fish They raised the bulk of their own food by farming animals providing only a small part of their diet Food production has changed since Stauder s time The single most obvious change is that people are now living in permanent settlements Livestock was not traditionally raised but many Majangir have begun small scale livestock raising since about 1980 In addition they have begun planting fruit and coffee trees plants that take a number of years to produce a crop The Majangir traditionally had a very egalitarian society with no standing political leaders Stauder 1971 1972 The only people in official positions were people in the role of tapad final implosive d who served as ritual leaders These were from the Meelanir clan a group has links with similar named privileged clans in other Surmic groups Unseth and Abbink 1998 In case of a serious disagreement one party would simply move away There was no standard social reconciliation mechanism as is found in highland Ethiopian cultures The Majangir have over 70 clans with clan identity passed down through the male line A person cannot marry a person from the same clan exogamy nor should they marry a person from their mother s clan Stauder 1971 Unseth 1998a nbsp Title page of the New Testament in the Majang language 2018 The Majangir traditionally made two kinds of alcoholic drink one from grain taajan cf tella and one from honey ogool cf tej Teramoto et al 2005 nbsp Traditional powaz mallet and wedge made of Baphia abyssinica wood The Majangir have traditionally used a number of musical instruments sometimes to accompany singing and sometimes played without Their instruments include a five string lyre thumb piano drum rattles panflute In addition they play a vertically suspended marimba with as few as three wooden bars but this is seen as a way of passing time especially when guarding fields rather than an instrument for music Their vocal music includes singing of both harmonies and antiphonal parts Often this results in two parts being sung by women and two parts by men Changes are happening rapidly to their traditional way of life Since about 1971 many Majangir have become Christians Hoekstra 2003 and Sato 2002 Further since the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991 with its subsequent remapping of Ethiopia by ethnic lines the Majangir have felt very marginalized politically their territory now divided among three kalil or administrative Regions Sato 2000 and 2002 This frustration has led to some armed fighting with the government Vaughan 2003 268 Currently many outsiders are buying or leasing land from the Majang area This has led to the pauperization of the Majang and the looming environmental disaster of the massive deforestation of the Majang forest part of south west Ethiopia s dwindling tropical rain forest 1 Language editThe Majangir language is part of the Surmic cluster however it is the most isolated language in that cluster Harold C Fleming 1983 A language survey has shown that dialect variation from north to south is minor and does not seriously impede communicationThe language has implosive consonants bilabial and retroflex but no ejective consonants Bender 1983 There are seven vowels and length of duration of the vowel is also distinctive such as goopan punishment and gopan road In addition two tones also distinguish meaning on both the word level and the grammatical level taŋ higher tone cow taŋ lower tone abscess References edit p 49 Ficquet Eloi and Dereje Feyissa 2015 Ethiopians in the twenty first century the structure and transformation of the population Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia Monarchy Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi pp 15 62 Hurst Publications External links editMap showing approximate Majangir locations Ethnologue Traditional Majang trickster story Traditional Majang story on origin of fireBibliography editBender M Lionel 1983 Majang Phonology and Morphology in M Lionel Bender ed Nilo Saharan Language Studies pp 114 47 East Lansing MI Michigan State University African Studies Center Fleming Harold 1983 Surmic etymologies in Nilotic Studies Proceedings of the International Symposium on Languages and History of the Nilotic Peoples Rainer Vossen and Marianne Bechhaus Gerst 524 555 Berlin Dietrich Reimer Hoekstra Harvey 2003 From knotted strings to talking Bibles Pasadena William Carey Library Joswig Andreas LOT The Majang Language Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics 2019 Joswig Andreas Syntactic sensitivity and preferred clause structure in Majang Nilo Saharan models and descriptions 2015 169 176 Sato Ren ya 1995 Seasonal Labor Allocation and Diversification Strategy of Sweden Agricultural System A Report from the Majangir Southwest Ethiopia Human Geography 47 541 561 Sato Ren ya 1997a Christianization through Villagization Experiences of Social Change among the Majangir Ethiopia in Broader Perspective Papers of 13th International Ethiopian Studies vol 2 Sato Ren ya 1997b Formation of Historical Consciousness among the Majangir A Preliminary View with an Analysis of a narrative on the Majangir History Swahili amp African Studies Sato Ren ya 2000 Ethiopian Decentralization and a Peripheral People A Dispute Over Regional Borders and the Disruption of a Certain Development Project Africa Report 30 12 15 Sato Ren ya 2002 Evangelical Christianity and ethnic consciousness in Majangir Remapping Ethiopia Socialism and After edited by Wendy James Donald L Donham Eisei Kurimoto and Allesandro Triulzi pp 185 197 Oxford James Currey Ltd Sato Ren ya 2003 Settlement dynamics of shifting cultivators with special references to social factors of settlement abandonment In H Ishihara ed Studies of Agricultural Space Noson Kukan no Kenyu 1 346 363 Tokyo Taimedo in Japanese Sato Ren ya 2007 Dynamics of subsistence and reproduction among the Majangir 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies Trondheim Norway draft paper Stauder Jack 1971 The Majangir Ecology and Society of a Southwest Ethiopian People London Cambridge University Press Stauder Jack 1972 Anarchy and Ecology Political Society among the Majangir Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 28 2 pp 153 168 Tasew Bayleyegn The Mythically Modelled Human Environment Tradition of the Maǧaŋgir Society South Western Ethiopia In Oral Traditions in Ethiopian Studies Edited by Alexander Meckelburg Sophia Dege Muller and Dirk Bustorf 307 26 Wiesbaden Harrassowitz Verlag 2018 http www jstor org stable j ctvcm4fb5 17 Teramoto Y Sato R and Ueda S 2005 Characteristics of fermentation yeast isolated from traditional Ethiopian honey wine ogol African Journal of Biotechnology 4 2 pp 160 163 Tuno Nobuko 2001 Mushroom utilization by the Majangir an Ethiopian tribe Mycologist 15 2 78 79 Unseth Peter 1988 Majang Nominal Plurals With Comparative Notes Studies in African Linguistics 19 1 75 91 Unseth Peter 1989 Sketch of Majang Syntax Topics in Nilo Saharan Linguistics M Lionel Bender ed pp 97 127 Nilo Saharan Linguistic Analyses and Documentation vol 3 Series editor Franz Rottland Hamburg Helmut Buske Verlag Unseth Peter 1998a Notes on Clan Kinship and Marriage Patterns Among the Majangir in Surmic Languages and Cultures ed by Gerrit Dimmendaal pp 145 178 Koln Koppe Unseth Peter 1998b Two Old Causative Affixes in Surmic Surmic Languages and Cultures ed by Gerrit Dimmendaal pp 113 126 Koln Koppe Unseth Peter 2007 Majangir ethnography Encyclopaedia Aethiopica edited by Siegbert Uhlig vol 3 p 629 Wiesbaden Harrassowitz Unseth Peter and Jon Abbink 1998 Cross ethnic Clan Identities Among Surmic Groups The Case of the Mela in Surmic Languages and Cultures ed by Gerrit Dimmendaal pp 103 112 Koln Koppe Vaughan Sarah 2003 Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia Doctoral dissertation University of Edinburgh Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Majang people amp oldid 1221523846, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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