Hedareb people

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Hedareb
An illustration of "Beni Amer" men, from 1888
Regions with significant populations
 Eritrea: 202,000 (2009 Eritrean embassy estimate);[1] 100,000 (2009 ILO estimate)[2],
 Sudan,  Egypt
Languages
Bedawi
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
other Beja and other Cushitic peoples.

The Hedareb or T'bdawe[note 1] are one of the nine ethnolinguistic groups in Eritrea.[3] They are a Beni-Amer division, a subgroup of the Beja. They are more diverse than the other Eritrean ethics; one subgroup speaks the traditional Beja language, which belongs to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, while another is more closely related to Sudanese Hadendoa. They are among the least-researched groups in Eritrea.[4]

The Hedareb people live in northwestern Barka in Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt.[5] Nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists, they typically migrate seasonally with their herds of camels, goats and sheep.[3]

Language

The Hedareb speak the Beja language as a mother tongue. It belongs to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. In addition to their variety of Beja, known as Hedareb or T’badwe, most Hedareb people also speak at least one other language, typically either Arabic or Tigre.[6]

Society

Hedareb society is hierarchical, and is traditionally organized into clans and subclans.[5] Hedarebs are a Muslim group,[4] and most are Sunni Muslims.[3] Marriages are typically arranged to maximize alliances between extended families. It is customary for the groom's family to pay a bride price of five to twelve goats, and a varying amount of money,[7] or as much as 70 camels.[8]

Sociologist Abdulkader Saleh Mohammad writes that the Hedareb have been excluded from state conceptions of Eritrean nationhood, and have become a marginalized group with many members who do not feel connected to the Eritrean nation-state.[9]

The status of women in Hedareb society is generally lower than that of men: the birth of female children is celebrated with fewer gifts and ululations than that of male children, and wives who consent to a divorce have no right to family property. Women generally inherit half as much property as men, and their testimony counts half as much in legal proceedings.[8] An Eritrean survey in the early 2000s found that 100% of Hedareb women had undergone some form of female genital mutilation.[4] Most Hedareb women are married by the age of eighteen.[8]

Laws

As a Muslim people, the Hedareb follow Sharia law in most matters.[4]

In the nineteenth century, blood feuds marked by chains of revenge killings existed among Hedareb groups; unlike those among neighboring groups, they were rarely resolved by the payment of blood money, possibly because the Hedareb had fewer trading practices.[4] Also distinctively, killing one's wife was traditionally punished by death, while killing one's children went unpunished.[4] Rape of a noblewoman by a serf was punishable by death, while rape of serfs by nobles was tolerated.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Hedareb, t'badwe, to-bedawye and bedawi may refer to the people or their language. Beja is an Arabic name for the language; Hedareb may be a corruption of Hadarma, "people of the Hadhramaut". See Tesfagiorgis G., Mussie. Eritrea. p. 178 and 216. and Paul, A. (1959). "THE HADĀREB: A Study in Arab—Beja Relationships". Sudan Notes and Records. 40. University of Khartoum: 75–78. JSTOR 41719580.

References

  1. ^ "About Eritrea: People". eritreanconsulate-lb.com. Honorary Consulate of The State of Eritrea in Lebanon. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  2. ^ Mehbratu, S; Habtezion, Zerisenay (2009). Eritrea: Constitutional, Legislative and Administrative Provisions Concerning Indigenous Peoples. International Labour Organization; African Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Communities/Populations in Africa; Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria; with support from the European Commission. SSRN 1584657. Asserts Hedareb population is 2% of the total population of 4.8 million.
  3. ^ a b c "The People of Eritrea". www.eritrean-embassy.se. Eritrean Embassy in Sweden. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Favali, L.; Pateman, R. (2003). Blood, Land, and Sex: Legal and Political Pluralism in Eritrea. Blood, Land, and Sex. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-10984-2. Retrieved Jul 30, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Tesfagiorgis G., Mussie (2010). Eritrea. ABC-CLIO. p. 178. ISBN 1598842315.
  6. ^ Killion, Tom (1998). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3437-5.
  7. ^ Tesfagiorgis G., Mussie. Eritrea. pp. 194–195.
  8. ^ a b c Gebremedhin, T.G. (2002). Women, Tradition and Development: A Case Study of Eritrea. Red Sea Press. ISBN 978-1-56902-153-8. Retrieved Jul 30, 2017.
  9. ^ Mohammad, Abdulkader Saleh (2013). "Competing identities and the emergence of Eritrean Nationalism between 1941 and 1952" (PDF). “African Dynamics in Multipolar World”. 5th European Conference on African Studies. Lisbon: Centro de Estudos Internacionais do Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL). pp. 1376–1408. 978-989-732-364-5. Retrieved 18 February 2016. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help)

External links

  • YouTube videos of traditional Hedareb dance: [1], [2]
  • Eritrean Ministry of Information: Traditional Wedding Ceremonies of the Hedareb Part I and Part II

Further reading

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