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Racial and Ethnic Relations Census Update 9th Edition Ebook PDF Version
Racial and Ethnic Relations Census Update 9th Edition Ebook PDF Version
Summary 52
Key Terms 53
Irish Americans 85
Irish Immigration: An Overview 85
The Eighteenth-Century Migration 85
Early Life 86
Stereotypes 86
The Ape Image 86
Changing Attitudes 87
Protest and Conflict 88
Early Conflict 88
Conflict with Other Groups 88
Politics and Political Institutions 89
Political Organization in the Cities 89
Pragmatism in Politics 90
National and International Politics 91
The Only Irish Catholic President to Date 91
The Irish in the Economy 92
Upward Mobility 92
Recent Successes 93
Education 94
Contents ix
Religion 94
Assimilation Theories and the Irish 95
Patterns of Structural Assimilation 96
Is There an Irish American Identity Today? 96
Italian Americans 97
Italian Immigration 98
Many Immigrants 98
Life for the Immigrants 98
Stereotypes 99
Stereotypes of Inferiority in Intelligence 99
The Mafia Myth 100
Stereotypes and Discrimination 101
Conflict 102
Legalized Killings 102
Conflict and Cooperation with African Americans 102
Politics 103
City Politics 103
State and National Politics 103
The Economy 105
Early Poverty and Discrimination 105
Upward Mobility 106
Recent Decades 107
Some Persisting Problems 107
Education 108
Religion 108
Assimilation or Ethnogenesis? 109
Structural Assimilation 109
An Italian Identity? 110
A Note on Ethnic Diversity among White Americans 112
Summary 113
Key Terms 113
Migration 115
From 1500 to World War II 115
From World War II to the Present 116
Prejudice and Stereotypes 116
x Contents
Religion 239
Assimilation or Internal Colonialism? 240
The Limits and Pacing of Assimilation 242
Applying a Power-Conflict Perspective 244
A Pan-Latino Identity 246
Summary 246
Key Terms 247
Glossary 405
Notes 411
Index 485
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Preface
ver the past few decades, numerous scholars, public accommodations, studies showing wide-
xxi
xxii Preface
political realities in the United States. Today, many 2, which discuss major concepts and theories in the
Americans are well aware, or are becoming aware, study of racial and ethnic relations.
of the continuing significance of “race,” racism, and The Part II introduction sketches the political and
ethnicity, not only in this country but also in other economic history of the United States in order to
countries—from the Republic of South Africa to provide some context for understanding the adapta-
Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, the former tion and oppression of the various immigrant
Soviet Union, France, Brazil, and the Middle East. groups that have come, voluntarily or involuntar-
Racial and ethnic oppression and conflict are ily, to U.S. shores. Only one major group, Native
extraordinarily important and persisting in the mod- Americans, cannot be viewed as such immigrants;
ern world, and they have the potential to tear apart indeed, as the original inhabitants of North America,
any country, including highly industrialized coun- they were often the victims of actions by the early
tries that are said to be “advanced.” immigrants (colonists) from outside the continent.
One result of the continuing interest in racial and The situations and experiences of indigenous soci-
ethnic issues in the United States is the creation of eties and the various groups that have immigrated
college and university courses that focus on racial to North America are considered in Chapters 3
and ethnic divisions, cultural diversity, immigration, through 13.
and multicultural or multiracial issues. This ninth In Part III, Chapter 14 moves away from the
edition of Racial and Ethnic Relations continues to United States to look at patterns of racial and ethnic
focus on U.S. racial and ethnic heritages, structures, adaptation, oppression, conflict, and resistance in
developments, conflicts, and coalitions. This text- several other countries around the world—mainly
book is designed for sociology courses, other social France, South Africa, and Brazil. In the latter two
science courses, and education courses variously cases, we examine how patterns of racial oppression
titled “Racial and Ethnic Relations,” “Race Relations,” and conflict have often been developed or fostered
“Minority Groups,” and “Minority Relations,” as well by the outside European colonizers and their
as various other courses on cultural diversity, multi- descendants during the colonial and decolonization
culturalism, and racial and ethnic groups offered in periods in the histories of such countries.
college, business, and governmental settings. In the ninth edition of Racial and Ethnic Relations we
One purpose of this book is to provide readers have made numerous changes and enhancements
with access to the important literature on racial and that make the text current and accessible to readers.
ethnic groups in the United States and, to a lesser We have kept the real-life vignettes in numerous
extent, in certain other countries around the globe. chapters—real-life vignettes that capture for the
We have drawn heavily on a broad array of impor- readers some poignant aspects of the racial–ethnic
tant sources, including articles, books, and other issues raised throughout this textbook. Drawing on
data analyses by sociologists, political scientists, the last edition, we have continued to refine chapter
social psychologists, anthropologists, historians, organization with Big Picture Questions at the begin-
economists, government demographers, investiga- ning of each chapter and with the positioning of
tive journalists, and legal scholars. important discussion questions throughout the chap-
Limited space prevents us from dealing with all ters. In order to accent for readers many of the impor-
the important racial and ethnic groups in the United tant racial and ethnic terms, we have also kept an
States. Instead, we focus on a modest number of important glossary of key terms at the end of the book,
major racial and ethnic groups, generally preferring and have highlighted key terms in each chapter. To
to accent depth rather than breadth in the analyses. enhance the conceptual analysis, we have further
In recent decades, social science analyses have developed and honed several relatively new social sci-
begun to dig deeper into the “what,” “why,” and ence concepts dealing with racial and ethnic matters.
“how” of racial and ethnic oppression, conflict, and We have significantly revised and updated each
resistance. We draw heavily on this ever-growing chapter, drawing on many recent research studies
social science research. on racial and ethnic issues, including new social sci-
The introduction to Part I briefly looks at the ori- ence research and population analyses published by
gins of the racial and ethnic mosaic that is the United the U.S. Census Bureau since our last edition. And
States. It serves as an introduction to Chapters 1 and we have incorporated significant material from
Preface xxiii
media sources on current racial and ethnic issues of by the middle of the twenty-first century the United
consequence in the United States and, particularly in States will become a country whose population
the last chapter, in other countries. In addition, we majority is no longer European American but com-
have taken into consideration recent analyses of cer- posed of Latino, African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and
tain dramatic racial–ethnic events in U.S. society, Native Americans. The United States has long been
such as intense debates and demonstrations over an interacting mosaic of many groups, and that mix
immigration issues and the nomination and election is becoming ever more complex, interesting, and sig-
of Barack Obama, the first African American to serve nificant as the decades pass.
as president of the United States.
To summarize our general perspective, the chap-
ters of this textbook are designed to achieve the fol- Census Update
lowing educational goals:
2010 Census Update—Features fully updated data
1. To analyze fully the historical eras of migration throughout the text—including all charts and
that have diversified the United States and kept graphs—to reflect the results of the 2010 Census.
it demographically healthy while many other AShort Introduction to the U.S. Census—A brief
western industrialized countries have faced seven-chapter overview of the Census, including
serious population difficulties or decline. important information about the Constitutional man-
2. To develop a sense of the socioeconomic posi- date, research methods, who is affected by the Cen-
tion of, and changes for, each major racial and sus, and how data is used. Additionally, the primer
ethnic group, both in the past and in the present. explores key contemporary topics such as race and
3. To understand, for the past and the present, ethnicity, the family, and poverty. The primer can be
what each racial and ethnic group’s members packaged at no additional cost, and is also available
have experienced in dealing with racial-ethnic
online in MySearchLab, as a part of MySocLab.
framing and other systemic racial-ethnic oppres-
A Short Introduction to the U.S. Census Instructor’s
sion in their everyday lives.
Manual with Test Bank—Includes explanations of
4. To assess the role and impact of U.S. economic
what has been updated, in-class activities, home-
and educational institutions in each racial and
ethnic group’s experiences in the United States. work activities, discussion questions for the primer,
and test questions related to the primer.
5. To investigate the importance and character of
family issues and religion in each racial and MySocKit 2010 Census Update gives students the
ethnic group’s experiences in the United States. opportunity to explore 2010 Census methods and
6. To make sense of the difficulties each racial and data and apply Census results in a dynamic inter-
ethnic group has encountered in dealing with active online environment. It includes a series of
the political systems and how its members have activities using 2010 Census results, video clips
countered them. explaining and exploring the Census, primary
7. To assess the character of resistance and coun- source readings relevant to the Census, and an
tering actions that each racial and ethnic group online version of A Short Introduction to the U.S.
has developed in reaction to the hostility, indi- Census.
vidual discrimination, and systemic oppression
its members have faced in the past and in the
present. Supplements
8. To consider and evaluate how major social sci-
ence theories, especially assimilation theories Instructor’s Manual with
and power-conflict theories, have been used, Tests (0-205-84212-7)
or might be used, to assess and interpret the
oppressive, adaptive, and resistance experi- For each chapter in the text, this valuable resource
ences of each racial and ethnic group examined. provides a detailed outline and a list of objec-
tives. In addition, test questions in multiple-choice,
Throughout the chapters, and especially in true/false, and essay formats are available for
Chapter 13, we examine the implications for the each chapter; the answers to all questions are page-
United States of the forecasts by demographers that referenced to the text.
xxiv Preface
ore than two hundred years ago, the new many colonists. “Despite the need for new settlers,
1
2 PART I The Racial and Ethnic Mosaic
criticism of much of the North American social and so. Shiploads of European immigrants left the coun-
economic system. Jefferson himself was a major try because of fear of exclusion.
slaveholder, whose prosperity and wealth were Inequality in life chances and wealth along racial
closely tied to an extremely oppressive, slaveholding and ethnic lines was a fundamental fact of the new
agricultural system. country’s institutions. At first, substantial liberty and
The U.S. Constitution (1787) explicitly recog- justice were reserved for men of British descent. This
nized racial subordination in several important situation did not go unchallenged. By the late eigh-
places. First, as a result of a famous compromise teenth century, many Irish and German immigrants
between northern and southern representatives to had come to the colonies. Indeed, a significant pro-
the Constitutional Convention, Article I originally portion of the 4 million persons enumerated in the
stipulated that three-fifths of a given state’s en- first U.S. census in 1790 were of non-English origins.
slaved population was to be counted in the total Over the next two centuries, English domination
for apportioning the state’s (white) legislative was modified by the ascendance of other northern
representation—that is, each enslaved American Europeans, such as the Irish. These groups in turn
was officially viewed as three-fifths of a person. were later challenged by southern and eastern Euro-
Significantly, at the Constitutional Convention pean and non-European groups trying to move up
white southern slaveowners, seeking to enhance in the social, economic, and political systems. Grad-
their own representation in the new U.S. Congress, ually, the new society became an unprecedented
pressed for full inclusion of the enslaved African mixing of diverse peoples.
Americans in the population count, while north- Most in the non-British immigrant groups gradu-
ern interests were generally opposed. ally came to adopt the English language and adjust to
In addition, a section was added to Article I English-shaped economic, political, and legal institu-
permitting the slave trade to continue until 1808. tions. All newly entering groups adapted, to some de-
The Constitution also incorporated a fugitive slave gree, to the dominant white Anglo-Saxon-Protestant
provision that required the return of runaways to culture and ways. European immigrant groups soon
their owners, a provision opposed by very few became viewed as “whites” and eventually gained
whites at the time.4 Neither the statement in the substantial power and status in the process.
Declaration of Independence that “all men are In contrast to white immigrants, the voluntary
created equal” nor the Constitution’s soon-to-be- and involuntary immigrants from Africa, Asia, and
added Bill of Rights was seen as applying to Amer- Latin America, as well as Native Americans, have
icans of African descent. Slavery, ironically, would generally remained subordinate to white Americans
last much longer in the new “democratic” republic in political, cultural, and economic terms. Racial and
of the United States than in the older aristocratic ethnic inequality and oppression were and continue
Britain.5 to be part of the foundation of U.S. society. Nonethe-
African Americans and Native Americans were less, racially oppressed Americans have long chal-
not the only groups to suffer from the new govern- lenged their subordinate status, and they continue to
ment’s action. Numerous other non-English groups do so. If current demographic trends continue,
continued to find themselves much less than equal Americans of color will become the majority of the
under the law. Anti-immigrant legislation in the late U.S. population by the middle of the twenty-first
1700s and early 1800s included the Alien, Sedition, century. They already are the majority in several
and Naturalization Acts.6 Irish, German, and French states and numerous large cities.
immigrants were growing in number by the late Today, as in the past, issues of oppression, immi-
eighteenth century, and concern about the political gration, adaptation, inequality, and ideology are at
sentiments of the new immigrants was great. The the heart of the sociological study of racial and eth-
Naturalization Act stiffened residency requirements nic relations in the United States. They will contin-
for citizenship from five to fourteen years; the Alien ue to be central issues for the foreseeable future. In
Act gave the president the power to expel foreigners. the two chapters of Part I, we will define basic terms
President John Adams was pressed to issue orders used by social scientists and examine these concepts
deporting immigrants under the Alien Act and did from a critical perspective. Chapter 1 examines
PART I The Racial and Ethnic Mosaic 3
terms such as race, racism, ethnic group, and prejudice. What are the problems with
Chapter 2 reviews major conceptual frameworks, describing the United States as
including a variety of assimilation theories and just a “nation of immigrants”?
power-conflict theories, for interpreting the complex
structure and long-term development of racial and
ethnic relations in the United States.
C H A P T E R 1
4
CHAPTER 1 Basic Concepts in the Study of Racial and Ethnic Relations 5
n the 1980s, Susie Guillory Phipps, a woman category of human beings with distinctive physical char-
anthropologists, and other scientists accented this view of M. Annette Jaimes, many indigenous
socially determined classification of what were seen peoples across much of the globe have been
as biologically distinctive groups. These scientists more likely than Europeans to emphasize building
reflected their own racial prejudices and those of the alliances across various human groups. U.S.
white public. “The scientists themselves undertook examples include the assistance in agricultural
efforts to document the existence of the differences techniques given by indigenous Americans to
that the European cultural worldview demanded early European colonists and later to Japanese
and had already created.”6 Basic to this increasingly Americans who were imprisoned during World
prevalent racist framing and worldview was the War II (see Chapter 10) in U.S. concentration camps
theory of a specific number of biologically distinct located near indigenous communities in the west-
“races” with differing physical characteristics and ern United States.9
the belief that these characteristics were hereditary
and thus created a “natural” hierarchy of groups. How has the concept of “race” as
By the late nineteenth century, numerous European a biologically distinctive category
and U.S. scientists and popular writers were system- changed, or not changed, over
atically downgrading all peoples not of northern several centuries?
European origin, including southern and eastern
Europeans (such as Polish and Jewish Europeans), as
inferior “races.”7 Ideological Racism
Thus, for four centuries of North American de- The early development of ideological racism is
velopment, racialization has been the process by rooted in the European global expansion that began
which those in the dominant white group, especially its in earnest in the late 1400s. We can define
elites, have defined and constructed certain groups as ideological racism specifically as an ideology that
being racially inferior or superior for the purposes of so- considers a group’s unchangeable physical characteris-
cietal placement and of group enrichment, segregation, tics to be linked in a direct, causal way to psychological
or oppression. Racialization has historically operated or intellectual characteristics and that, on this basis,
in somewhat different ways for particular groups, distinguishes between superior and inferior racial
but the process has generally been under the con- groups.10 The “scientific racism” of such European
trol of the dominant group, which, from the late analysts as Blumenbach and Count Joseph Arthur
1600s forward, defined itself as “white.” Since the de Gobineau, an influential French analyst in the
seventeenth century, the dominant racial group has nineteenth century, was used to justify the spread
put into place a pervasive racial hierarchy, with a of European colonialism in Asia, Africa, and the
racial-status continuum that places white Ameri- Americas. A long line of racist theorists followed
cans at the top and African Americans and other in Blumenbach’s and Gobineau’s footsteps, includ-
Americans of color at or near the bottom. Over ing the German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Some-
time, as we will see in later chapters, the white elite, times they even applied the ideology of racial
assisted by rank-and-file whites, has determined inferiority to culturally distinct European groups,
where new immigrant groups, such as Irish or such as Jewish Europeans. In a racist ideology, real
Chinese immigrants, are placed and where they or alleged physical characteristics are generally
are racialized within that already established racial linked to cultural traits that the dominant group
hierarchy. considers undesirable or inferior.
The singling out of people within the human Significantly, the word racism, first used system-
species in terms of a strongly biologized “race” atically in the 1930s by the German scholar Magnus
hierarchy seems to have been a distinctively Euro- Hirschfeld, is relatively new. Hirschfeld regularly
pean and Euro-American idea that has spread used it for the ideology of biologically determined
across all continents over recent centuries. In con- “races” accented by German Nazis and other Euro-
trast, many indigenous peoples “have observed peans to buttress their well-institutionalized system
and appreciated cultural diversity as variations on of racially oppressive practices. In its blatant and
cosmological themes. As a rule, the indigenous subtle forms, ideological racism has long been com-
worldview encompasses all humanity.”8 In the mon in the United States. For example, in 1935, an
CHAPTER 1 Basic Concepts in the Study of Racial and Ethnic Relations 7
influential white University of Virginia professor much overlapping of genetic characteristics across
wrote this blatantly racist analysis: various human populations. Two randomly select-
ed individuals from the world’s population would
The size of the brain in the Black Race is below the have in common, on average, about 99.8 percent of
medium both of the Whites and the Yellow-Browns, their genetic material. Even more important is the
frequently with relatively more simple convolu- fact that most of the genetic variation with regard to
tions. The frontal lobes are often low and narrow. human populations “occurs within populations, not
The parietal lobes voluminous, the occipital pro-
between them.”13 There are genetic differences be-
truding. The psychic activities of the Black Race
tween geographically scattered human populations,
are a careless, jolly vivacity, emotions and passions
of short duration, and a strong and somewhat but these differences are slight and exist because of
irrational egoism. Idealism, ambition, and the co- different histories and geographical locations. The
operative faculties are weak. They love amusement racial importance of the modest dissimilarities such
and sport but have little initiative and adventurous as skin color variations is socially, not scientifically,
spirit.11 determined.
Human populations singled out as “races” are
This example of crude ideological racism clearly simply groups with visible differences that certain
links physical and personality characteristics. Al- people have collectively decided to emphasize as
though this extreme, biologized, racist portrait important in traditional social, economic, and polit-
passed for science before World War II—and in ical relationships. Such racial categorizing is neither
today’s white supremacist organizations, it still objective nor scientific, but highly subjective. There
does—it is pseudoscience. Modern biologists and an- are many different ways of classifying human pop-
thropologists have demonstrated the wild-eyed irra- ulations in terms of physical and genetic character-
tionality of this racist mythology. istics: “One such procedure would group Italians
Found in many versions today, including some and Greeks with most African blacks. It would
much more subdued, ideological racism accepts as classify Xhosa—the South African ‘black’ group to
true various stereotyped characteristics traditionally which [former South African] President Nelson
applied by whites to “outsider” groups of color. The Mandela belongs—with Swedes rather than Nige-
assumption of this commonplace racist thinking rians.”14 For example, antimalarial genes are not
is that physical differences such as skin color are found among the light-skinned Swedes or the dark-
intrinsically, even unalterably, tied to meaningful skinned southern African groups such as the Xhosas,
differentials in intelligence, culture, or “civilization.” but they are commonly found in northern African
Yet, despite assertions of such a linkage by many groups and among Europeans such as Italians and
people, including the pseudoscientists, no real scien- Greeks. These antimalarial genes are likely much
tific support for this assumed intrinsic linkage exists. more important for human beings than those that
Indeed, there is no distinctive and enduring bio- determine skin color variations, yet they are not used
logical reality called “race” that can be determined by by biological-race thinkers, the pseudoscientists, for
objective scientific procedures. Since at least the their persisting racial classifications.15
1940s, the social, medical, and physical sciences have In effect, there is only one human race (Homo
demonstrated this in numerous research studies. sapiens), to which we all belong. Every human being
Nonetheless, in recent years a renewed insistence on is, in fact, distantly related to every other human
the genetic reality of “races” has been triggered by a being on earth. The indigenous peoples’ view of
few dissenting white geneticists and social scientists. human beings, previously noted, is now accepted
However, the older evidence and more recent re- by most scientists.16 Nonetheless, the lack of scien-
search and analysis still strongly refute the notion of tific support has not lessened the popularity of
“races” being good categories for describing human blatantly racist ideologies of various types. Ashley
genetic or biological diversity.12 Given the constant Montagu, among many others, noted the extreme
blending and interbreeding of human groups over a danger of ideological racism, a view shaped in
great many centuries and into the present, it is impos- part by the consequences of the German Nazi
sible to sort human beings into unambiguously dis- ideology, according to which there were physically
tinctive “races” on genetic grounds. There is far too distinct Aryan and Jewish “races.”17 That ideology
8 PART I The Racial and Ethnic Mosaic
lay behind Nazi-generated killings of millions of Later, the social definition of these European immi-
European Jews (and other Europeans) during the grants as distinctively inferior racial groups was re-
1930s and 1940s. placed by a social construction of them as white and
In the case of North America, over several cen- as ethnic groups, a term we examine later.
turies now, variations on an old racist ideology have The examples of Irish and Italian Americans
long been incorporated as part of a white racial fram- make clear that racial definitions are not necessar-
ing of an ever more diverse society, a concept to ily fixed essences that last forever, but instead
which we will return later. can be temporary social constructions shaped in
sociopolitical struggles in particular times and
places. Definitions of racial inferiority or superi-
Racial Groups ority can and do change over time, albeit often
Today, social scientists view “race” not as a given bi- slowly.
ological reality but as a socially constructed reality. Why are some physical characteristics, such as
Sociologist Oliver Cox, one of the first to underscore skin color, selected as a basis for distinguishing
this social construction perspective, defined a race racial groups, whereas certain other characteris-
as “any people who are distinguished, or consider tics, such as eye color, seldom are? These questions
themselves distinguished, in social relations with cannot be answered in biological terms. They re-
other peoples, by their physical characteristics.”18 quire historical and sociological analysis. Some
Similarly, a racial group has been defined by Pierre have argued that such characteristics as skin color
van den Berghe as a “human group that defines it- are “easily observed and ordered in the mind.”20
self and or is defined by other groups as different More important than ease of observation, however,
from other groups by virtue of innate and im- is the way economic or political subordination
mutable physical characteristics.”19 creates a need to identify the powerless group in
Thus, a racial group is not something generated a certain way. In justifying economic or other
naturally as part of the self-evident order of soci- exploitation, the dominant group often defines
eties. A person’s race is typically determined by, and the real (or alleged) physical characteristics that
important to, certain outsiders, although a group’s are singled out to typify the exploited group as
own self-definition can be important. Here we de- distinctive and inferior racial characteristics. For
fine a racial group as a social group that persons in- example, technological differences in weaponry
side or outside the group have decided is important and firepower between European and African
to single out as inferior or superior, typically on the basis peoples facilitated the enslavement of Africans in
of real or alleged physical characteristics selected subjec- the American colonies. In turn, the generally dark-
tively. Racial group distinctions are rooted in ideo- er skin of the Africans and their descendants came
logical racism, which as noted previously links to be used by self-defined “white” groups as an
physical characteristics to “inferior” or “superior” indicator of subordinate racial and cultural status.
cultural and intellectual characteristics. Skin-color characteristics have no inherent mean-
In the United States, numerous groups fit this def- ing; in group interaction, they become important
inition. Asian Americans, African Americans, Na- because they can be used to classify members of
tive Americans, and Mexican Americans have had the dominant and subordinate groups.
their physical characteristics—such as skin color, fa- In addition, knowledge of one’s relatives often af-
cial features, and/or eye shape—singled out by the fects one’s assignment to a racial group, particularly
dominant white group as badges of social, cultural, for those who lack the socially emphasized physical
and racial inferiority. In addition, this dominant characteristics. At various times in many societies,
group has generally viewed its own racially defined people have been distinguished not only on the
group as superior. Some groups once defined basis of their own physical characteristics but also
as racial groups, and as physically and mentally on the basis of a socially determined “rule of
inferior groups, are no longer defined that way. In descent.”21 For example, in Nazi Germany, Adolf
later chapters, we will see that Irish and Italian im- Hitler’s officials often identified Jewish Germans
migrants were for a time defined as inferior “races” mainly on the basis of their having one or more
by native-born white Anglo-Protestant Americans. Jewish relatives.
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.