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98-473: The postal code for Marungu Ward is 21209. The ward is divided into the following neighborhoods ( Mitaa ): The ward, like every other ward in the country, has local government offices based on the population served. The Marungu Ward administration building houses a court as per the Ward Tribunal Act of 1988, including other vital departments for the administration the ward. The ward has

196-484: A "heavy dose" of their pre-existing beliefs including matrilineality. Tuareg women enjoy high status within their society, compared with their Arab counterparts and with other Berber tribes: Tuareg social status is transmitted through women, with residence often matrilocal . Most women could read and write, while most men were illiterate, concerning themselves mainly with herding livestock and other male activities. The livestock and other movable property were owned by

294-482: A crucial part in defining people's identities and providing the idiom by which membership in Digo society is claimed or demonstrated. Digo people believe that paternal lineage links are important, despite the fact that maternal clan relationships are the most significant kinship ties. The Digo distinguish between the fuko , the family of the mother, and the mbari , the family of the father. Digo began converting to Islam in

392-540: A different household. According to this source of further information about the Akan, "A man is strongly related to his mother's brother (wɔfa) but only weakly related to his father's brother. This must be viewed in the context of a polygamous society in which the mother/child bond is likely to be much stronger than the father/child bond. As a result, in inheritance, a man's nephew (sister's son) will have priority over his own son. Uncle-nephew relationships therefore assume

490-531: A different pattern, however: Example 1. Members of the (matrilineal) clan culture Minangkabau do not even have a surname or family name , see this culture's own section below. In contrast, members do have a clan name , which is important in their lives although not included in the member's name. Instead, one's name is just one's given name . Example 2. Members of the (matrilineal) clan culture Akan , see its own section below, also do not have matrilineal surnames and likewise their important clan name

588-442: A dominant position." Certain other aspects of the Akan culture are determined patrilineally rather than matrilineally. There are 12 patrilineal Ntoro (which means spirit) groups, and everyone belongs to their father's Ntoro group but not to his (matrilineal) family lineage and abusua . Each patrilineal Ntoro group has its own surnames, taboos, ritual purifications, and etiquette. A recent (2001) book provides this update on

686-529: A guy traveled alone and cleared the forest to create a farm, that was the other sort of property ownership. He would clear the land, keeping a tiny bit for each of his wives and a portion for himself. He therefore owned a farm, and each wife was given a little plot of property. The wife's land was known as konho, and the husband's land was known as dzumbe. Regarding their konho, women enjoyed total control and freedom. They had complete control over this property and could cultivate and harvest whatever they pleased. On

784-563: A husband or lover. The majority of the kids were sold into slavery to nearby Swahili villages with nautical populations, giving them access to seafood. Famines were frequent during the British occupation, and other Mijikenda tribes also used this technique to alleviate them. Changes in marriage customs and the prominence of the father in Islam started to put the mjomba's authority under pressure. The rise in cases supporting patrilineal inheritance

882-478: A particular ancestress. Several lineages are grouped into a political unit headed by a chief and a council of elders, each of whom is the elected head of a lineage – which itself may include multiple extended-family households. Public offices are thus vested in the lineage, as are land tenure and other lineage property. In other words, lineage property is inherited only by matrilineal kin. "The principles governing inheritance stress sex, generation and age – that

980-592: A sense of social continuity conveyed through the material continuity of the fuko links Digo's identity to the ownership of land. Beyond its material value, inheritance of property becomes the preferred manifestation of this social continuity when ownership of fuko land (clan land) is disputed. This is demonstrated by tracing the usage of inheritance as a crucial symbol of defining meanings of land and social interactions. Conflicts and arguments over inheritance represent conflicts of meaning and identity since they are significant both materially and symbolically. The Digo economy

1078-471: A social actuality of sexual equality." According to LeBow (based on Schlegel's work), in the Hopi, "gender roles ... are egalitarian .... [and] [n]either sex is inferior." LeBow concluded that Hopi women "participate fully in ... political decision-making." According to Schlegel, "the Hopi no longer live as they are described here" and "the attitude of female superiority is fading". Schlegel said

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1176-414: A status like to the nearby Islamic communities. In metropolitan parts of coastal Kenya, where Islam has long dominated society, Swahili Islam enjoys a position of power and luxury. Dress, non-agricultural work, leisure time, and financial dependence on spouses for married women were among the newly included conceptions of status. In other parts of Kenya, urbanization and Christianization are also factors in

1274-519: A version of male-preference matrilineal seniority , favoring brothers over sisters in the current generation (but allowing sisters to inherit if no brothers remained), but passing to the next generation through the eldest female line. In A Map of Virginia John Smith of Jamestown explains: His [ Chief Powhatan 's] kingdome descendeth not to his sonnes nor children: but first to his brethren, whereof he hath 3 namely Opitchapan, Opechancanough , and Catataugh; and after their decease to his sisters. First to

1372-421: Is a reflection of this change in marriage custom. The maternal uncle hasn't lost all of his significance or respect, either, as the mjomba still provides for fatherless children by paying the bridewealth. These kin relationships are a regular feature of how people are arranged in social relationships with one another. When two Digo people first meet, the question "whose people are you?" is frequently posed. Either

1470-759: Is also matrilocal , a man will exercise guardianship rights not over the children he fathers but over his sisters' children, who are viewed as 'his own flesh'. These children's biological father – unlike an uncle who is their mother's brother and thus their caregiver – is in some sense a 'stranger' to them, even when affectionate and emotionally close. According to Steven Pinker , attributing to Kristen Hawkes, among foraging groups matrilocal societies are less likely to commit female infanticide than are patrilocal societies. Some 20 million Akan live in Africa, particularly in Ghana and Ivory Coast . (See as well their subgroups,

1568-593: Is discussed in the subsection Role of the Tokoor of one of the above-listed main articles. The Tuareg (Arabic:طوارق, sometimes spelled Touareg in French, or Twareg in English) are a large Berber ethnic confederation found across several nations in north Africa, including Niger , Mali and Algeria . The Tuareg are clan -based, and are (still, in 2007) "largely matrilineal". The Tuareg are Muslim , but mixed with

1666-417: Is less common than among farmers. So for example, among the pygmies of Aka, which includes Biaka and Benzene, a young couple usually settles in her husband's camp after the birth of their first child. However, the husband can stay in the wife's community, where one of his brothers or sisters can join him. This can happen in societies where the bride's service is practiced, or in any other societies. According to

1764-441: Is made up of all of your mothers' moms going all the way back, mbari is also primarily patrilineal and belongs to your grandpa. The distinction between fuko and mbari kinship, which affects membership and social continuity, is significant and frequently explained in terms of land inheritance. Despite being a family conflict, inheritance creates social links and obligations that further the process of creating meanings. I contend that

1862-404: Is not included in their name. However, members' names do commonly include second names which are called surnames but which are not routinely passed down from either father or mother to all their children as a family name . Note well that if a culture did include one's clan name in one's name and routinely handed it down to all children in the descent group then it would automatically be

1960-400: Is that when sisters and their mothers help each other with childcare, the descent line tends to be matrilineal rather than patrilineal. Biological anthropologists are now widely agreed that cooperative childcare was a development crucial in making possible the evolution of the unusually large human brain and characteristically human psychology. Although others refute the claims of supporters of

2058-431: Is to say, men come before women and seniors before juniors." When a woman's brothers are available, a consideration of generational seniority stipulates that the line of brothers be exhausted before the right to inherit lineage property passes down to the next senior genealogical generation of sisters' sons. Finally, "it is when all possible male heirs have been exhausted that the females" may inherit. Each lineage controls

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2156-897: The Trobrianders , Dobu and Nagovisi of Melanesia; the Nairs , some Thiyyas & Muslims of Kerala and the Mogaveeras , Billavas & the Bunts of Karnataka in south India ; the Khasi , Jaintia and Garo of Meghalaya in northeast India and Bangladesh ; the Ngalops and Sharchops of Bhutan ; the Mosuo of China ; the Kayah of Southeast Asia, the Picti of Scotland ,

2254-508: The Ashanti , also called Asante, Akyem , Bono , Fante , Akwamu .) Many but not all of the Akan still (2001) practice their traditional matrilineal customs, living in their traditional extended family households, as follows. The traditional Akan economic, political and social organization is based on maternal lineages, which are the basis of inheritance and succession. A lineage is defined as all those related by matrilineal descent from

2352-1183: The Basques of Spain and France ; the Ainu of Japan , the Akan including the Ashanti , Bono , Akwamu , Fante of Ghana ; most groups across the so-called " matrilineal belt " of south-central Africa; the Nubians of Southern Egypt & Sudan and the Tuareg of west and north Africa; the Serer of Senegal , The Gambia and Mauritania . Most of the example cultures in this article are based on (matrilineal) clans . Any clan might possibly contain from one to several or many descent groups or family groups – i.e., any matrilineal clan might be descended from one or several or many unrelated female ancestors. Also, each such descent group might have its own family name or surname , as one possible cultural pattern. The following two example cultures each follow

2450-620: The Cegandum and Kagaw , whose historical account is enshrined in Serer religion, mythology and traditions . In Serer culture, inheritance is both matrilineal and patrilineal. It all depends on the asset being inherited – i.e. whether the asset is a paternal asset – requiring paternal inheritance ( kucarla ) or a maternal asset – requiring maternal inheritance ( den yaay or ƭeen yaay ). The actual handling of these maternal assets (such as jewelry, land, livestock, equipment or furniture, etc.)

2548-675: The Digo people and Segeju . The ward is home to these educational institutions: The ward is home to the following health institutions: This Tanga Region location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Digo people The Digo ( Wadigo in Swahili ) are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group based near the Indian Ocean coast between Mombasa in southern Kenya and northern Tanga in Tanzania . In 1994

2646-616: The Joos matriclan which also became a dynasty in Waalo (Senegal). Some matriclans or maternal clans form part of Serer medieval and dynastic history, such as the Guelowars . The most revered clans tend to be rather ancient and form part of Serer ancient history . These proto-Serer clans hold great significance in Serer religion and mythology . Some of these proto-Serer matriclans include

2744-518: The Liwali and Mudirs. The terms "Muslim" and "native" didn't actually apply to any particular group of people or to how the law or the land were used. By using both categories in land disputes, this false division between "native" and "Muslim" offered a forum for dialogue and the challenge of colonial authority. Although a small number of Digo people in the Kwale district and Swahili coastal cities along

2842-460: The U.S. became a nation, operated by The Great Binding Law of Peace , a constitution by which women retained matrilineal-rights and participated in the League's political decision-making, including deciding whether to proceed to war, through what may have been a matriarchy or "gyneocracy". The dates of this constitution's operation are unknown: the League was formed in approximately 1000–1450, but

2940-697: The abusua framework presented above. The Berber inhabitants of Gran Canaria island had developed a matrilineal society by the time the Canary Islands and their people, called Guanches , were conquered by the Spanish. The Serer people of Senegal , the Gambia and Mauritania are patrilineal ( simanGol in Serer language ) as well as matrilineal ( tim ). There are several Serer matriclans and matriarchs . Some of these matriarchs include Fatim Beye (1335) and Ndoye Demba (1367) – matriarchs of

3038-471: The family name or surname for one's descent group (as well as for all other descent groups in one's clan). While a mother normally takes care of her own children in all cultures, in some matrilineal cultures an "uncle-father" will take care of his nieces and nephews instead: in other words social fathers here are uncles. There is not a necessary connection between the role of father and genitor. In many such matrilineal cultures, especially where residence

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3136-525: The national Constitution as Scheduled Tribes, "some ... [are] matriarchal and matrilineal" "and thus have been known to be more egalitarian." Several Hindu communities in South India practiced matrilineality, especially the Nair (or Nayar ) and Tiyyas in the state of Kerala , and the Bunts and Billava in the states of Karnataka . The system of inheritance was known as Marumakkathayam in

3234-588: The patrilineal or "agnatic" ancestry. In the late 19th century, almost all prehistorians and anthropologists believed, following Lewis H. Morgan 's influential book Ancient Society , that early human kinship everywhere was matrilineal. This idea was taken up by Friedrich Engels in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State . The Morgan-Engels thesis that humanity's earliest domestic institution

3332-453: The "Swahili or Muslim Wedding"—the majority of women are now wed in Muslim weddings. Muslim marriages came to be seen as conferring the highest prestige on women while also placing the woman in a system of rights, freedoms, obligations, constraints, and reliance along the metropolitan coastal frontier. Following the conversion to Islam, Digo society developed new ideas of what it meant to have

3430-469: The Akan: Some families are changing from the above abusua structure to the nuclear family . Housing, childcare, education, daily work, and elder care etc. are then handled by that individual family rather than by the abusua or clan, especially in the city. The above taboo on marriage within one's abusua is sometimes ignored, but "clan membership" is still important, with many people still living in

3528-682: The Arabian peoples (first of all among the Amorites of Yemen, and among some strata of Nabateans in Northern Arabia); A modern example from South Africa is the order of succession to the position of the Rain Queen in a culture of matrilineal primogeniture : not only is dynastic descent reckoned through the female line, but only females are eligible to inherit. In some traditional societies and cultures, membership in their groups

3626-554: The Bribri people of Costa Rica and Panama is matrilineal; that is, a child's clan is determined by the clan his or her mother belongs to. Only women can inherit land. The social organization of the Cabécar people of Costa Rica is predicated on matrilineal clans in which the mother is the head of household. Each matrilineal clan controls marriage possibilities, regulates land tenure, and determines property inheritance for its members. In

3724-566: The Digo population was estimated to total 305,000, with 217,000 ethnic Digo living in Kenya and 88,000 (1987 estimate) in Tanzania. Digo people, nearly all Muslims , speak the Digo language , called Chidigo by speakers, a Bantu language . The Mijikenda , whose name means "the nine kaya" or "nine cities," is made up of nine peoples, including the Digo. The Mijikenda share many cultural traits and speak mutually understandable languages. They made

3822-688: The First World War. Due to the Kenyan Digo's proximity to the Tanzanian border, the British put more pressure on them to provide labor for the war against the Germans. But even after the Digo acceded to these requests, the British refused to recognize a mjomba' s ability to enlist his nephews in the military. They demanded the sending of sons rather than the nephews that their maternal uncles had sent. This demand actually and visibly altered

3920-516: The Hopi "were and still are matrilinial" and "the household ... was matrilocal". Schlegel explains why there was female superiority as that the Hopi believed in "life as the highest good ... [with] the female principle ... activated in women and in Mother Earth ;... as its source" and that the Hopi "were not in a state of continual war with equally matched neighbors" and "had no standing army" so that "the Hopi lacked

4018-475: The Lenape prevented permanent settlement beyond what is now Jersey City. "Early Europeans who first wrote about these Indians found matrilineal social organization to be unfamiliar and perplexing. As a result, the early records are full of 'clues' about early Lenape society, but were usually written by observers who did not fully understand what they were seeing." The Mandan people of the northern Great Plains of

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4116-535: The United States historically lived in matrilineal extended family lodges. The Naso (Teribe or Térraba) people of Panama and Costa Rica describe themselves as a matriarchal community, although their monarchy has traditionally been inherited in the male line. The Navajo people of the American southwest are a matrilineal society in which kinship, children, livestock and family histories are passed down through

4214-635: The background. Originally, Chinese surnames were derived matrilineally, although by the time of the Shang dynasty (1600 to 1046 BCE ) they had become patrilineal. Archaeological data supports the theory that during the Neolithic period (7000 to 2000 BCE ) in China, Chinese matrilineal clans evolved into the usual patrilineal families by passing through a transitional patrilineal clan phase. Evidence includes some "richly furnished" tombs for young women in

4312-424: The clan). Despite the fact that males inherit their mother's fuko, their children do not and are not entitled to any of the clan's land ( mashamba ya mafuko ). When land associated with social kin relationships, such as fuko land, is held by women or is passed maternally from the mother's brother to the sister's children, it materially reproduces these social links. A middle-aged Digo man named Kasim described how

4410-515: The coast have been Muslim for generations, the majority of Digo people only converted in the 1920s. Because of their habitational patterns, the Digo, unlike other Mijikenda, fully embraced Islam. Mijikenda converts who moved to Swahili towns rather than staying in the rural had formed a trend of urban Islamization . Digo Mijikenda converts, while, "south of Mombasa, beginning in the 1890s, remained resident in their home villages, while centering their social and religious life as Muslims in town." During

4508-547: The coastal plains, agriculture was utilized, left fallow, and then utilized once again by various individuals, whereas coconut trees remained the exclusive property of particular people or clans. One woman recalls farming in the colonial era in the Kwale district's Kinondo neighborhood as follows: The land belonged to everyone, and while there was no set pattern or method for planting trees, individuals were familiar with their particular species. Annual crops were sown in particular locations. The area where each individual had to plant

4606-495: The colonial period. In addition to clearing land becoming a sign of tenure and ownership becoming retainable after a fallow period, land gradually came to have some intrinsic worth that could be used for trade. In addition to dzumbe (father's land) and konho (mother's land), which are typically self-acquired properties, the Digo also acknowledge mash amba ya mafuko (clan farms, matrilineal) and mashamba ya mbari (lineage farms, patrilineal), which are inherited properties. These are

4704-641: The constitution was oral until written in about 1880. The League still exists. Other Iroquoian-speaking peoples such as the Wyandot and the Meherrin , that were never part of the Iroquois League, nevertheless have traditionally possessed a matrilineal family structure. The Kogi people of northern Colombia practice bilateral inheritance, with certain rights, names or associations descending matrilineally. Occupied for 10,000 years by Native Americans ,

4802-556: The data above, some scientists also say that kinship and residence in hunter-gatherer societies are complex and multifaceted. For example, when re-checking past data (which were not very reliable), the researchers note that about 40% of the groups were bilocal, 22.9% were matrilocal and 25% were patrilocal. A number of scientists also advocate multilocality, refuting the concepts of exceptional matrilocality (matrilineality) or patrilocality (patrilineality). Matrilineal surnames are names transmitted from mother to daughter, in contrast to

4900-438: The deceased person's closest Muslim relative. These women were also protecting the rights of their offspring because Islamic law did not recognize marriages to non-Muslims and considered the offspring of such unions to be illegitimate and not eligible for inheritance. Officially, the child, niece, or nephew could not inherit if they were not Muslims. Both matrilineal and patrilineal systems of inheritance would be affected because

4998-611: The decision to go by the name Mijikenda when they formed the cooperative political organization known as the Mijikenda Union in the late 1940s in coastal Kenya. The Digo have resided in the Kenyan coast's plains and hinterland ridges south of Mombasa and in Tanzania north of Tanga since the fifteenth and sixteenth century . The Digo in Tanzania are the native inhabitants of the Mkinga and Tanga districts of Tanga Region and are

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5096-496: The distinctions between these land holdings were that in the past, there were two different sorts of land ownership. If three brothers from the same mother walked out into the forest to clear it and build a farm (shamba). From the same fuko sprung these three brothers. Their sisters' side nieces and nephews, or the awa, would receive their inheritance. The fuko would own this territory. Since they weren't descended from that fuko, none of those three brothers' children would inherit. If

5194-407: The early 19th century. Islam soon spread further among the Digo and the majority were Muslim by the 1940s. This process involved close economic contacts with coastal Muslim traders and the use of Muslim healers who also acted as religious teachers. The conversion of elders and other influential leaders in the community had a significant impact for the future spread of the religion among the Digo. In

5292-481: The early Neolithic Yangshao culture, whose multiple other collective burials imply a matrilineal clan culture. Toward the late Neolithic period, when burials were apparently of couples, "a reflection of patriarchy", an increasing elaboration of presumed chiefs' burials is reported. Relatively isolated ethnic minorities such as the Mosuo (Na) in southwestern China are highly matrilineal. Of communities recognized in

5390-695: The eldest sister, then to the rest: and after them to the heires male and female of the eldest sister; but never to the heires of the males. The Upper Kuskokwim people are the original inhabitants of the Upper Kuskokwim River basin. They speak an Athabaskan language more closely related to Tanana than to the language of the Lower Kuskokkwim River basin. They were traditionally hunter-gatherers who lived in matrilineal semi-nomadic bands. The Wayuu people of Colombia and Venezuela live in matrilineal clans, with paternal relationships in

5488-497: The enslavement of minors throughout the first decade of the 20th century in an effort to dismantle debt networks and end slavery. Both the industry along the coast and the settlers in Kenya's highlands had a significant demand for labor. The colonial government implemented taxation and land access restrictions in order to produce a labor force that would be required to work for pay. The Digo were compelled to supply warriors to fight for Britain against Germany in neighboring Tanzania during

5586-534: The fact that Muslims participated in Digo religious ceremonies and sacrifices at home and observed the communal practices of Islam away from home." It became challenging to maintain this flexibility as mosques and Koranic schools erected in the Kwale district, as public acts of faith were now performed both at homes and among the faithful. Even the most fundamental components of daily life, such how people dress, eat, and conduct funerals, were altered by this process. Previously cordial family connections were torn apart by

5684-403: The father's control over his kids. Through Islam and colonization, the father took over the mjomba's responsibilities and authority, including childrearing, paying for marriage and divorce, and having the authority to give away children as desired. The colonial government significantly strengthened Islamic conceptions of family by giving the father authority that had previously only been given to

5782-673: The female. In marriage the groom moved to live with the brides family. Children also came from their mother's clan living in hogans of the females family. The Tanana Athabaskan people, the original inhabitants of the Tanana River basin in Alaska and Canada, traditionally lived in matrilineal semi-nomadic bands. The Powhatan and other tribes of the Tsenacommacah , also known as the Powhatan Confederacy, practiced

5880-511: The final two decades of the nineteenth century, the population of Digo Muslims gradually expanded. While other Mijikenda peoples also converted to Islam, it was typically an individual decision that involved settling in Swahili communities. The Digo are still the only Mijikenda group that have a majority of Muslims. Digo society was profoundly impacted by conversion. Initially, the distinctions between Digo converts and non-converts were "mitigated by

5978-414: The following administration offices: In the local government system of Tanzania, the ward is the smallest democratic unit. Each ward is composed of a committee of eight elected council members which include a chairperson, one salaried officer (with no voting rights), and an executive officer. One-third of seats are reserved for women councillors. Like much of the district, the ward is the ancestral home of

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6076-453: The individuals in all intervening generations are mothers. In a matrilineal descent system , an individual is considered to belong to the same descent group as their mother. This ancient matrilineal descent pattern is in contrast to the currently more popular pattern of patrilineal descent from which a family name is usually derived. The matriline of historical nobility was also called their enatic or uterine ancestry, corresponding to

6174-420: The initial plot of land and work land that once belonged to someone else. It made no difference who had previously held the land. Men made the decision to emigrate to a new nation as a group. Nobody could make a choice. The assignment of plots was also done by men. The guys initially sought guidance from the divine to see whether there was a good omen before moving. After making their selection, they would travel to

6272-410: The issues, many citing genetic and other evidence that early human kinship may have been matrilineal after all. One crucial piece of indirect evidence has been genetic data suggesting that over thousands of years, women among sub-Saharan African hunter-gatherers have chosen to reside postmaritally not with their husbands' family but with their own mother and other natal kin. Another line of argument

6370-643: The kaya and offer sacrifices to the Spirits, let them know about it, and ask to God for favorable signs for the fields. They would pray to God and the spirits for blessings. The men would go and draw lines of demarcation before going to the sea and relaxing. Women carried with the farming chores. The trees themselves, not the soil on which they were placed, were what mattered. It was remembered who owned certain coconut trees, but not who last planted fallow land. But with other shifting social and political interactions, land gradually became more significant than trees during

6468-419: The land of his grandmother originally transferred maternally from his mother's brother to his sister's child before remaining in the control of the fuko women. Despite the fact that her mjomba had five boys, Kasim's grandmother had received land from her mother's brother. Despite the fact that she had two boys and one daughter, she then handed her land to her daughter's daughters. The family's ladies were therefore

6566-458: The land that is present-day New Jersey was overseen by clans of the Lenape , who farmed, fished, and hunted upon it. The pattern of their culture was that of a matrilineal agricultural and mobile hunting society that was sustained with fixed, but not permanent, settlements in their matrilineal clan territories. Leadership by men was inherited through the maternal line, and the women elders held

6664-580: The land would be given to the nearest Muslim relative. Due to the unequal number of conversions of men and women, the Chief Kadhi (an Islamic religious authority) decided to establish the right of inheritance for illegitimate Muslim children. A child ran the risk of not inheriting from either matrilineal or patrilineal Muslim male relatives if s/he was not considered Muslim. Due to their involvement in Muslim society, women are now more economically dependent on men, especially their spouses. Within households,

6762-457: The lineage land farmed by its members, functions together in the veneration of its ancestors, supervises marriages of its members, and settles internal disputes among its members. The political units above are likewise grouped into eight larger groups called abusua (similar to clans ), named Aduana, Agona, Asakyiri, Asenie, Asona, Bretuo, Ekuona and Oyoko. The members of each abusua are united by their belief that they are all descended from

6860-448: The major cultural group there. Until the early 20th century, the Digo maintained their prosperous trade with the nearby Swahili communities during the colonial era. Due to Zanzibar's rising economic stature and the Digo people's tight ties to Swahili towns in the second half of the nineteenth century, it was possible for individuals to amass riches and power, frequently through affiliations. The Digo had previously dominated trade between

6958-437: The matrilineal modes of inheritance. Matrilineality Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline, their mother's lineage , and which can involve the inheritance of property and titles. A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant of either gender in which

7056-520: The matrilineal modes of inheritance. For the Digo, British concerns about racial and ethnic segregation resulted in a paradoxical division of "native" and "Muslim." The Digo were viewed by the British as "natives" as opposed to "Muslims" since, as "natives," they were subject to the District Court and local Native councils, whereas the Muslims of the coastal area were governed by Muslim law and

7154-481: The matrilineal modes of inheritance. In the nineteenth century, children of both sexes typically did not inherit from their father but instead from their mother, grandmother, maternal uncles (mjomba), or their fuko. Instead, people acquired stakes in the land through use, clearance, and social ties that had developed over time with the land, such as debt (rahani), kinship, or patronage. These inheritance customs were also being fought at this time by systematic evasions of

7252-455: The mbari or the fuko are mentioned in the response to the query. Women are seen as crucial for continuity because men are considered dead ends in the fuko's propagation. According to the Digo, having daughters makes the fuko rich. The family to which one belongs, Mbari , perhaps dates back only as far as grandfathers. It is a smaller unit than the fuko, which includes the founder of the fuko as well as all ancestors. However, unlike fuko, which

7350-633: The mjomba. This put into question men's duties and rights towards their sisters and offspring, which posed problems for Digo kinship systems as a whole. Arguments over matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance, which are centered on proving one's affiliation with particular communities, reflect the shifting kinship relationships in inheritance patterns. As a result, the colonial attempt to regulate access to land as well as other components of Digo culture, such as individual power, upset ideas about kinship, law, and identity with ramifications for gender. The more individual conception of land and person under Islamic law

7448-473: The more familiar patrilineal surnames transmitted from father to son, the pattern most common among family names today. For clarity and for brevity, the scientific terms patrilineal surname and matrilineal surname are usually abbreviated as patriname and matriname . There appears to be some evidence for the presence of matrilineality in Pre-Islamic Arabia , in a very limited number of

7546-443: The nineteenth century, children of both sexes typically did not inherit from their father but instead from their mother, grandmother, maternal uncles ( mjomba ), or their fuko . Instead, people acquired stakes in the land through use, clearance, and social ties that had developed over time with the land, such as debt (rahani), kinship, or patronage. These inheritance customs were also being fought at this time by systematic evasions of

7644-427: The ones who passed on the land. The majority of scholarly research has argued that Digo inheritance is matrilineal and that historically, land only passed from the mother's brother to the sister's son. According to oral sources, judgment records, and past research, assessments of Digo land transmission focusing on men are deficient and do not fully depict the variety and size of Digo land holdings. The ownership of land

7742-427: The other as a head scarf or veil) twice a month as fashion changes is crucial as well because being in style is prestigious. Being able to perform social duties like attending weddings and funerals, regardless of the distance or amount of time required, is an important aspect of status. Because social obligations vary and take up a lot of time, status is gained by flexible working arrangements, not working, or depending on

7840-418: The other hand, Dzumbe was completely under the husband's control. He would make all the decisions, but everyone would plant it together. The children of the wife received Konho as inheritance. The husband's nieces and nephews would receive dumbe. Husbands did not leave their wives any inheritance. Kinship ties to the land vary by gender (defined by clan membership) and with time (defined by the proximity of kin to

7938-475: The power to remove leaders of whom they disapproved. Villages were established and relocated as the clans farmed new sections of the land when soil fertility lessened and when they moved among their fishing and hunting grounds by seasons. The area was claimed as a part of the Dutch New Netherland province dating from 1614, where active trading in furs took advantage of the natural pass west, but

8036-404: The roles of men and women shifted, giving husbands more responsibility for their wives and kids and giving wives less autonomy toward their husbands. The different types of marriage that Digo society has accepted and still recognizes serve as evidence of these developments in the family. Although there are three different types of marriage in Digo society—the "Digo wedding," the "Cattle Wedding," and

8134-436: The rules concerning what to eat, with game and pig being the most essential options. Ideas about a person's nature and relationship with God underwent a profound shift. For instance, deformities, once seen to be the outcome of sin or to be evil in and of themselves, came to be understood as the diversity of God's creation. In the 1920s, land was a significant factor in the conversion of the Digo people to Islam, particularly for

8232-414: The same ancient ancestress. Marriage between members of the same abusua is forbidden. One inherits or is a lifelong member of the lineage, the political unit, and the abusua of one's mother, regardless of one's gender and/or marriage. Note that members and their spouses thus belong to different abusuas , mother and children living and working in one household and their husband/father living and working in

8330-744: The same significance or effectiveness. Women initially resisted conversion, and the District Commissioner Dundas even stated in 1920 that few Digo women were Muslim. However, the conversion of the Digo men would have a significant impact on the religion of the women. Wamahiu contends that because "women's conversion came largely through marriage" and was brought on by considerations of inheritance and status, women had more to lose materially. Many women are thought to have converted as men started applying Islamic law to inheritance disputes in order to secure their inheritance rights under this system, as these rights would have otherwise gone to

8428-506: The shift to economic dependence on spouses. In stratified civilizations with a history of slavery, status is particularly significant. Social memories of slavery and the stigma attached to having slave heritage serve to elevate status. Digo women's status is influenced by issues of class, which are reflected in ideals like having free time (rather than money in general), but specifically freedom from agricultural work. The ability to afford new less (two cloth wraps, one worn as an outer skirt and

8526-511: The shore and the interior, but they eventually lost it to the Swahili and Arabs who were part of the expanding Zanzibari Sultanate . Later, the potency of this economic dependence on Zanzibar was undermined by colonialism . Due to constant famines caused by the British occupation , the practice of enslaving nieces or nephews by the Digo in exchange for food or payment was abolished at the start of World War One . The colonial government forbade

8624-651: The spur to masculine superiority" and, within that, as that women were central to institutions of clan and household and predominated "within the economic and social systems (in contrast to male predominance within the political and ceremonial systems)", the Clan Mother , for example, being empowered to overturn land distribution by men if she felt it was unfair, since there was no "countervailing ... strongly centralized, male-centered political structure". The Iroquois Confederacy or League , combining five to six Native American Haudenosaunee nations or tribes before

8722-532: The traditional culture of the Guna people of Panama and Colombia, families are matrilinear and matrilocal, with the groom moving to become part of the bride's family. The groom also takes the last name of the bride. The Hopi (in what is now the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona ), according to Alice Schlegel , had as its "gender ideology ... one of female superiority, and it operated within

8820-475: The universality of matrilocality or patrilocality , pointing out that hunter-gatherer societies have a flexible philopatry or practice multilocality, which in turn leads to a more egalitarian society, since both men and women have the right to choose with whom to live. According to some data, pastoralists and farmers strongly gravitate towards patrilocality, so patrilocality is a common phenomenon among non-Pygmies. But among some hunter-gatherers, patrilocality

8918-623: The women, whereas personal property is owned and inherited regardless of gender. In contrast to most other Muslim cultural groups, men wear veils but women do not. This custom is discussed in more detail in the Tuareg article's clothing section , which mentions it may be the protection needed against the blowing sand while traversing the Sahara desert . The Bororo people of Brazil and Bolivia live in matrilineal clans, with husbands moving to live with their wives' extended families. The clan system of

9016-426: The women. The majority of studies on Digo Islamization have focused on men and have discussed causes for conversion such as residential patterns, colonialism, resistance to colonialism, trade, and work. They have documented male conversion, presuming that female conversion had similar causes. These characteristics undoubtedly had an impact on women as well, but due to how differently they affected women, they did not have

9114-401: Was at variance with Digo concepts of clan land, in addition to altering authority within the family. The Digo are Muslim, unlike other Mijikenda peoples, and they have expressed and continue to express social continuity through ideas of matrilineal kinship and the persistence of matri-clans over time. There is only one group of named matri-clans among the Digo, known as fuko . The fuko plays

9212-467: Was based mostly on agriculture for a long time, despite the fact that the land itself was not particularly significant. The significance of the kaya was altered when the Digo were dispersed from kayas (towns and villages) to sub-kaya and eventually to individual homesteads in the coastal plains. They continued to serve as places for final dispute resolution as well as religious and ceremonial sites, but they lost some of their importance to Digo society. 16 In

9310-455: Was likened to two hands with their fingers extended wide. Every year until the land was deemed to have lost its fertility, this area was planted. The community then relocated to undeveloped land or land that had its fertility restored after being left fallow. Newly portioned rows were then connected to one another. The people would move to a new location and live next to their current neighbors. They can encounter new neighbors when they return to

9408-512: Was not solely communal or privately held prior to the colonial era. In the nineteenth century, children of both sexes typically did not inherit from their father but instead from their mother, grandmother, maternal uncles (mjomba), or their fuko. Instead, people acquired stakes in the land through use, clearance, and social ties that had developed over time with the land, such as debt (rahani), kinship, or patronage. These inheritance customs were also being fought at this time by systematic evasions of

9506-420: Was not the family but the matrilineal clan soon became incorporated into communist orthodoxy . In reaction, most 20th century social anthropologists considered the theory of matrilineal priority untenable, although during the 1970s and 1980s, a range of feminist scholars often attempted to revive it. In recent years, evolutionary biologists , geneticists and palaeoanthropologists have been reassessing

9604-744: Was – and, in the following list, still is if shown in italics  – inherited matrilineally. Examples include the Cherokee , Choctaw , Gitksan , Haida , Hopi , Iroquois , Lenape , Navajo and Tlingit of North America ; the Cabécar and Bribri of Costa Rica; the Naso and Kuna people of Panama; the Kogi , Wayuu and Carib of South America; the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra , Indonesia and Negeri Sembilan , Malaysia ;

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