Nilotic
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Nilotic people or Nilotes, in its contemporary usage, refers to some ethnic groups mainly in southern Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania, who speak Nilotic languages, a large sub-group of the Nilo-Saharan languages. These include the Kalenjin, Luo, Ateker, Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk and the Maa-speaking peoples – all which are clusters of several ethnic groups.[1]
The terms Nilotic and Nilote were previously used as racial classifications, based on now widely discarded perceptions.[2] These terms are now foremost used to distinguish "Nilotic people" from their ethnic neighbours (mainly Bantu speaking people), based on ethnolinguistic affiliation.[3] Etymologically, the terms Nilotic and Nilote (also spelled Nilot) derive from the Nile Valley, specifically the Upper Nile and its tributaries, where most Sudanese Nilo-Saharan-speaking people live.
[edit] Linguistic divisions
Linguistically, Nilotic people are divided into three sub-groups:
[edit] Ethnic divisions
Nilotic people constitute a large part of the population of Southern Sudan. The largest of the Sudanese Nilotic people are the Dinka, which includes as many as twenty-five ethnic groups. The next largest group are the Nuer, followed by the Shilluk.[4]
The Nilotic people in Uganda include the Luo group (Acholi, Alur and Jopadhola), the Ateker (Iteso and Karamojong), and the Lango and Kumam.
In Kenya, the Nilotes are often categorised into three subgroups:
- The Plain Nilotes, who speak Maa languages: the Maasai, Samburu and Turkana
- The River lake Nilotes: the Joluo (Kenyan Luo), who are part of the larger Luo group
- The Highland Nilotic or Kalenjin, which includes several smaller groups: Elgeyo, Keiyo, Kipsigis, Marakwet, Nandi, Pokot, Sabaot, Terik, and Tugen
[edit] References
- ^ "Nilotic", The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.
- ^ The Forging of Races Cambridge University Press THE FORGING OF RACES - by Colin Kidd Excerpt
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Article: Nilot
- ^ Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Sudan: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991.
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