Somali

By Bernhard Helander and John Beierle

Samaale, Soomaali.

The Muslim Somalis of the Horn of Africa speak the Somali language and live in the Somali Democratic Republic (Somalia). There are also substantial numbers of Somalis in neighboring countries: the southern half of Djibouti, the eastern part of Ethiopia, and the northeastern part of Kenya. There are large stable settlements of Somalis in the north of Tanzania and in the Yemeni city of Aden. Although Somalis regard themselves as ethnically one people, there are several subgroups based on patrilineal descent. The term "Somali" is popularly held to derive from the expression SO MAAL, or "come and milk," an expression used among nomads, which alludes to the pastoral subsistence and the Somali ideal of hospitality.

Somalia is located between 1 degree 30 minutes south and 11 degrees 30 minutes north latitude and 41 degrees and 51 degrees 25 minutes east longitude; it extends over an area of 638,000 square kilometers. Somalia has a warm climate: daytime temperatures range from 25 degrees C to 35 degrees C. There is high humidity along the coastal plains. The country is traversed by two perennial rivers, the Jabba and the Shabelle. Average annual rainfall is less than 60 centimeters. There are two rainy seasons, GU' (April to June) and DAYR (October to November).

In 1994 the population of Somalia was officially estimated to be 6.67 million. The average population density varies between 9.4 and 13.3 persons per square kilometer; however, density is substantially higher along the riverbanks. A rapid urbanization rate has brought 20 percent of the population to urban centers, with the bulk of this population living in the capital, Mogadishu. With an average life expectancy of about 46 years (1975), more than 58 percent of Somalis are below 20 years of age.

The Somali language, Af-Soomaali, belongs to the East Cushitic Branch of Afroasiatic languages. It is closely related to languages of some of the neighboring peoples: the Oromo, the Rendille, and the Boni. These languages are sometimes referred to as the "Sam" languages. The Afar language, too, has many similarities with Somali. The Somali people also share many important cultural traits with these linguistically related groups. Somali has adopted a substantial amount of vocabulary from Arabic, but, since 1972, the Latin alphabet has been used for writing. The language has a number of different dialects, most of which are mutually intelligible. The dialects that standard Somali speakers find most difficult to comprehend are the Af-May dialects that are spoken in the south.

There are two major versions of how the Somali people came into possession of their current territory. Some oral-historical evidence suggests that Somalis gradually spread from the north of the country toward the west and, pushing Oromo and Bantu peoples ahead of them, appeared in the south only during the last millennium. According to another version that possibly relates to movements of a much earlier date, the "Sam"-language speakers first emerged east of Lake Turkana in Kenya. Proto-Somali speakers spread to the northeast from the Tana River and into the Somali Peninsula. Neither of the versions can draw support from archaeological finds. There is evidence that two northern port towns, Zeila and Berbera, were already flourishing in 100 B.C. During the first half of the current millennium, the coastal settlements along the southern shore, in the Benadir region, became established as important commercial centers, with trade networks extending along substantial parts of the East African coast and into the interior of the Horn. During the nineteenth century, Benadir ports came under the dominion of the Omani sultanate, and southern Somali agriculture received an influx of imported slave labor. In the late nineteenth century southern Somalia became an Italian colony; the northern part of country was colonized by the British. After the Italians were defeated during World War II, they were granted their former colony in United Nations trusteeship from 1950 until the independence and unification of the two former colonies in 1960. The frail parliamentary democracy that was installed was overthrown in a 1969 coup d'tat that brought Major General Mohammed Siad Barre to power. During some two decades of military rule, the Soviet Union and the United States succeeded one another as Somalia's chief ally. In 1977-1978 Somalia sought unsuccessfully to take from Ethiopia the Ogaden region, which is inhabited primarily by ethnic Somalis, from Ethiopia. The final resolution of that conflict was not reached until the spring of 1988. In the late 1980s a bloody civil war between Somali government troops and several resistance groups led to a mass exodus of at least 400,000 northern Somalis to Ethiopia.

There are two major types of Somali villages. One is the densely clustered nomadic encampment, with portable huts (sing. AQAL) occupied by five to ten families, which stay in the vicinity of the pastures of their herds. Another type of village is found among sedentary cultivators and agro- pastoralists. These are permanent settlements, with an average of five hundred inhabitants and about one hundred mud huts (sing. MUNDUL) with thatched roofs. An increasingly common type of building is the tin-roofed mud house (BARAAKO). Settlement in these villages may be more dispersed than in the nomadic encampments and may also seasonally include some of the villagers' nomadic kin. The permanent villages are surrounded by farms, and in the center of each village a mosque and a market can often be found. In the grazing areas, small groups of young herders often reside in the open.

Animal husbandry is traditionally the major subsistence activity, and the only one in large parts of northern and central Somalia. A wealthy household in the north may have several hundred camels and also considerable numbers of cattle, sheep, and goats. The total number of camels in Somalia was estimated to be 6.4 million in 1987. Herd management continues to be carried on according to traditional methods, with transhumance between water holes and suitable pastures. In the south, nomadic pastoralism is often mixed with rain-fed agriculture, primarily of sorghum and maize. Other crops include vegetables, fruits, and sesame. With the exception of large foreign-owned banana plantations, agriculture is largely unmechanized, and most crops are planted, weeded, and harvested with hoes and knives. The consumption of fish is increasing, but the 3,300 kilometers of seashore remain little exploited. Hunting is generally seen as defiling and is left to groups that most other Somalis see as inferior.

The commercialization of the livestock sector has made livestock and livestock products into the single most important contributor to the gross national product.

Every one of the larger Somali villages has inhabitants who specialize in the manufacture of iron goods, pottery, and leatherwork. Often such artisans belong to groups that are considered inferior. Larger villages may also host some tailors and, in the riverine zones, sesame-mill operators.

Although the bulk of agricultural production is for family consumption, the sale of surplus in small-scale markets provides important income for most families. Both crops and animal produce are traded. Women have come to play increasingly important roles in commercial activities.

Polygynously formed households assume specialized functions within the larger family economy. One wife and her children may be chiefly responsible for the camels, whereas another such sibling group is assigned the agricultural work. The herding and milking of camels is the exclusive domain of men, but women and children usually tend the small stock. Both men and women engage in farm work. Child rearing and household chores are the tasks of women and their elder daughters. Somali men often express embarrassment if they stay for a long period in the home.

Pastoral territorial control of rangelands is primarily centered on the water sources that are available within an area. Thus, although there exists some association between a clan group and a certain tract of land, more definite property rights are articulated regarding wells and other water points. Pastoral territorial feuding is most marked where routes of migration conflict with the interests of cultivators. Agricultural territory belongs to the person who has cleared or inherited the land, and, theoretically, it may be sold or rented as that person sees fit. In colonial times, a form of community control was exercised; members of the same village or kin group were given the first option to buy farmland. The military regime has since introduced a system of centralized farm registration, and there have been reports that wealthy urban settlers use the system to appropriate rural estates from small-scale farmers.

The Somali system of patrilineal descent embraces the whole nation in a genealogical grid and claims ultimate descent from the Qurayshitic lineage of the prophet Mohammed. At the level of residential groupings, a set of patrilineally related kinsmen will form the nucleus of a kin group, to which other people are joined by ties of affinity or matrilaterality. For practical purposes, the genealogical depth of a residential kin group rarely goes beyond four or five generations; however, in matters such as feuding and payment of blood-wealth, the range of agnatically related kinsmen who are involved is greatly expanded.

Parental siblings are referred to by bifurcate-collateral terms. Cousin terms are either Sudanese or Hawaiian. Where the latter prevails, it is usually for reasons of politeness, just as any stranger of approximately the same age as Ego may be addressed as "brother/sister." Seniority is emphasized in the use of intragenerational terms. Many intergenerational terms are used self-reciprocally, so that, for instance, a man addresses his son as "father."

In northern Somalia, marriages were traditionally contracted between previously nonrelated families, explicitly to enable the establishment of new alliances. In the south, the favorite spouse is a patrilateral parallel cousin, real or classificatory. As a Muslim, each Somali man has the right to be married to four women. Although viri-patrilocal and neolocal residence are characteristic of both endogamous and exogamous marriages, several clans practice an initial period of uxorilocal residence that, lasting as it occasionally does for many years, may develop into a permanent residence. The divorce rate is high. In one southern study, half of all rural women in their fifties had been married more than once.

The principal domestic unit is the uterine-sibling group (BAH), but it is not a closely bounded unit; many such groups have more distant relatives living with them, sometimes for extended periods. The descendants of a man, divided into several uterine-sibling groups, are collectively called a REER. This termmeans "people" and is, in principle, applicable to any level of agnatic grouping.

Sons generally receive an equal share of the father's property, whereas the rights of the daughters are less secure. Although daughters theoretically should inherit half the share that is allotted to each of their brothers, they have in several areas traditionally been allowed to inherit neither camels nor landed property. The ambitious 1975 family-law reform, stipulating that daughters should have equal rights to inheritance, has had little impact in either rural or urban areas.

The duties of child rearing are essentially the mother's, although the father will take part in Quranic and religious education. The mother is usually aided in her task by both her sisters and her elder daughters. The values of respect for both seniority and the integrity of others are constantly emphasized. Small children are rapidly taught their position within the age hierarchy, but it is noteworthy how often parents will treat seriously even the most inchoate statement of a younger child.

Somalia, constitutionally a socialist republic, is divided into regions, districts, and subdistricts. At each of these administrative levels, there is an elected body of officials and a parallel assembly of members of the Socialist party. The traditional form of sociopolitical organization, based on clan membership, was formally abolished and condemned as "tribalism" in 1971, yet clans and agnatic groupings remain the focus of articulation of all important societal matters. The modern administrative system is in many parts of the country only superimposed upon the old system of segmentary lineages, and it has by no means replaced that system.

The Somali people are divided into six major clusters of patrilineal clans, usually labeled clan-families, that are internally segmented. For most purposes, the largest social unit is a clan (QABIIL) or a subclan that may vary in size between a few thousand and a hundred thousand members. Based on the reckoning of agnatic descent, clans are internally divided into lineages and sublineages, the size of which rarely exceeds a few hundred to a thousand members. In the north, there are additional small scattered groups of despised artisans and serfs that are collectively known as SAB. In the south, there are large numbers of such small groups of people -- some of whom are descendants of former slaves -- who are frequently called in as farm labor. Known collectively as BOON (inferior), they are regarded and treated as second-class citizens. Marriage with members of these groups is not permitted. In the southern regions of Somalia, it is possible to be "adopted" -- given full membership -- in a clan, even though one is the descendant of another clan. The sedentary villages in the south often have a leadership that is independent from that of the clan.

Interclan and interlineage affairs are handled by committees of clan elders, supervised by the clan chief, the SULDAAN or UGAS. In the north, there exists a system of contractual agreements between different agnatic groupings, and the fines that are to be exacted for different breaches of customary law are specified. These agreements also specify the range of solidarity within the different contracting segmentary lineages. In the south, the lineages that constitute a clan are less likely to contract such agreements on their own, but the clan as a whole will agree on blood-wealth size, grazing rights, and other arrangements with other clans. Political life in rural Somali society has always been marked by negotiation, counseling, and free debate -- features that inspired Ioan M. Lewis to title his major work on the northern Somali "A Pastoral Democracy" (1961).

The traditional means of social control are closely linked with the clanship system. Lineage elders and chiefs are expected to ensure that the conduct of lineage members conforms to customary law, both in internal dealings and in affairs with other agnatic groups. Traditional cooperatives and associations, such as water-hole (WAR) maintenance groups, have their own sets of rules to guide their internal affairs, and they elect headmen to be responsible for doing so. Nowadays the police force is involved in most rural affairs and will often act together with local leaders. The GUULWADA, or "victory-carriers," a paramilitary militia, are frequently relied upon to implement government decisions. Another government agency, the National Security Service (NSS), has also had a high degree of presence, even in remote rural settings.

Feuding and armed conflicts over grazing and water rights are not uncommon. In the past, conflicts often emerged following cattle or camel raids. In the war zones in the north of the country and along the Ethiopian border, a considerable supply of submachine guns and other light weaponry exists.

Somalis are Sunni Muslims, the vast majority of whom follow the Shafi rite. Islam probably dates as far back as the thirteenth century in Somalia. In the nineteenth century Islam was revitalized, and popular versions of it developed following the proselytizing of SHUYUKH (sing. SHAYKH) belonging to different Sufi orders.

The Muslim faith forms an integral part of daily social life. The activities of Catholic and Protestant missionaries have never been successful. Somali scholars debate the extent to which Somali Muslims may have incorporated elements of a pre-Islamic religion. Some of the terms for "God" (e.g., WAG) are also found among the neighboring non- Muslim peoples. In urban areas, groups have appeared that, inspired by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (Akhiwaan Muslimin), propagate a more orthodox Islam and criticize the government on moral grounds.

A variety of spiritual beings are believed to inhabit the world. The JINNY, the only category of spirits that Islam recognizes, are generally harmless if they are left undisturbed. Other categories of spirits, such as AYAAMO, MINGIS and ROHAAN, are more capricious and may bring illness by possessing their victims. Groups of those who are possessed often form cults seeking to soothe the possessing spirit.

The Somali culture distinguishes between a religious expert (WADAAD) and a person who is preoccupied with worldly matters. There is no formal hierarchy of clergy, but a WADAAD may enjoy considerable respect and may assemble a small party of followers with whom to settle in a rural community. The five standard Muslim prayers are generally observed, but Somali women have never worn the prescribed veils. Villagers and urban settlers frequently turn to the WADAAD for blessings, charms, and advice in worldly matters.

Somalis do not worship the dead, but they do perform annual commemorative services at their graves. Pilgrimages (sing. SIYAARO) to the tombs of saints are also prominent events in ritual life. The Muslim calendar includes the celebration of 'Iid al Fidr (the end of Ramadan), Araafo (the pilgrimage to Mecca), and Mawliid (the birthday of the Prophet). Among the non-Muslim ceremonies, the DAB-SHIID (the lighting of the fire), at which all household members jump across the family hearth, is most widely performed.

Somalis enjoy a broad variety of alliterated oral poetry and songs. Famous poets may come to enjoy nationwide prestige.

Illnesses are attributed both to abstract entities and emotions and to tangible causes. Somali nomads discovered the role of mosquitoes in the spread of malaria long before this connection was scientifically proven. The medical system is a plural one: patients have a free choice between herbal, religious, and Western medicines.

Although graves are insignificant looking, the symbolic dimensions of funerals are considerable. The corpse is seen as harmful and must be disposed of rapidly. Within the local community, relations with the deceased must be cleared of grievances, and his or her passage from "this world" (ADDUNNYO) to the "next world" (AAKHIRO) ensured. Funerals serve as a reminder to the living of the return of the Prophet and the approaching day of judgment (QIYAAME), when the faithful will have nothing to fear, but sinners will be sent to hell.

Documents referred to in this section are included in this eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

The Somali file consists of 32 documents, 10 of which are translations from the original Italian, two from French, and one from German. They cover a time span from the 1600s to about the mid 1980s. The majority of these works concentrate on the nomadic Somali of the Djibouti region of southeastern Ethiopia in what is known (in 1996) as the Somali Democratic Republic, composed of the former protectorate of British Somaliland, the former Italian UN Trusteeship for Somali, and the French territory of the Afars and the Issas. Most of the significant literature on the Somali people has been written by British and Italian authors. The French interest in this region is relatively minor. Among modern writers, I. M. Lewis, a British social anthropologist who did most of his fieldwork in the 1950s, has made important contributions in the theoretical analysis of Somali institutions. His comprehensive works, comprising nine separate documents in this file (see Lewis 1955, 1958, 1959, 1955-1956, 1959, 1957, 1961, 1963, 1962, nos. 1-3, 7, 12, 14, 18, 29, 31), provide an excellent overview of Somali culture and society. In addition to Lewis, Enrico Cerulli's ethnographic works on the Somali comprise another major portion of this file (twelve documents). These are Cerulli 1919-1921, 1923-1925, 1957, 1957, 1959, 1959, 1959, 1959, 1959, 1964, 1964, 1964, nos. 4, 10, and 19-28. Cerulli, one of the foremost Italian experts on the Somali, did most of his fieldwork in the area in the first half of the twentieth century. A summary of some of the the ethnographic topics discussed in his works relate to general ethnography, social and political organization, tribal composition, religion, law, recreational pursuits, astronomy, astrology, and weather lore. In 1995-1996 two additional documents were added to the Somali file. The first of these, Helander 1988, no. 32, is a detailed study of the Hubeer clan of the Ooflaawe region of southern Somalia. The second work, Cassanelli 1982, no. 33, is a historical study dealing with the reconstructive and interpretive analysis of Somali history during the three centuries preceding 1900 -- the pre-colonial period.

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this file, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

This culture summary is from the article, "Somalis," by Bernhard Helander in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 9. 1995. John Middleton and Amal Rassam, eds. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. The synopsis and indexing notes were prepared by John Beierle, August 1996.

• AKILS -- elected heads of lineages - - category 613

• AQIYAAR -- the decision-making body of a clan -- categories 692, 614

• AW (AAW) -- the leader of the young men's groups or BARBAAR -- categories 571, 554

• BARBAAR -- a group of young men with a leader called AW ("father") -- categories 571, 554

• BEELS -- subdistricts -- category 634

• BILIS -- nobles -- category 565

• BOON -- commoners -- category 565 (sometimes with 563)

• BURJI -- knowledge of individual character and capacity -- category 828

• CAQLI -- beliefs about intelligence, reason, knowledge -- category 828

• clan-family -- category 619

• Dia-paying group -- category 613 (with 675 & 628 for some specific references)

• GEED -- medical trees -- categories 278, 824

• GILIB -- a subdivision of the RER (probably equivalent to the Dia-paying group -- category 613

• GOB -- men whose authority is limited to a subsection of a clan (i.e., a lineage) -- categories 614, 613, 554, 692

• legislative council -- category 646

• NABADDOON -- clan leaders -- categories 614, 554

• patron/client relationships -- between low caste groups and Somali -- categories 564, 571

• QUADI (CADI) -- category 692

• RER -- groups of families claiming descent from common ancestors -- category 613

• SAB -- bondsmen -- category 564

• SAMADOON -- lineage leaders -- categories 613, 554

• SHARAF -- honor -- category 577

• SHEIKH -- categories 622, 792

• sultans (UGAAS) -- heads of clans -- categories 643, 614

• TARIIQUA religious orders -- category 795

• TARIIQUA communities -- category 794

• TOL -- the tribe (all gentes claiming descent from some common ancestor); patrilineal clanship -- category 614

• tutelage -- categories 429, 602

• UGAAS -- see sultans

• VAUNT -- category 186

• WADAAD -- holy man -- category 792

Cassanelli, Lee V. (1982). The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Helander, Bernard (1990). The Slaughtered Camel: Coping with Fictitious Descent among the Hubeer of Southern Somalia. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.

Lewis, Ioan M. (1961). A Pastoral Democracy: A Study of Pastoralism and Politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa. London: Oxford University Press.