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The Sandawe of Tanzania
Population: 40,000
Religion:
Traditional Nature Animism
Registry of Peoples code: Sandawe: 108634
Registry of Languages code (Ethnologue): Sandawe: sad
NARRATIVE PROFILE
Location:
The Sandawe people are a small group living in north central Tanzania in Kondo District, near the town of Kondoa, between the Mponde and Bubu rivers.
History:
The Sandawe are a small remaining group of a race of people that originally lived over much of Africa. The San, called the Bushmen by the Dutch in South Africa, were the first people we know of in the Rift Valley. As they came under pressure from invading and immigrant peoples, the non-aggressive hunter-gatherers often moved away or were absorbed by intermarriage, or more often were killed off.
Southern Cushites then Eastern Cushites were followed by the Highland Nilotes (Kalenjin Cluster), then the early Bantu. Oral traditions of the Kikuyu of Kenya refer to the Athi (the ground people), whom the Kikuyu paid for the right to move into their land. The Athi are thought to be the original San people of the area.
Some San peoples seem to be in existence now speaking the Bantu language of their dominant neighbors. The herding and tilling of the immigrant peoples, with their metal implements and weapons, upset the Sandawe way of life and sources of food.
Identity:
The Sandawe are racially different from the surrounding tribes. Whereas most of the tribes in Tanzania are Bantu people, the Sandawe are San. They have lighter skin and are smaller, with knotty hair like that of the Bushmen, commonly referred to as peppercorn hair. They have the epicanthic fold of the eyelid (like East Asian peoples) common to the Bushmen.
The Sandawe are a remnant of the earlier inhabitants of the area, thought to have once covered all of eastern and southern Africa. Another related people in Tanzania are the Hatsa (or Hadzapi). Some think the pygmies in Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire are related, though they now speak the Bantu language of their neighbors and have more Bantu features.
The Bantu name "Twa" for these pygmies is the same word the Zulus use for the Khoisan click-language speakers they found in their early migrations into what is now Natal province of South Africa. One San tribe there today is still called Twa.
Language:
The Sandawe language includes click sounds as consonants and is also tonal. Totally unrelated to other languages around them, it is difficult to learn. The language is related to the languages of the Bushmen (San) and Hottentots (Khoi) of southern Africa and is classified as a Khoisan language. The Hadzapi, also in northern Tanzania, are the only other aboriginal people in Eastern Africa still speaking a Khoisan language.
Political Situation:
The traditional living patterns of the Sandawe left them isolated from other peoples. They were pressed by immigrant groups for millennia. Into modern times they were outside the political and social mainstream.
The socialist Tanzania government forced the Sandawe to limit their movement and settle down. As they lost their hunting areas, their sources of food diminished, but they found it hard to make a transition. Their experience with farming and herding has resulted in economic disaster.
Customs:
The Sandawe have traditionally been hunters and gatherers of food, moving their portable shelters wherever there was game. In the past generation, the village-based development program of the Tanzanian central government has encouraged the Sandawe to develop a more sedentary lifestyle based on farming. Maybe one-fourth of the Sandawe have migrated to the areas around the towns of Arusha and Dodoma.
The Sandawe now own cattle and cultivate with metal hoes instead of their original wooden digging sticks, but still maintain their hunting, including pig and elephant. The men also still gather wild honey and women gather wild fruits and vegetables and dig roots with sticks.
Because of their healthy lifestyle and wide diet, the Sandawe have a much higher level of health than their Bantu neighbors. They do not suffer the kwashiorkor or other deficiency conditions of their neighbors. During the 20th century, the Sandawe have shifted from their traditional movable structures called sundu, to more solid rectangular houses of the tembe type of their Bantu neighbors.
Sandawe hold all-night dances to the music of drums in the moonlight. The Sandawe have a great musical and dance tradition, with beer-drinking at their celebrations. There are celebrations for each area of life, each with its own music: hunting, hoeing, circumcision, etc. Curing rituals have their own music. Their instruments are musical bows and a trough zither.
The elders tell the children stories of the past, conveying their history, traditions and wisdom. They also value riddles and have an art of humorous insult. In many of their traditional stories the Sandawe identify with the small animals whose cunning and intelligence gives them victory over their more powerful enemies. Men today commonly wear the Muslim brimless hat, called kofia, common to other peoples in central Tanzania.
Religion:
Islam has influenced the eastern section of the Sandawe. Roman Catholicism has influenced the southern section. Most Sandawe still practice their animistic faith which includes the reverence for the moon. The moon is seen as a symbol of life, fertility and good will. Their traditional beliefs emphasize living in harmony with nature, which is a common feature of the San people of southern Africa.
The Sandawe religion gives a central place to cave spirits living in the hills, to ancestor worship and divination. They fear the cave spirits and no hunting, herding or wood-gathering is allowed near their caves. They make annual sacrifices to appease the hill spirits, shouting prayers loudly as they climb to the sacrificing area. They also sacrifice at the graves of their ancestors in public ceremonies.
The San peoples are traditional tribal religionists and they are very closed to Christianity. They believe in a High God, called Warongwe, a distant spirit that is not active in their lives. They see certain animals (especially the praying mantis) and celestial bodies (sun, moon, morning star, and the southern cross) as symbols of divinity.
The moon is believed to be the source of rain and fertility. They also believe that dancing near a sacred fire will bring healing. Some reports indicate 10% of the people are Muslim.
Christianity:
Estimates of percentage Christian vary considerably. The Sandawe are reported to be about 5% Christian. Some estimates are as high as 80%, but other investigators say this is unrealistic. The Africa Inland Church has conducted missionary work among the Sandawe for some years. A Bible translation project was underway a few years ago in the Sandawe language. I do not have information on the current status of Bible portoions or literature in the language.
Several Anglican and Pentecostal groups have worked with the Sandawe people, and there are gospel recordings in their language. There has been little positive response to Christian work. The transition to a more settled farming life may make it easier to plant a church community among the Sandawe people, as well as to improve their health and education.
Related Cultural Profiles on This Site
The !Kung
The Gwikwe Bushmen
The Mbarakwengo Bushmen
Related Topic on This Site
How We Determine Ethnicity
More on the Sandawe People:
Some book reviews that give some good information about the Sandawe and their neighbours
Difficulties of these and other minority peoples
Some information about a Christian
project among the Sandawe
Information about a forest shared by the Sandawe and other hunters
Dr Helen I Presume — Web site of a linguist working on the Sandawe language
Orville Boyd Jenkins
January 1997
Last edited 2 January 2008
Copyright © 1997, 2007 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission
for personal or educational use. Other rights reserved.
Email: researchguy@iname.com
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