It is often supposed that the Pygmies were the aboriginal inhabitants of the forest before the advent of agriculture. Vansina argues that the original meaning of the (Proto-Bantu) word *twa was "hunter-gatherer, bushpeople", alongside yaka used for the western (Mbuti) pygmies (Bayaka).[1] As the Twa developed into full-time hunter-gatherers, the words were conflated,[clarification needed] and the ritual role of the absorbed aboriginal peoples was transferred to the Twa.[2]Batwa and Abatwa are Bantu plural forms, translating to "Twa people".
Relation to the Bantu populations
All Pygmy and Twa populations live near or in agricultural villages. Agricultural Bantu peoples have settled a number of ecotones next to an area that has game but will not support agriculture, such as the edges of the rainforest, open swamp, and desert. The Twa spend part of the year in the otherwise uninhabited region hunting game, trading for agricultural products with the farmers while they do so.
Roger Blench has proposed that Twa (Pygmies) originated as a caste like they are today, much like the Numu blacksmith castes of West Africa, economically specialized groups which became endogamous and consequently developed into separate ethnic groups, sometimes, as with the Ligbi, also their own languages. A mismatch in language between patron and client could later occur from population displacements. The short stature of the "forest people" could have developed in the millennia since the Bantu expansion, as happened also with Bantu domestic animals in the rainforest. Perhaps there was additional selective pressure from farmers taking the tallest women back to their villages as wives. However, that is incidental to the social identity of the Pygmy/Twa.[clarification needed][2]
Twa live scattered throughout the Congo. In addition to the Great Lakes Twa of the dense forests under the Ruwenzoris, there are notable populations in the swamp forest around Lake Tumba in the west (about 14,000 Twa, more than the Great Lakes Twa in all countries), in the forest–savanna swamps of Kasai in the south-center, and in the savanna swamps scattered throughout Katanga in the south-east, as in the Upemba Depression[3] with its floating islands, and around Kiambi on the Luvua River.
The island of Idwji has a native population of approx 7000 BaTwa. And according to UNHRW more than 10000 BaTwa are displaced from Virunga Park in the Northern Kivu province's refugee camps such as Mugunga and Mubambiro because of decades of war. [4]
The term Batwa is used to cover a number of different cultural groups, while many Batwa in various parts of the DRC call themselves Bambuti. [5]
Among the Mongo, on the rare occasions of caste mixing, the child is raised as Twa. If this is a common pattern with Twa groups, it may explain why the Twa are less physically distinct from their patrons than the Mbenga and Mbuti, where village men take Pygmy women out of the forest as wives.[6] The Congolese variant of the name, at least in Mongo, Kasai, and Katanga, is Cwa.[a]
The Batwa of Uganda were forest dwellers who lived by gathering and hunting as their main source of food. They are believed to have lived in the Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga National parks that border the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda living mainly in areas bordering other Bantu Tribes.
In 1992 the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest became a national park and a World Heritage Site to protect the 350 endangered mountain gorillas within its boundaries. As a result the Batwa were evicted from the park. Since they had no title to the land, they were given no compensation. The Batwa became conservation refugees in an unforested environment unfamiliar to them. Poverty, drugs and alcohol abuse were rampant, as well as a lack of education facilities, HIV as well as gender-based violence and discrimination were higher among Batwa communities than among the neighboring Bantu communities.[7]
Angola and Namibia
Southern Angola through central Namibia had Twa populations when Europeans first arrived in the 16th century. Estermann writes,
The southern Twa today live in close economic symbiosis with the tribes among which they are scattered—Ngambwe, Havakona, Zimba and Himba. None of the individuals I have observed differs physically from the neighboring Bantu.[8]
These peoples live in desert environments. Accounts are limited and tend to confuse the Twa with the San.[2]
The geneticist Cavalli-Sforza also shows Twa near Lake Mweru on the Zambia–Congo border. There are two obvious possibilities: the Luapula Swamps, and the swamps of Lake Mweru Wantipa. The latter is Taabwa territory, and the Twa are reported to live among the Taabwa.[10] The former is reported to be the territory of Bemba-speaking Twa.[11]
^A local variant of Twa in Congo. Pronounced [tʃwa].
References
^Vansina, Jan (October 1990). Paths in the rainforests : toward a history of political tradition in equatorial Africa. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN978-0-299-12574-5.
^ abcBlench, Roger (1999), "Are the African Pygmies an Ethnographic Fiction?", in Biesbrouck; Elders; Rossel (eds.), (PDF), Universiteit Leiden, pp. 41–60, ISBN9057890186, archived from the original (PDF) on January 26, 2012, retrieved October 26, 2011
^Dlamini, Nonhlanhla (2014). The early inhabitants of the Upemba depression, the Democratic Republic of Congo (PhD). University of Cape Town.
^Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Looking for solutions for North Kivu's vulnerable Pygmies". UNHCR.
^"Batwa and Bambuti". Minority Rights Group. 19 June 2015.
^Hiernaux, Jean (1977), "Adaptation of the African to the rainforest", in Harrison, G. A. (ed.), Population Structure and Human Variation, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, pp. 187–218, ISBN9780521213998
^Vice News (July 17, 2015). Forced Out of the Forest: The Lost Tribe of Uganda (video). YouTube.
^Estermann, Carlos (1976). Gibson (ed.). The Ethnography of Southwestern Angola. Vol. I. Africana Publishing Company.
^Lehmann, D. (1977), "The Twa: People of the Kafue Flats", in Williams, Geoffrey (ed.), Development and Ecology in the Lower Kafue Basin in the Nineteen Seventies, University of Zambia, pp. 41–46
^Kazadi, Ntole (2011). "Meprises et admires: l'ambivalence des relations entre les Bacwa (Pygmees) et les Bahemba (Bantu)". Africa (in French). 51 (4): 836–847. doi:10.2307/1159357. JSTOR 1159357. S2CID 145198759.
^Clark, J. Desmond (1950). The Stone Age Cultures of Northern Rhodesia: With Particular Reference to the Cultural and Climatic Succession in the Upper Zambezi Valley and Its Tributaries. South Africa: The South African Archaeological Society.
Further reading
Francis, Michael (2007). Explorations in Ethnicity and Social Change among Zulu-speaking San Descendents of the Drakensberg Mountains, KwaZulu-Natal(PDF) (PhD). University of KwaZulu-Natal. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
Francis, Michael (2009). "Silencing the past: historical and archaeological colonisation of the Southern San in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa". Anthropology Southern Africa. 32 (3–4): 106–116. doi:10.1080/23323256.2009.11499985. S2CID 143103640.
Francis, Michael (2011). "Eland Ceremony, Abatwa People's (Southern Africa)". In Downing, John D.H. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media. SAGE Publications. p. 172. doi:10.4135/9781412979313.n83. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
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February 24, 2023
people, great, lakes, region, great, lakes, acronym, disambiguation, also, batwa, plural, mutwa, singular, group, indigenous, african, pygmy, central, african, foragers, tribes, populations, according, hewlett, fancher, from, west, east, ntomba, kasai, unident. For the Twa people of the Great Lakes region see Great Lakes Twa For TWA as an acronym see TWA disambiguation The Twa also Cwa or Batwa plural and Mutwa singular are a group of indigenous African Pygmy Central African foragers tribes TwaTwa populations according to Hewlett amp Fancher From west to east Ntomba Kasai unidentified Great Lakes Nsua not clear if Nsua is Twa Twa populations according to Stokes Only a few groups are shown but these include several between the Kasai and Great Lakes Twa Twa pygmoid populations according to Cavalli Sforza Several southern groups are added Twa populations scattered through shaded area according to Blench Several southern Twa areas are shown LanguagesBantu languages FrenchTwaPersonMutwaPeopleBatwaLanguage NA CountryButwa Contents 1 Name 2 Relation to the Bantu populations 3 Congo 4 Uganda 5 Angola and Namibia 6 Zambia and Botswana 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 Further readingName EditFurther information African Pygmies Names It is often supposed that the Pygmies were the aboriginal inhabitants of the forest before the advent of agriculture Vansina argues that the original meaning of the Proto Bantu word twa was hunter gatherer bushpeople alongside yaka used for the western Mbuti pygmies Bayaka 1 As the Twa developed into full time hunter gatherers the words were conflated clarification needed and the ritual role of the absorbed aboriginal peoples was transferred to the Twa 2 Batwa and Abatwa are Bantu plural forms translating to Twa people Relation to the Bantu populations EditAll Pygmy and Twa populations live near or in agricultural villages Agricultural Bantu peoples have settled a number of ecotones next to an area that has game but will not support agriculture such as the edges of the rainforest open swamp and desert The Twa spend part of the year in the otherwise uninhabited region hunting game trading for agricultural products with the farmers while they do so Roger Blench has proposed that Twa Pygmies originated as a caste like they are today much like the Numu blacksmith castes of West Africa economically specialized groups which became endogamous and consequently developed into separate ethnic groups sometimes as with the Ligbi also their own languages A mismatch in language between patron and client could later occur from population displacements The short stature of the forest people could have developed in the millennia since the Bantu expansion as happened also with Bantu domestic animals in the rainforest Perhaps there was additional selective pressure from farmers taking the tallest women back to their villages as wives However that is incidental to the social identity of the Pygmy Twa clarification needed 2 Congo EditMain articles Great Lakes Twa and Mongo Twa Twa live scattered throughout the Congo In addition to the Great Lakes Twa of the dense forests under the Ruwenzoris there are notable populations in the swamp forest around Lake Tumba in the west about 14 000 Twa more than the Great Lakes Twa in all countries in the forest savanna swamps of Kasai in the south center and in the savanna swamps scattered throughout Katanga in the south east as in the Upemba Depression 3 with its floating islands and around Kiambi on the Luvua River The island of Idwji has a native population of approx 7000 BaTwa And according to UNHRW more than 10000 BaTwa are displaced from Virunga Park in the Northern Kivu province s refugee camps such as Mugunga and Mubambiro because of decades of war 4 The term Batwa is used to cover a number of different cultural groups while many Batwa in various parts of the DRC call themselves Bambuti 5 Arab and colonial accounts speak of Twa on either side of the Lomami River southwest of Kisangani and on the Tshuapa River and its tributary the Bussera clarification needed Among the Mongo on the rare occasions of caste mixing the child is raised as Twa If this is a common pattern with Twa groups it may explain why the Twa are less physically distinct from their patrons than the Mbenga and Mbuti where village men take Pygmy women out of the forest as wives 6 The Congolese variant of the name at least in Mongo Kasai and Katanga is Cwa a Uganda EditSee also Echuya Batwa The Batwa of Uganda were forest dwellers who lived by gathering and hunting as their main source of food They are believed to have lived in the Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga National parks that border the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC and Rwanda living mainly in areas bordering other Bantu Tribes In 1992 the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest became a national park and a World Heritage Site to protect the 350 endangered mountain gorillas within its boundaries As a result the Batwa were evicted from the park Since they had no title to the land they were given no compensation The Batwa became conservation refugees in an unforested environment unfamiliar to them Poverty drugs and alcohol abuse were rampant as well as a lack of education facilities HIV as well as gender based violence and discrimination were higher among Batwa communities than among the neighboring Bantu communities 7 Angola and Namibia EditSouthern Angola through central Namibia had Twa populations when Europeans first arrived in the 16th century Estermann writes The southern Twa today live in close economic symbiosis with the tribes among which they are scattered Ngambwe Havakona Zimba and Himba None of the individuals I have observed differs physically from the neighboring Bantu 8 These peoples live in desert environments Accounts are limited and tend to confuse the Twa with the San 2 Zambia and Botswana EditMain articles Kafwe Twa Lukanga Twa and Bangweulu Batwa The Twa of these countries live in swampy areas such as the Twa fishermen of the Bangweulu Swamps Lukanga Swamp and Kafue Flats of Zambia only the Twa fish in Southern Province where the swampy terrain means that large scale crops cannot be planted near the best fishing grounds 9 The geneticist Cavalli Sforza also shows Twa near Lake Mweru on the Zambia Congo border There are two obvious possibilities the Luapula Swamps and the swamps of Lake Mweru Wantipa The latter is Taabwa territory and the Twa are reported to live among the Taabwa 10 The former is reported to be the territory of Bemba speaking Twa 11 See also EditPygmies Classification of Pygmy languagesNotes Edit A local variant of Twa in Congo Pronounced tʃwa References Edit Vansina Jan October 1990 Paths in the rainforests toward a history of political tradition in equatorial Africa University of Wisconsin Press ISBN 978 0 299 12574 5 a b c Blench Roger 1999 Are the African Pygmies an Ethnographic Fiction in Biesbrouck Elders Rossel eds Challenging Elusiveness Central African Hunter Gatherers in a Multidisciplinary Perspective PDF Universiteit Leiden pp 41 60 ISBN 9057890186 archived from the original PDF on January 26 2012 retrieved October 26 2011 Dlamini Nonhlanhla 2014 The early inhabitants of the Upemba depression the Democratic Republic of Congo PhD University of Cape Town Refugees United Nations High Commissioner for Looking for solutions for North Kivu s vulnerable Pygmies UNHCR Batwa and Bambuti Minority Rights Group 19 June 2015 Hiernaux Jean 1977 Adaptation of the African to the rainforest in Harrison G A ed Population Structure and Human Variation vol 1 Cambridge University Press pp 187 218 ISBN 9780521213998 Vice News July 17 2015 Forced Out of the Forest The Lost Tribe of Uganda video YouTube Estermann Carlos 1976 Gibson ed The Ethnography of Southwestern Angola Vol I Africana Publishing Company Lehmann D 1977 The Twa People of the Kafue Flats in Williams Geoffrey ed Development and Ecology in the Lower Kafue Basin in the Nineteen Seventies University of Zambia pp 41 46 Kazadi Ntole 2011 Meprises et admires l ambivalence des relations entre les Bacwa Pygmees et les Bahemba Bantu Africa in French 51 4 836 847 doi 10 2307 1159357 JSTOR 1159357 S2CID 145198759 Clark J Desmond 1950 The Stone Age Cultures of Northern Rhodesia With Particular Reference to the Cultural and Climatic Succession in the Upper Zambezi Valley and Its Tributaries South Africa The South African Archaeological Society Further reading EditFrancis Michael 2007 Explorations in Ethnicity and Social Change among Zulu speaking San Descendents of the Drakensberg Mountains KwaZulu Natal PDF PhD University of KwaZulu Natal Retrieved 31 October 2018 Francis Michael 2009 Silencing the past historical and archaeological colonisation of the Southern San in KwaZulu Natal South Africa Anthropology Southern Africa 32 3 4 106 116 doi 10 1080 23323256 2009 11499985 S2CID 143103640 Francis Michael 2011 Eland Ceremony Abatwa People s Southern Africa In Downing John D H ed Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media SAGE Publications p 172 doi 10 4135 9781412979313 n83 Retrieved 31 October 2018 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Twa amp oldid 1124388267, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
