Duruma tribe of the Mijikenda
Duruma tribe is one of the Mijikenda (“Nine Tribes”) of the coastal ridge. All of the nine are sometimes called by the name of the largest and most northern tribe of Mijikenda, the Giryama, who live near the coastal city of Malindi. Other tribes include Giriama, Digo, Rabai, Kambe, Chonyi, Jibana, Kauma and Ribe.
Who are the Duruma People in Kenya?
The Duruma people live on the semi-arid plains, one mountain range inland from the seacoast of Kenya. The large city of Mombasa is the closest place Duruma may interact with other people.
History of the Duruma People of Kenya
The modern Duruma may be traced back to about the 17th century, along with other Mijikenda groups, to the southern movement of Bantu-speaking peoples from Somalia.
Many coastal peoples have a tradition of living together as family groups in a place called Kirao and a later place called Shungwaya in the 16th century.
The Duruma acknowledge that they were formed from the fusion of three separate groups, one of which had Shungwaya connections. These were Digo people from Kaya Kwale, who came first and built a Kaya at Mtswara, in the tradition of people who came from Shungwaya.
They were later joined by a group of refugee slaves who fled Mombasa. They are referred to as Mokua. This appears to refer to a people originally from Mozambique, known today as Makhuwa. It is known that Makhuwa also wound up in central Somalia as slaves in the early 1800’s. The third group was Kamba immigrants.
It is also possible that remnants of other peoples have contributed to the modern Duruma.
The Duruma and Rabai have lived over the centuries fairly free of direct impact from the turbulent events in Mombasa and the coast. They have maintained trading contacts, however, with the Swahili and Arabs.
Culture of the Duruma People
They are a mostly self-sufficient farming group with certain members becoming active traders with the outside world.
All homesteads are members of one of 14 clans. Clan membership is determined by birth and not subject to change; the bride joins the husband’s clan if differs from hers. Marriage within homesteads is discouraged but most marriages are within the 14 clans.
Each family unit is affiliated with one of the 14 clans. Males take care of families and they control the farming. Males also hunt wild animals and herd their domestic animals (i.e. cattle, sheep, goats and chickens). Boys help with this. Women do all household work assisted by girls and also do a great deal of the farming.
The land is owned by the clan, not by individuals. The sons inherit land from their fathers including any goods or money they may have. Daughters do not receive any part of the inheritance.
Visitors can be initiated into one of the 14 clans of their own choice if they pay a subscribed fee to the panel of elders of that clan (Normally a goat and a guard of liquor, which is equivalent to 20 litres).
Such a visitor is even entitled to land of that clan, and can even use the names of that clan in his family. But for the land he is given, he is not supposed to plant permanent crops like coconuts, cashews, mangoes, citrus fruits and the like.
After staying for a period of twenty years or more, such a visitor can be considered as one of the clansmen, but it will depend on his extent of respect and how he has lived peacefully with the clansmen who invited him.
The Duruma and Rabai differ from other Mijikenda by maintaining a dual descent system: both matrilineal and patrilineal. While the Digo to the east is matrilineal, the northern six Mijikenda groups are patrilineal. Until recently, the Duruma observed with other Mijikenda a practice of age sets of four years in which generational circumcision was observed as an initiation into adulthood.
Lifestyle of the Duruma people
The Duruma are subsistence farming people growing maize for their own consumption. They live in about 100 villages. They also herd cattle and raise tobacco as a cash crop.
Most children go to school but many older people are illiterate. They have maintained their own ethnic and language identity for several centuries since the early Bantu settlement.
Language of the Duruma tribe
The Duruma are very close in language and culture to the Rabai, another of the Mijikenda people living west of Mombasa. The Duruma population is estimated to be 64,000 and is over 50% Christian by some estimates.
The languages of the Mijikenda are close to the major Bantu language of the East African coast, Swahili.
Most Duruma are bilingual in Swahili. Linguists classify the languages of the Duruma and the Rabai as two dialects of one language. Some Duruma also speak Digo.