The Sukuma tribe is located in Tanzania, Africa. The
country of Tanzania is low-lying coastal plains, a dry highland plateau,
northern savannas, and cool, well-watered regions in the northwest and south.
The residents of this country, including the Sukuma Tribe, have to adapt to
these environmental factors. Such as the crops they harvest which are mainly
corn, rice, cassava, and plantains. Agriculture is the countries main factor
for its economy. Agriculture is also important to the Sukuma people; they
depend on their crops and cattle, for their survival.
During cultivation season all the family members are
needed because they all work together to ensure that they will harvest enough
food for the coming year. That is why education is not that important to the
Sukuma tribe, because without every family member contributing they would not
be able to have the work force to survive. Most members of the Sukuma tribe are
cattle herders or they farm the land.
For many Sukuma people farming is a their daily life
activity. Their cultural and political dynamics were and remain an obstacle
that prevents many boys and girls from going to school. Especially boys and
girls who live in rural areas, they have a lesser chance of going to school.
Women are also looked upon as if they don’t need an education because they have
housework to do and boys are expected to tender animals not go to school.
Tanzania is the first country in Africa to be colonized by
Europeans and not have adopted their European language. The Sukuma tribe is the
largest tribe; it is nearly thirteen percent of the total population. The
Sukuma people are split into two major groups called Kimakia and Kisomayo.
Although they are split into groups they still have the same tongue; their
language is Kisukuma, which is the first language that Sukuma children learn.
Even though the Sukuma tribe has a language of their own, the country of
Tanzania has developed a general language called Kiswahili. The Sukuma tribe
knows both languages. Everyone who lives in the country of Tanzania knows how
to speak this language so it is easier for the citizens, and the different
cultures to communicate. This also makes trade between the countries
easier, since it allows everyone to communicate with each other. English is the
second, and mostly only “educated” people that go to school know how to speak
English.
Advamag
Culture
of Tanzania, Electronic Document, http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Tanzania.html#b,
accessed November 17, 2013.
Bessire, Mark HC
Sukuma
Culture and Tanzania, Electronic Document, http://philip.greenspun.com/sukuma/intro,
accessed November 4, 2013.
Maganda, Fabian Francis
2008
The Untold Story: The Agency of Sukuma Educators in Developing AIM Mission
Schools in Northwestern Tanzanian. Electronic Document, http://books.google.com/books?id=HvyYl3HgFMAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false,
accessed November 5, 2013.
Shadows of Africa
Tribes
and Religion in Tanzania, Electronic Document, http://www.shadowsofafrica.com/destinations/tanzania/tribes-and-religion-of-tanzania ,
accessed November 4, 2013.
The Sukuma Museum
I enjoyed researching the Sukuma tribe and their traditions. I was just going to focus on their language, but the information was scarce so I had to add on the details about their daily life. From the information I gathered it is obvious that they have a very different outlook from citizens of America. Education is not a very important thing to them, they look at it as second to work, I find that very interesting and distinct from our culture. They are a very big tribe since they are even divided into two groups and then from those two groups they are still subdivided into smaller groups, so they compose a huge part of the country. I believe they are an important tribe. This project was very interesting and fun.
ReplyDeleteThey are pretty big tribe compared to other indigenous tribes, but even though they are a bigger tribe the information is still pretty scarce.
Most of the information on the Sukuma Tribe was in blog posts also, so there really was not that much reliable information, although I dig deep hard enough and found some good websites containing a lot of knowledgeable information. I imagine how much harder it is to try and learn about other smaller tribes. I had fun researching them though!