Okiek people

The Okiek (Ogiek: [oɡiɛk]), sometimes called the Ogiek or Akiek (although the term Akiek sometimes refers to a distinct subgroup), are an ethnic and linguistic group based in Northwestern Tanzania, Southern Kenya (in the Mau Forest), and Western Kenya (in the Mount Elgon Forest). In 2000 the ethnic Okiek population was estimated to number 36,869, although the number of those speaking the Akiek language was as low as 500^[1]. Many Ogiek speakers have shifted to the languages of surrounding peoples: the Akiek in northern Tanzania now speak Maasai and the Akiek of Kinare, Kenya now speak Gikuyu. The Ogiek are one of various groups of hunter-gatherers in Kenya and Tanzania to which the term Dorobo or Ndorobo (a term of Maasai origin now considered derogatory) has been applied.

Land Disputes

The Ogiek have made numerous claims against the government of Kenya alleging unfair treatment, especially that they have been illegally dispossessed of their land.^[2] Timsales Ltd. is active in deforestation in its area for long.^[3]It is partly owned by relatives of former presidents Kenyatta and Moi.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=TZ
2. ^ Kimaiyo, Towett J. (2004). Ogiek Land Cases and Historical Injustices — 1902–2004. Nakuru, Kenya: Ogiek Welfare Council. p. 127 pages + appendices. Archived from the original on 2007-10-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20071029164155/http://www.geocities.com/OgiekLand/.  (Full text of book at link.)
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.regenwald.org/regenwaldreport/2010/313/wissen-ist-waldschutz

References

• Heine, Bernd (1973) 'Vokabulare ostafrikanischer Restsprachen', Afrika und Übersee, 57, 1, pp. 38–49.
• Kratz, Corinne A. (1981) "Are the Okiek really Masai? or Kipsigis? or Kikuyu?" Cahiers d'Études Africaines. Vol. 79 XX:3, pp. 355–68.
• Kratz, Corinne A. (1986) 'Ethnic interaction, economic diversification and language use: a report on research with Kaplelach and Kipchornwonek Okiek', Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika, 7, 189—226.
• Kratz, Corinne A. (1989) "Okiek Potters and their Wares." In Kenyan Pots and Potters. Edited by J. Barbour and S. Wandibba. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.
• Kratz, Corinne A. (1994) Affecting Performance: Meaning, Movement and Experience in Okiek Women's Initiation. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Kratz, Corinne A. (1999) "Okiek of Kenya." In Foraging Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Hunter-Gatherers. Edited by Richard Lee and Richard Daly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 220–224.
• Kratz, Corinne A. (2000)"Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Aesthetics in Maasai and Okiek Beadwork." In Rethinking Pastoralism in Africa: Gender, Culture, and the Myth of the Patriarchal Pastoralist. Edited by Dorothy Hodgson. Oxford: James Currey Publisher, pp. 43–71.
• Kratz, Corinne A. (2001) "Conversations and Lives." In African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History. Edited by Luise White, Stephan Miescher, and David William Cohen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 127–161.
• Kratz, Corinne A. (2002) The Ones That Are Wanted: Communication and the Politics of Representation in a Photographic Exhibition. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Rottland, Franz (1982) Die Südnilotischen Sprachen: Beschreibung, Vergelichung und Rekonstruktion (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik vol. 7). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. (esp. pp. 26, 138-139)

External links

• The Ogiek People