CULTURE Somalia's last camel bone carving artisans

[Anubis]

Keeping tradition alive, Somalia's last camel bone carving artisans

Somali artisan Muse Mohamud Olosow carefully sorts through a huge pile of camel bones, discarded by a slaughterhouse in Mogadishu, selecting pieces that he will carve into jewellery and ornate beads used by fellow Muslims while reciting prayers.

www.reuters.com

 

[Yahya]

Very talented man, bless him.

 

[𐒁𐒚𐒒𐒂𐒘𐒂𐒗 𐒎𐒚𐒗𐒗𐒒]

Artisans are my favourite group of Somalis.

 

[HuunoHunter]

Artisans are my favourite group of Somalis.

Yet the most despised group by Somali society.

 

[𐒁𐒚𐒒𐒂𐒘𐒂𐒗 𐒎𐒚𐒗𐒗𐒒]

Yet the most despised group by Somali society.

Somalis are a vicious society unfortunately.

If I could travel back in time, I would motivate Artisans into organising into trade organisations to set their own prices and standards. Furthermore, these trade organisations should have lobbied the Somali government to ban the importation of any product that can be made in Somalia by Artisans.

It's not too late right now, but they need support from all Somalis.

 

[Shimbiris]

Somalis are a vicious society unfortunately.

If I could travel back in time, I would motivate Artisans into organising into trade organisations to set their own prices and standards. Furthermore, these trade organisations should have lobbied the Somali government to ban the importation of any product that can be made in Somalia by Artisans.

It's not too late right now, but they need support from all Somalis.

I wouldn't be so hard on our folk, sis. It's an ancient, though barbaric, tradition found in our whole region. Ethiopians and Eritreans practice this too. There are pretty much exact equivalents for the Tumaal, Madhiban and Yibir in Amhara, Oromo, Afar, Tigrinya and even Omotic Ari culture. The Horn of Africa has an ancient caste system similar to what was historically found in India and Japan. That is to say that people engaged in work other than agriculture (pastoralism and farming) were abhorred and maritally and socially shunned by the wider food-producing population with rulers, reer maagal, wadaads, merchants and seafarers mostly escaping this fate. Blacksmiths, tanners, hunters, stonemasons, carpenters, soothsayers... all shunned. Such castes honestly formed all over the world but our region is somewhat unique in treating them like second class humans.

Nobody really knows why our ancestors did this. I suspect it might be due to seeing any way of life that isn't concerned with food production as inferior or "unclean" or maybe even something of a leech on the majority of the population since these caste groups become dependent on pastoralists and farmers for food and they're not exactly Sultans and Wadaads the people are happy to invite in for a cup of tea and plate of their dinner. But even so, they do a useful service for you and society so it is just odd... Maybe it's just a weird byproduct of trying to ensure these caste groups remain solidified and heriditary and it just got out of hand? I dunno.

But you're right. They're a treasure to our cultures. Look at this, yakhi:

And that's not even close to the best out there.

 

[𐒁𐒚𐒒𐒂𐒘𐒂𐒗 𐒎𐒚𐒗𐒗𐒒]

I wouldn't be so hard on our folk, sis. It's an ancient, though barbaric, tradition found in our whole region. Ethiopians and Eritreans practice this too. There are pretty much exact equivalents for the Tumaal, Madhiban and Yibir in Amhara, Oromo, Afar, Tigrinya and even Omotic Ari culture. The Horn of Africa has an ancient caste system similar to what was historically found in India and Japan. That is to say that people engaged in work other than agriculture (pastoralism and farming) were abhorred and maritally and socially shunned by the wider food-producing population with reer maagalo, wadaado, merchants and seafarers narrowly escaping this fate. Blacksmiths, tanners, hunters, stonemasons, carpenters, soothsayers... all shunned. Such castes honestly formed all over the world but our region is somewhat unique in treating them like second class humans.

Nobody really knows why our ancestors did this. I suspect it might be due to seeing any way of life that isn't concerned with food production as inferior or "unclean" or maybe even something of a leech on the majority of the population since these caste groups become dependent on pastoralists and farmers for food and their not exactly Sultans and Wadaads the people are happy to invite in for a cup of tea. But even so, they do a useful service for you and society so it is just odd... Maybe it's just a weird byproduct of trying to ensure these caste groups remain solidified and heriditary and it just got out of hand? I dunno.

But you're right. They're a treasure to our cultures. Look at this, yakhi:

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And that's not even close to the best out there.

I know it's early days and we don't have enough DNA samples yet, but there are J1, J2 results from Tumaal and Yibir, thus, I wonder if they were they discriminated against in the past for being 'other'. I think this history is more complex than the fables will have us believe!

I believe we will find out more when we get more results and they are listed correctly.

 

[Apollo]

Somalis are a vicious society unfortunately.

If I could travel back in time, I would motivate Artisans into organising into trade organisations to set their own prices and standards. Furthermore, these trade organisations should have lobbied the Somali government to ban the importation of any product that can be made in Somalia by Artisans.

It's not too late right now, but they need support from all Somalis.

Is this even true today?

Last time I was in Somalia (a few years ago by now) I saw many people from mainstream clans doing jobs like cutting hair, being a mechanic, doing construction work, wood working, and other trades etc.

I think this mindset of nomad = good, working with your hands = bad is dying out as Somalis have been urbanizing at a rapid rate the past decades.