Kuria is a Bantu language spoken in the Mara region of Tanzania, specifically in Tarime and Serengeti Districts and Migori county (former Nyanza Province) of southern Kenya. The original geographic classifications carried out by Guthrie (1948/1967), Maho (2006, p. 645), Mwita (2008) and Zacharia (2011) show that Kuria (E43) belongs to the Eastern Bantu group of the Niger-Congo Phylum along with Zanaki (E44), Nata (E45), Ngorimi, and Simbiti in Tanzania. However, the later modification of Guthrie’s classification by Maho (2009) shows that Kuria is (JE43), Zanaki (JE44), Ikoma and Nata (JE45), Ngorimi (JE401), Simbiti (JE431), Ikizu (JE402), Suba (JE403) and Sweta (JE434) in Tanzania (Maho, 2009, p. 62). Though the Kuria people are a Bantu speaking community, their geographical neighbours on the Kenyan side include the Luo and Maasai who are non-Bantu speakers.
The word ‘Kuria’ refers both to the language as well the people. Originally, the language was known as Igikuria while Abakuria referred to the people, a view aptly observed by Muniko, Magige and Ruel:
Strictly the language is called Igikuria, the people themselves Abakuria. However, in conformity with normal Bantu usage we omit the prefixes and use Kuria as noun for both people and language and as an adjective (1996, p. iii).
Moreover, the online version of The Ethnologue17 lists alternative names of the Kuria language as Egikuria, Igikuria, Ikikuria, Kikuria, Kikuria cha Juu, Kikuria cha Mashariki, Kurya and Kurye.
17 http://www.ethnologue.com/language/kuj
72 The speakers of the language refer to themselves as Abhakuria and their language as Ighikuria. In this study, the language is referred to as Kuria. The Kuria language is ordinarily used in day-to-day communication by the people in their economic, political, religious and social engagements in the community.
In Tanzania, Kuria is predominantly spoken in the northern part of Mara region specifically in Tarime and Serengeti district, as shown in the map below.
Map 3.1 Ethnic Communities in Mara Region
Source: Hill, D. et al. (2007, p. 21).
73 According to the Tanzania 2012 Population and Housing Census (2013), Mara region is made up of seven district councils, namely, Tarime, Serengeti, Musoma, Musoma municipal, Bunda, Rorya and Butiama district. (See the table below and their population indicating both genders.)
Table 3.1 Population of Mara Region by Sex, Average Household Size and Sex Ratio
No. District/Council Population (Number) Average
Household
Source: 2012 Population and Housing Census (2013, p. 182).
3.1.1 Origin of the Name “Kuria”, Migration History of the Group and Their Language According to Abuso (1980) the origin of Kuria people can be traced in relation to two narratives.
As he stated below:
The inhabitants of Bukuria are today known as the Abakuria (i.e. the people of Kuria).
The origin of the name Kuria is a thorny point in Kuria history. There are two views which need to be reconciled. The first is that which connects the name with that of the supposed eponymous ancestor of all the Abakuria people (p. 73).
In the first narrative, Abuso explains that sub-tribes such as Abanyabasi, Abakira, Abagumbe, Abairegi, Abatimbaru and Abanyamongo belong to one ancestor known as Mokuria/Mukuria who lived in Misiri18 with his two wives, Omosai the elder and the young was Omochuma. When Mukuria died, his descendants later migrated from Misiri and after many wandering on the other side of Lake Victoria, they enventually reached and settled in Bukuria (1980, pp. 73-74). The ancestors of the Abagusii, together with those of the Abakuria, Abalogoli, Ababukusu, and Abasuba, originally migrated from ‘Misiri’ but lost track of each other in the area of Mount Elgon.
18 Abuso (1980, p. 69) states that “Misiri in this context does not seem to refer specifically to modern Egypt (which is known as Misiri). Rather its description by the various people who claim origin from there tends to fit in well with the geographical region to the north of East Africa”.
74 The Abagusii and Abalogoli are believed to have veered off along Nzoia River Valley to the northern shoreline of Lake Victoria between A.D. 1500 and 1560 Abuso (1980, 69). During the movement, many people including the Abaluyia, Abagusii, Abakuria, Zanaki and Kalenjin settled on the way in different parts of the present day East Africa, Ethiopia and Sudan (Abuso, 1980, p.
69). There were also other ethnic groups like the Luo and the Maasai who settled in those regions much earlier and claimed them as their homeland although they were not associated with the Misiri historical trajectory. As explained by Abuso, a cross-section of the Abakuria only vaguely recalls their alleged point of origin as shown in the statement:
‘It was east of River Nile’. ‘It was in northern Africa’. ‘It was in the direction of northern Africa’ and so on. They are even not sure of why their ancestors left Misiri. Some of them say that they left Misiri because there wasn’t enough land there for them all (1980, p. 70).
There are a number of reasons attributed to the migration of the people from one place to another.
Two of the most recurrent reasons include ethnic conflicts due to population explosion caused by other immigrants who also settled in the region and persistent drought owing to insufficient rainfall in the region that made life unbearable (Abuso, 1980, p. 70). The search for a better climate could particularly be the main reason behind the Kuria’s settling around the Equator region that supports agriculture and animal husbandry due to reliable patterns of rainfall.
The second narrative expounded by Abuso holds that, “the origin of the name Kuria connects the name with the period Abakuria people were living in Musoma district for the first time - between about five to three generations back, that is between 1774 and 1858” (1980, p. 76). The Kuria people claim that there were some Kuria living in Musoma district (currently in Tanzania) around 1774 and 1858, particularly around Korea hill north of River Mara. Gradually, Korea was corrupted to ‘Kuria’ hill and the people came to be known as the Abakuria. As stated by Abuso:
Indeed, many of the people who now form Abakuria society claim in their traditions that their ancestors not only sprang originally from the north, beyond Mt. Elgon, but that their ancestors also roamed the wide area to the north and south of Lake Victoria before they finally settled in their present country of Bukuria (1980, p. 23).
Accordingly, the two historical views indicate that the present Kuria society could be regarded as
‘a mix’ of two distinct groups with different points of origin, one associated with Misiri and the other identified with Korea hill. This position is aptly summarized by Abuso when he asserts that:
75 From the survey it has been quite clear that most of present Abakuria do not have any common historical origin; they appear to have sprung from all sorts of directions, although a number of them claim to have originally come in the dim past from yet-unidentified
‘Misiri’ (1980, p. 135).
The history of Abakuria implies that the Kuria society emerged from two directions: one group from Korea Hill and another group migrating from ‘Misiri’ although it is not yet very clear what the real origin of the Kuria society is.
3.1.2 Kuria Language and its Culture
As argued in the foregoing, the origin of Kuria society was a gradual process that had profound impacts on the culture of the people:
Wasomaji mkumbuke kuwa kabila la Wakuria zamani za miaka 1200 na zaidi lilikuwa wachungaji wa ng’ombe na kuhama, yaani Nomads. Na njiani kabla ya kufika katika nchi hii wakaiga ukulima kwa majirani. Waongozaji waliowawezesha kufika katika nchi hii ni ‘Abagambi’ na Abanaabi (Chacha, 1963, p. 4).
It should be recalled that Abakuria were formerly nomads since the eleventh century.
They are claimed to have adopted agriculture from the various communities including the Abagambi and Abanaabi with whom they came into contact during these movements.
In the Swahili quotation above, Chacha reminds readers of the customary nomadic life of the Kuria society around 1200 and above that brought them into contact with agriculturalists. This confirms the view that agricultural and nomadic cultures infused the Kuria society thereby influencing the development of the Kuria language (1963, p. 4). This view is also expressed by Abuso (1980):
In trying to find out the identity of the ancestors of the Abakuria, it is important to take into account the dual nature of Abakuria culture today. On the one hand the Abakuria are linguistically a Bantu-speaking community with closest affinity to the Gusii and Zanaki in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. On the other hand, culturally, the Abakuria are a Nilotic-community closely resembling the Masai and Kalenjin group, this peculiarity being much more demonstrated in the use of age-set and generation-sets, which are cyclic like those of the other Nilotic speakers (p. 70).
With time the population of the Kuria began to increase whereas the land remained inelastic.
Consequently, they started dispersing to different places to find new areas for settlements and pasture for their cattle. That was the time when the Kuria society was divided into different clans
76 and later subdivided into sub-clans known as ibhisaku (sg.), egesaku19 (pl.) ‘door’. As Cammenga explains:
Socially then the Kuria are traditionally sub-divided into clans, each of which is identified with its own animal totem. These are further sub-divided into sub-clans, which in turn are split up into sub-sub-clans, etc., until one reaches the minimal social constituents, the (extended) family living in its own homestead (2004, p. 18).20
This section does not explain in detail the sub-divisions of Kuria society because this has already been explained in Chacha (1963, pp. 7-14), Cammenga (2004, pp. 18-19) and Mwita (2008, pp. 3-4). Rather, it provides just one example of the clan and its sub-divisions up to the family level.
Generally, there were seventeen (17) clans, namely (in plural), Abakenye, Abasweta, Abanyanongo, Abairege, Abanyabasi, Abakira, Abarenchoka, Abanchari, Abatimbaru, Abatobori, Abahunyaga, Abamera Abakene, Abasimbeti, Abakiroba, Abaasi, and Abagumbe (Chacha, 1963, pp. 7-14).
Before I show the dissemination of one clan, I would like to explain in brief how the division was done using Abakenye as example, starting from the low levels to the higher levels.
Ichika ‘families’ are close members who were born by the same mother (one wife). Chacha illustrates for instance, that Nyakisagane was born with Chacha, Chacha was born with Kisieri, and Kisieri was born with Marwa, and Marwa was born with Moherai, and Moherai was born with Gweso (1963, p. 17). Therefore, Gweso/Abahirigweso is the name of the ‘family’ Eka. Gweso was born with Nkombe who is known as Irighiha21 meaning ‘one amongst three rock fires’ the source of the family (1963, p. 17). Nkombe was born with Muhiriokarai, this is egesaku ‘door’ and means
‘ancestor’. Muhiriokare was born with Mukenye. This is the origin of the clan Abakenye which settled in Bukenye. Therefore, the distribution was done to all 17 clans (see Chacha, 1963, pp. 7-14)). For more distribution to the family level see one example of Wakenye in the table below.
19 Ruel et al (1996, p. 19) show that, “egesaku (1) a door or doorway (2) people descended from the same ancestor, a lineage or clan (the most general term for a descent group).”
20 Mayor, M. (2012) totem refers to “an animal, plant etc. that is thought to have a special spiritual connection with a particular tribe” (p. 1866).
21 According to Ruel et al. Irighiha (1) a cooking stone (one of three making up the hearth, amaghiha); (2) a group of people sharing descent from a common ancestor, with a closer kinship solidarity than those of an egesaku, lineage (1996, p. 66).
77 Table 3.2 Clans, Sub-clans and their Families in Kuria Society
Clan/Location Ibhisaku ‘doors’ Amagiha ‘3 rock fire’
Ichika ‘families’
Abhakenye/Bukenye I. Abatirienyi a. Rohore 1. Abhahirichacha 2. Abhahirimatiko b. Marosi 1. Abhahirinyagetebe
2. Abhahirihegera II. Abhahiriokare a. Nkombe 1. Abhahirigweso 2. Abhahirikerengu III. Abhahirimarwa a. Kubhugha 1. Abhahirisira
2. Abhahirimaghoghe IV. Abahirihemba a. Buseni 1. Abhahirimesanga 2. Abhahiribihenye 3. Abhahirimuringo 4. Abhahirimaheri Source: Adapted from Chacha (1963, pp. 7-14).