GOSHA OF SOMALIA
Religion:
Islam
Population: 85,000 in
Somalia (including 20,000 Mushunguli
speakers); 2,400 in Kenya; (Joshua
Project reports 18,000 in Kenya and
225,000 in Somalia, which would
include the Digil-Rahanweyn)
Location:
The Gosha live in the Jubba Valley of
Somalia with perhaps as many as
20,000 living in Mandera District of
Kenya.
History:
In the 19th century Somalis imported
slaves from the Bantu areas further south, Tanzania and Mozambique. Yao, Zigula and Makhuwa were
some of the major peoples brought as slaves. "The riverine areas absorbed somewhere around 50,000
slaves between 1800 and 1890." [Bestemann, "The Invention of Gosha," The Invention of Somalia, ed.
Ali Jimale Ahmed (Lawrenceville, New Jersey: Red Sea Press, 1945), p. 45.]
Slaves escaped from the upper Shabeelle River area as they could, south to the lower Jubba area. The
first villages were established by escaped slaves around 1840. A constant stream of freed or escaped
slaves followed. By 1900, about 40,000 were established in the lower Jubba River valley.
Abolition decrees after 1900 led to the immigration of
another 30,000. They developed trading relations
with the Swahili people of Kismaayo (Kismayu) and
Brava (Baraawe) and gradually established clan
relationships with the Digil, Rahanwiin (Reewin, and
other variations) and Ajuuraan people in the Jubba
area.
Many had lost their Bantu languages before migrating
to the Jubba Valley, but the Zigula retained their
language. By 1900 Zigula was the language of about
15 villages in the lower Jubba Valley. The various
tribal groupings, however, were maintained, with Yao
descendants settling together, Makhuwa descendants
establishing in their own villages, etc. Some of the
other Gosha people came to speak Zigula, which
came to be called Mushunguli.
In the 1920s to 60s, more immigrants came from the
Shabeelle River valley fleeing tribal wars around
Qallaafo in Ethiopia.
Identity:
The term "gosha" actually refers to a riverine forest infested with tsetse flies, coming from the Somali
words reer goleed, "people of the forest". The term has come to apply to those diverse peoples of mostly
Bantu backgrounds in the fertile farmlands of the lower Jubba Valley. The majority of Gosha are
descendants of freed or escaped slaves from the Shabeelle Valley who moved south to established free
farming colonies in the 19th century.
There is some evidence that there were free Bantu people already settled in the lower Jubba River area
when the slaves from the north came. There were also Oromo slaves who went to the Jubba Valley when
manumitted.
They have remained a distinct group, but there has been a lot of intermarriage with the Bantu Gosha. The
term Gosha was used for all the non-Somali people.
The Somalis looked down on the slaves and former slaves for several reasons: They were not Somali,
they were farmers and they were or had been slaves. They emphasized the difference by referring to the
Bantu peoples as jareer (hard hairs), calling themselves jilec (soft hairs).
Oromo are not generally called
jareer. But by extension the
term includes all Gosha, and
thus the Oromo by association.
Italian and British colonial
administrators followed the
Somali concept that the Somali
were superior. They referred to
the Jubba farmers by the same
derogatory Somali terms. They
used the general term Gosha as
an ethnic reference, reinforcing
the impression of the former
slave groups as one social unit.
Some sources refer to them by
the names Mushungulu,
Shambara, or even Zigula.
Language:
The most common language of the Gosha peoples is Maay. Some also speak the Ajuuraan dialect of
standard (northern) Somali. One notable group of Gosha speak the Bantu language Mushunguli,
descended from the Zigula-Shambara language of early slaves captured in northern Tanzania.
This name comes from the Zigula word for the singular person, Muzigula. Mushunguli has been eroded
as more Gosha came to speak languages of the surrounding Somali peoples. Some Gosha speak Swahili
as a second language in their trading relations with the Bajun and other Swahili peoples. The Gosha in
Kenya speak Maay and may be considered bilingual in Garre-Ajuuraan, an Oromo language.
Customs:
Most Gosha gradually accepted Islam in the early decades of the 20th Century. Most Gosha now consider
themselves members of Somali Digil or Rahanwiin clans. However, marriage patterns still tend to follow
the original ethnic lines of the various original Bantu groups. This has perpetuated the non-Somali
physical characteristics of the Jubba Valley farmers. Because of this the Somalis consider them different.
One of the Bantu customs still observed by Gosha people is the Gulu Nkulu ("Great Dance") of the Yao
in Mozambique and Malawi.
Religion:
Many aspects of the animistic Bantu religion is retained by the Gosha people, including the practice of
magic and curses. During the 20th century, however, they have gradually accepted Islam as a "cover"
religion and culture. Awareness of Islam will be necessary to understand and communicate with the
Gosha. But it will also be helpful to study African Traditional Religions of the Eastern Bantu peoples.
Many Gosha participate in possession dances like "lumbe," similar to the cults practiced by the Somali
peoples. These all involve dances, efforts to placate spirits, and specialists who are paid by possessed
people or families. It is reported that possessed people often speak in Swahili.
Historically, slavery was associated with animism and the animistic beliefs of the Bantu peoples was an
excuse for enslaving them. The Islamic word kafir (infidel) was applied to them. As slaves accepted
Islam, however, terminology for them changed. After the Gosha peoples began to accept Islam, the term
"black" was used to distinguish the "foreign" non-Somali peoples from the Somali/Maay overlords or
patrons. Thus "black" denotes inferiority. This is historically a common usage in Northern Africa, no
matter what actual color slave owners were.
Christianity:
There has been virtually no Christian contact with the Gosha peoples. Early Italian missionaries had
minimal contact but no ongoing work in the Lower Jubba area. Another mission had a presence from
1898 to 1935. The Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions was involved in Jamaame from the mid-50s to
1976. No recent mission work has been established.
Source: www.orvillejenkins.com/profiles/gosha.html