Shona people

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Shona is the name collectively given to several groups of people in Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. Numbering about nine million people, who speak a range of related dialects whose standardized form is also known as Shona (banto).

A small group of Shona speaking migrants of the late 1800s also live in Zambia, in the Zambezi valley, in Chieftainess Chiawa's area.

The Shona are farmers who grow beans, peanuts, corn, different types of grass, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes.

Clans

The five principal clans are:

• Karanga - The Karanga are the largest clan, accounting for some 35 per cent of Zimbabwe's 11.5 million citizens.
• Zezuru (or Zeseru) - The Zezuru are the second biggest clan, and comprise around a quarter of the total population.
• Manyika - from the Eastern Highlands (Manicaland), perhaps 1.8 million people
• Ndau
• Korekore

Politics

Robert Mugabe is Zezeru. The Karanga provided the bulk of the fighting forces and military leaders who fought in ZANLA in the Bush War. ZANLA was esssentially Shona in composition, while the rival group ZIPRA was drawn from the Ndebele ethnic group, which is separate from, although related to, the Shona.

In late 2004, Mugabe filled every top position in the state with members of his Zezuru clan and pushed out the Karangas.

One of the last prominent Karangas in Mugabe's administration, Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge, is almost certain to be sacked when Mugabe announces his new governing team. He will be replaced by Tichaona Jokonya, a Zezuru who was formerly a diplomat but who won a parliamentary seat in the March election.

Language and identity

Most Zimbabweans identify themselves as either belonging to the amaNdebele or maShona ethnic group. Dialect groups are nowadays almost irrelevant because 'standard' Shona is spoken throughout Zimbabwe. Dialects only help to identify which town or village a person is from (e.g. a person claiming to be a Manyika would be from Eastern Zimbabwe, ie. towns like Mutare). The above differences in dialects developed during the dispersion of tribes across the country over a long time. The influx of immigrants, into the country from bordering countries, has obviously contributed to the variety.

The Shona people of today are a scattered group of tribes, which are made of several clans; each clan has a very strong sense of unity. In fact, most Shona people identify first with their own clans and then with the entire Shona people.

See also

• Mbira Dzevadzimu
• Shona music
• Shona language
• Bantu languages
• Zimbabwe
• Great Zimbabwe
• Gokomera

External links

• The History of the Shona People. .

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 03:43:33 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation