*Discrimination based on descent in Africa1*
1
It should be noted that although this paper aims to cover the main
indigenous forms of descent
based discrimination in Africa, with examples, it cannot be considered as
exhaustive
*
1. Introduction
*
This paper summarises descent-based forms of discrimination across Africa,
covered by the
descent limb of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial
Discrimination (ICERD). These forms of discrimination range from the
existence of caste
systems in many societies across the Sahel region, discrimination and
marginalisation faced by
the descendents of hunter-gather societies and the discrimination and even
enslavement still
suffered by descendents of slaves in Western and North-Western Sub-Saharan
Africa
*
2. Caste systems in Africa
*
Although it is not necessarily accurate to speak of the existence of "caste
societies" in Africa,
there are certainly societies in which there are sections of the population
who are members of
caste groups. These systems can be called "caste systems" using the
definition of "occupational
specialisation of endogamous groups, in which membership is based on
ascription, and between
which social distance is regulated by the concept of pollution".
2 Although the percentage of the
population in these societies belonging to a caste is generally low (between
1% and 20%), they
suffer from forms of discrimination ranging from mild segregation, forced
endogamy and
restrictions on commensality to extreme segregation, denial of rights and
even violence.
Countries in Africa who have societies with caste systems within their
borders include Mali;
Mauritania; Senegal; Gambia; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Ivory Coast; Niger;
Burkina Faso;
Cameroon; Ghana; Liberia; Sierra Leone; Algeria; Nigeria; Chad; Ethiopia and
Somalia.
*
2.1 West Africa
*
West African societies have some of the more enduring and well-researched
caste systems
include the Wolof and the Mande speaking populations, and the people living
in the Mandara
Hills region of West Central Africa. The similarities between the separate
hierarchical social
systems with caste peoples are striking. Society is generally divided into
three, with the
nobles/freemen at the top, caste people at the bottom and a third category
of slaves and their
descendents. The caste people are usually members of a craft-caste
profession such as
blacksmithing, tanning, potting, leatherworking, brasscasting and weaving.
There are also in
most areas bard/jester castes, whose role may have traditionally have been
to sing praise songs
for the nobles. In many, but not all, of these areas the caste people also
perform other specialised
tasks ranging from undertaking and message bearing to circumcision and
excision, often as a
non-paid "duty".
Concepts of pollution are traditionally strong and have faded little.
Generally the ideas that caste
people are "dirty" or "impure" are reinforced by myths of their ancestors
committing a food
transgression or an act that committed his ancestors to be forever impure.
They are also backedup
by ideas that the work of caste people, particularly those using fire such
as blacksmithing and
potting, is polluting. The specialised tasks often fulfil a similar role. In
other areas, such as the
Mandara Hills on the Nigeria and Cameroon border, there are stories that
caste people are
descended from unions with animals, helping to dehumanise them in the eyes
of the non-caste.
These concepts of impurity help to reinforce the segregation and forced
endogamy that caste
people suffer.
In terms of the effects of being a caste member, there is huge variation in
the degree and nature
of discrimination. Much of the specifics are geographically and culturally
context-dependent.
Forms of discrimination include; exclusion from, or segregation within, key
initiation societies
and cultural events; segregation in housing and also in burial; refusal of
burial (Griots in Wolof
society); denial of the equal right to bear arms; denial of right to own
land and/or animals;
refusal of right to marry outside their caste; denial of a role in key
political institutions, or a
2
A. Tuden and L Plotnicov (1970) Social Stratification in Africa, The Free
Press: New York
separate but inferior role; practise of "untouchability"; denial of a
judicial role, either as witness
or judge; and denial of education, or segregation within educational
institutions. These are not
necessarily all practised in every society with a caste system across West
Africa, but all are
examples of practices that exist and lead to the marginalisation of caste
people.
Although some of these systems are beginning to break down under the
pressures of
urbanisation, greater contact with other societies and new forms of
employment, with some
reports of caste-non-caste marriages and reduction in segregation and
occupational
specialisation, these forms of discrimination do generally persist. Many are
taboo subjects and
in-built prejudices are hard to overcome. Much work is still needed to
ensure an effective end to
the practice of descent based discrimination in these areas.
*
2.2 East Africa
*
In both Somalia and Ethiopia there are marginalised social groups who are
discriminated against
on the basis of caste. Somali clans known as Sab, or "low-caste", are
generally denied equal
rights amongst clans, forcing them to form patron-client relationships with
other powerful clans.
They are regarded as impure and polluting, backed up with myths of food
transgressions
(particularly important in Islamic society) and are viewed with distaste,
fear and mistrust.
Specialised occupational roles vary but include blacksmithing,
leatherworking and hunting.
Effects of their Sab status include; denial of right to own land, cattle or
horses; no right to claim
compensation for murder (diya), a right of all other Somalia clans; social
segregation and
enforced endogamy; denial of education; and restriction of employment to
traditional or menial
tasks. These effects persist in Somali society today and amongst the Somali
diasporas across the
West, Africa and in refugee and IDP camps.
The situation in Ethiopia is similar, with occupational specialisation,
concepts of pollution,
inferior social position, all ascribed from birth, occurring in some areas
of the South West.
Tanning, blacksmithing, potting and weaving are some of the occupational
specialisations with
food transgressions, "falls from grace" and animal union myths used to
reinforce the concepts of
pollution. Effects include denial of political and judicial rights;
segregation in housing; denial of
roles in key cultural institutions; and enforced endogamy. The
discrimination continues to exist
and, as in the other cases, prevents their attainment of equal rights within
their communities.
*
2.3 The Nigerian "Osu" system
*
The Nigerian "Osu" system is a unique social institution found in Igboland,
Nigeria, where
certain clans were traditionally dedicated to deities and segregated due to
their position. The
descendents of these clans still face discrimination due to their descent,
with enforced endogamy
and severe restrictions on commensality still widely practised against the
"Osu". They are also
prevented from holding positions of political, cultural or social
responsibility and power. Reports
also exist of the use of violence against transgressors to reinforce the
system, with the use of
sexual violence, murder and arson to prevent "Osu" communities resettling to
escape the stigma.
*
3. Slave descent
*
Amongst the Tuareg people of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as
Mauritanian society and
amongst the societies with caste systems in West Africa there exists a
marginalised social group
of slaves, former slaves and their descendents. The continued enslavement of
many of these
peoples, leading to severe denial of their rights, mainly continues in
isolated areas where the
illegality of the practice is ignored and laws hard to enforce. The greatest
proportions of these
people are not made slaves, but are born this way due to their descent from
slaves. Even those
who have descended from freed slaves, such as the Haratin of Mauritania,
continue to suffer
discrimination and economic, social and political marginalisation due to
their status. The
situation is an issue of descent as the continued marginalisation and even
enslavement of these
people is carried out exclusively on the basis of their descent.
*
4. Hunter-Gatherer societies
*
Many contemporary African societies make a distinction between their farming
and urban
populations on one-hand, and the hunter-gatherer groups and their
descendents on the other.
Although this way of life is in decline and has disappeared amongst many of
these people, the
fact that they are labelled as hunter-gatherer descendents is often enough
to legitimise many
forms of discrimination and marginalisation.
The Watta in Kenya and the Twa in Rwanda and Burundi are two such groups.
Often viewed as
"sub-human" by other sectors of society and discriminated against in
employment, political
institutions and education, these groups are often the poorest and most
marginalised in their
societies. Often these groups have made claims to being the indigenous
inhabitants of these
areas, and many might be thought to be racially or ethnically distinct from
the rest of the
population. However, these groups are often largely indistinguishable from
the larger population
but continue to suffer discrimination due to their on-going depressed and
marginalised status.
This status is largely based on their descent.
Prepared as an information note for the CERD August 2002
Alexander Stevens
July 2002
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