Yaaku people

The Yaaku, also called Mukogodo, are a people living in the Mukogodo forest west of Mount Kenya, a division of Laikipia County in the former Rift Valley Province, Kenya.

Etymology

The name Yaaku is said to be a Southern Nilotic term for hunting people while Mukogodo is a Yaakunte word meaning people who live in rocks.[1]

History

Origins

The Yaaku speakers moved into Kenya from southern Ethiopia.[2]

Mukogodo Assimilation

When the Yaaku community first entered the territory they would occupy, they met a people who mostly lived by hunting and gathering. This community lived in caves and the Yaaku came to call them Mukogodo, a name which means people who live in rocks in Yaakunte.[3]

Later Interaction

The Yaaku community was later assimilated by another food producing people, a process that happened over a long period of time. During this period, the Yaaku speaking Mukogodo maintained their way of life and the Yaakunte language.[4]

Decline

Maasai Assimilation

The Yaaku assimilated to the pastoralist culture of the Maasai in the first half of the twentieth century (1920's and 30's), although some still keep bees. The reason for this transition is mostly one of social prestige. The Maasai look down upon hunter-gatherer peoples, calling them Dorobo ('the ones without cattle'), and many Yaaku consider the Maasai culture superior to their own.[5]

Adoption of Maasai Language

As a result of the decision to transition to pastoralism, the Yaaku largely gave up their Cushitic language Yaaku for the Eastern Nilotic Maasai language between 1925 and 1936.[6]

Revival

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mhando, J., Safeguarding Endangered Oral Traditions In East Africa, Nationl Museums of Kenya[online]
  2. ↑ Mhando, J., Safeguarding Endangered Oral Traditions In East Africa, Nationl Museums of Kenya[online]
  3. ↑ Mhando, J., Safeguarding Endangered Oral Traditions In East Africa, Nationl Museums of Kenya[online]
  4. ↑ Mhando, J., Safeguarding Endangered Oral Traditions In East Africa, Nationl Museums of Kenya[online]
  5. ↑ Mhando, J., Safeguarding Endangered Oral Traditions In East Africa, Nationl Museums of Kenya[online]
  6. ↑ Mhando, J., Safeguarding Endangered Oral Traditions In East Africa, Nationl Museums of Kenya[online]
  • Brenzinger, Matthias (1992) 'Lexical retention in language shift', in Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 213–254.
  • Cronk, Lee (2002) 'From true Dorobo to Mukogodo-Maasai: contested ethnicity in Kenya', Ethnology, 41(1), 27–49.
  • Heine, Bernd (1974/75) 'Notes on the Yaaku language (Kenya)', Afrika und Übersee, 58(1), 27–61; 58(2), 119–138.
  • Heine, Bernd & Brenzinger, Matthias (1988) 'Notes on the Mukogodo dialect of Maasai', Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 14, 97–131.
  • Mous, Maarten & Stoks, Hans & Blonk, Matthijs (2005) 'De laatste sprekers' [the last speakers], in Indigo, tijdschrift over inheemse volken [journal on indigenous peoples], pp. 9–13.See article The last speakers
  • Sommer, Gabriele (1992) 'A survey on language death in Africa', in Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 301–417.
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