The Dinka tribe
The Dinka is an ethnic group inhabiting the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region of the Nile basin, and the Greater Upper Nile region of eastern basin of the Nile River. They are mainly agro-pastoral people, relying on cattle herding at riverside camps in the dry season and growing Millet (Awuou) and other varieties of grains (rap) in fixed settlements during the rainy season. They number around 1.5 million people, constituting about 10% of the population of the entire country, and constitute the largest ethnic tribe in South Sudan. Dinka, or as they refer to themselves,Mɔnyjäng (singular) and Jiëng (Jäng in Twï Dinka Dialect) (plural), are one of the branches of the River Lake Nilotes (mainly sedentary agri-pastoral peoples of East Africa who speak Nilotic languages, including the Nuer and Luo). Dinka are sometimes noted for their height. With the Tutsi of Rwanda, they are believed to be the tallest people in Africa. Roberts and Bainbridge reported average height of 182.6 cm (5 ft 11.9 in) in a sample of 52 Dinka Ageir and 181.3 cm (5 ft 11.4 in) in 227 Dinka Ruweng measured in 1953–1954. However, it seems that stature of today's Dinka males is lower, possibly as a consequence of undernutrition and war conflicts. An anthropometric survey of Dinka men-war refugees in Ethiopia published in 1995 found a mean height of 176.4 cm (5 ft 9.4 in) in the Ethiopian Medical Journal.
The Dinka have no centralised political authority, instead comprising many independent but interlinked clans. Certain of those clans traditionally provide ritual chiefs, known as the "masters of the fishing spear" or "beny bith" "tiët de jɔk in Twic Dinka culture" who provide leadership for the entire people and appear to be at least in part hereditary.
Their language called Dinka as well as "thuɔŋjäŋ (thuongjang)" is one of the Nilotic languages of the Eastern Sudanic language family. The name means "people" in the Dinka language. It is written using the Latin alphabet with a few additions.
The Dinka tribe (or Jieng) has more than 15 main subdivisions of: Bor, Chiej (Kiech), Agar, Gok, Rek, Twic (Twi) East, Malual, Abyei Dinka, Padang, Abiliang, Ruweng, Hol, Nyarweng, Atuot, etc. Malual is the largest of those groups, numbering over a million people. The Dinka's migrations are determined by the local climate, their agro-pastoral lifestyle responding to the periodic flooding and dryness of the area in which they live. They begin moving around May–June at the onset of the rainy season to their “permanent settlements” of mud and thatch housing above flood level, where they plant their crops of millet and other grain products.
These rainy season settlements usually contain other permanent structures such as cattle byres (luaak) and granaries. During dry season (beginning about December–January), everyone except the aged, ill, and nursing mothers migrate to semi-permanent dwellings in the toic for cattle grazing. The cultivation of sorghum, millet, and other crops begins in the highlands in the early rainy season and the harvest of crops begins when the rains are heavy in June–August. Cattle are driven to the toic in September and November when the rainfall drops off; allowed to graze on harvested stalks of the crops
Cultural and religious beliefs Late Nhialic, who speaks through spirits that take temporary possession of individuals in order to speak through them. The sacrificing of oxen by the "masters of the fishing spear" is a central component of Dinka religious practice. Age is an important factor in Dinka culture, with young men being inducted into adulthood through an initiation ordeal which includes marking the forehead with a sharp object. Also during this ceremony they acquire a second cow-color name. The Dinka derive religious power from nature and the world around them, rather than from a religious tome.
Following the war, Christianity predominated over Dinka religious practices, being introduced to the region by British missionaries in the 19th century and during the civil war.
War with the North and status as refugees, the Dinka's religions, beliefs and lifestyle have led to conflict with the government in Khartoum. The Sudan People Liberation Army, led by late Dr. John Garang De Mabior, a Dinka, took arms against the government in 1983. During the subsequent 21 Years civil war, many thousands of Dinka, along with fellow non-Dinka southerners, were massacred by government forces. The Dinka have also engaged in a separate civil war with the Nuer.
1991 Greater Upper Nile Dinka Massacre
On November 15, 1991 the event known as "the Greater Upper Nile Dinka Massacre" or Southeastern or Eastern Dinka Massacre commenced in South Sudan. Forces led by the breakaway faction of Riek Machar deliberately killed an estimated more 4,000 civilians in Greater Upper Nile Dinka and wounded several thousand more over the course of two months. It is also estimated that more than 200,000 people left the area following the attack. Famine followed the massacre, as Machar's forces had looted and burnt villages and as well as raiding cattle. An estimated 25,000 more people died as a result of hunger, according to Amnesty International.The Greater Upper Nile Dinka massacre was triggered by a coup declaration against the then SPLM chairman, the late Dr. John Garang on August 28, 1991, by the current vice president of the government of South Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar. His motives are believed to be an attempt to hurt the Dinka, and to create a pluralistic less Dinka centric model for the SPLM. Thousands of civilians in the the Greater Upper Nile Dinka area died when Dr. Riek's Nuer forces turned against them and killed them after his failure to topple Dr. John Garang. Some people had perished in the Dinka areas as determined by the United Nations assessment of casualties in 1992. The Greater Upper Nile Dinka are comprises of Abiliang Dinka, Padang Dinka, Paweny Dinka, Dongjol Dinka, Hol Dinka, Nyarweng Dinka, Twic Dinka, Bor Dinka, etc.
Dr. Riek described the incident as "propaganda" and "myth" despite evidence of mass killing shown by bones and corpses in the aftermath of the massacre.
The Dinka of the South Sudan
Religion: Traditional; 8% Christian
Population: 1,900,000 (1996 estimates)
Status of Christianity: 8% Christian; 2% Evangelical
Registry of Peoples codes
Dinka, Central/Greater Bahr el Ghazal Dinka (Gok): 102617
Dinka, Northeastern/Greater Upper Nile Dinka (Padang): 102618
Dinka, Northwestern/Greater Bahr el Ghazal Dinka (Malual): 102619
Dinka, Southeastern/Greater Upper Nile Dinka (Hol Dinka, Nyarweng Dinka, Twi Dinka, Bor Dinka, etc.): 105423
Dinka, Southwestern/Greater Bahr el Ghazal Dinka (Rek, Agar): 102622
Registry of Languages code (Ethnology)
Dinka, South Central: dib
Dinka, Northeastern: dip
Dinka, Northwestern: diw
Dinka, Southeastern: dks
Dinka, Southwestern: dik
===================
NARRATIVE PROFILE
Location: The Dinka are a group of several closely related peoples living in southern Sudan along both sides of the White Nile. They cover a wide area along the many streams and small rivers, concentrated in the Upper Nile province in southeast Sudan and across into southwest Ethiopia.
History: Ancient pictographs of cattle in Egypt give reason to associate the Dinka with the introduction of domesticated cattle south of the Sahara. Around 3000 BC, herders who also fished and tilled settled in the largest swamp area in the world, the area of southern Sudan where the flood plain of the White Nile is also fed by the Rivers Bor, Aweil and Renk. The Dinka are one of three groups that gradually developed from the original settlers. Dinka society spread out over the area in recent centuries, perhaps around AD 1500. The Dinka defended their area against the Ottoman Turks in the mid-1800s and repulsed attempts of slave merchants to convert them to Islam. Otherwise they have lived in seclusion.
Identity: The Dinka are one of the branches of the River Lake Nilotes. Though known for centuries as Dinka, they actually call themselves Moinjaang, "People of the people." The more numerous Southern Luo branch includes peoples throughout central Uganda and neighboring sections of Zaire and the lake area of western Kenya. The Dinka peoples still live near the hot and humid homeland of the River-Lake Nilotes. They are the largest ethnic group in southern Sudan.
The Dinka groups retain the traditional pastoral life of the Nilotes, but have added agriculture in some areas, growing grains, peanuts, beans, corn (maize) and other crops. Women do most of the agriculture, but men clear forest for the gardening sites. There are usually two plantings per year. Some are fishers. Their culture incorporated strategies for dealing with the annual cycle of one long dry season and one long rainy season.
The boys tend goats and sheep while the men are responsible for the cattle. The cattle are central to the Dinka culture and worldview. A man will identify with one special ox, will name it and compose songs and dances about the ox. He calls himself by the name of the ox, which is given to him at his initiation to adulthood. The ox will be referred to by many reference names, allusions to the direct name, which is actually its colour. The Dinka expect an individual to be generous to others in order to achieve status in the society. The Dinka base their life on values of honor and dignity. They discuss and solve problems in public forums.
Language: The Dinka peoples speak a series of closely-related languages which are grouped by linguists into five broad families of dialects. The five languages are called Northeastern, Northwestern, Southeastern, Southwestern and South Central. Each subgroup calls its own speech by the group´s name and over thirty dialects have been identified among the five language groupings. Some writers refer to these technically distinct languages as one language. The Dinka languages are written in Latin script. A large percentage is reported to be bilingual in Sudanese Arabic.
In the broader Nilotic family the Dinka languages are most closely related to Nuer and Atuot. The Atuot are culturally Dinka, but the language is different enough to be a sixth separate language group. The Atuot and Dinka have often had bloody encounters over grazing areas in droughts.
Political Situation: The Dinka have lived pretty much on their own, undisturbed by the political movements in their area. They did fight the Ottoman Turks when they were ruling Sudan. They have periodically had clashes with neighboring peoples, such as the Atuot, with whom they have fought over grazing areas. They have not been active in national politics.
Customs: Before the coming of the British the Dinka did not live in villages, but traveled in family groups living in temporary homesteads with their cattle. The homesteads might be in clusters of one or two all the way up to 100 families. Small towns grew up around British administrative centers. Each village of one or more extended families is led by a leader chosen by the group.
Traditional homes were made of mud walls with thatched conical roofs, which might last about 20 years. Only women and children sleep inside the house, while the men sleep in mud-roofed cattle pens. The homesteads were located to enable movement in a range allowing year-round access to grass and water. Permanent villages are now built on higher ground above the flood plane of the Nile but with good water for irrigation. The women and older men tend crops on this high ground while younger men move up and down with the rise and fall of the river.
Polygamy is the ideal for the Dinka, though many men may have only one wife. The Dinka must marry outside their clan (exogamy), which promotes more cohesion across the broader Dinka group.
A "bride wealth" is paid by the groom´s family to finalize the marriage alliance between the two clan families. Levirate marriage provides support for widows and their children. All children of co-wives are raised together and have a wide family identity. Co-wives cook for all children, though each wife has a responsibility for her own children.
Girls learn to cook, but boys do not. Cooking is done outdoors in pots over a stone hearth. Men depend upon women for several aspects of their life, but likewise the division of labor assigns certain functions to the men, such as fishing and herding, and the periodic hunting. After initiation to adulthood, the social spheres of the genders overlap very little. The basic food is heavy millet porridge, eaten with milk or with a vegetable and spice sauce. Milk it, in various forms, is also a primary food.
The Dinka wear few clothes, particularly in their own village. Adult men may be totally nude except for beads around the neck or wrist. The women commonly wear only goatskin skirts, but unmarried adolescent girls will typically be nude. Clothes are becoming more common. Some men will be seen in the long Muslim robe or short coat. They own very few material possessions of any kind.
Personal grooming and decoration are valued. The Dinka rub their bodies with oil made by boiling butter. They cut decorative designs into their skin. They remove some teeth for beauty and wear dung ash to repel mosquitoes. Men dye their hair red with cow urine, while women shave their hair and eyebrows, but leave a knot of hair on top of the head.
The major influence formerly was exercised by "chiefs of the fishing spears" or "spear masters." This elite group provided health through mystical power. Their role has been eradicated due to changes brought about by British rule and the modern world. Their society is egalitarian, with no class system. All people, wealthy or poor, are expected to contribute to the common good.
The primary art forms are poetry and song. There are certain types of songs for different types of activities of life, like festive occasions, field work, preparation for war and initiation ceremonies. History and social identity are taught and preserved through songs. They sing praise songs to their ancestors and the living. Songs are even used ritually in competition to resolve a quarrel in a legal sense. Women also make pottery and weave baskets and mats. Men are blacksmiths, making all sorts of implements.
Religion: The Dinka believe in a universal single God, whom they call Nhialac. They believe Nhialac is the creator and source of life but is distant from human affairs. Humans contact Nhialac through spiritual intermediaries and entities called yath and jak which can be manipulated by various rituals. These rituals are administered by diviners and healers. They believe that the spirits of the departed become part of the spiritual sphere of this life. They have rejected attempts to convert them to Islam, but have been somewhat open to Christian missionaries.
Cattle have a religious significance. They are the first choice as an animal of sacrifice, though sheep may be sacrificed as a substitute on occasion. Sacrifices may be made to yath and jak, since Nhialac is too distant for direct contact with humans. The family and general social relations are primary values in the Dinka religious thought.
Christianity: The Sudan Interior Mission began work among the Dinka in the 1930s, along with the Uduk and Mabaan peoples. From these groups, gospel work has spread to surrounding peoples including the Jum Jum, Berta, Gumus, Ignessena, and Shilluk.
It is estimated that various Dinka groups are 4-8% Christian. Even so, Global Research (Southern Baptist) classifies all Dinka groups as World A except for the Padang, or Northern group (Northeastern language group), listed as Unreached. Access to Christian resources is limited by geography, climate and the political situation in the country. Evangelical sources report that 2% of the Dinka are Evangelical believers.
For more on Dinka People
Internet
Dinka-South Sudan 101
Dinka--Society and Culture Association
Print
Deng, F.M. The Dinka of Sudan. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1970.
Eads, Brian. "Slavery's Shameful Return to Africa," Reader's Digest. Pleasantville, New York: Reader's Digest Association, Inc., March, 1996.
Evens, Terence M. S. "Mythic Rationality, Contradiction and Choice Among the Dinka," Social Anthropology, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1994.
Grimes, Barbara. Ethnologue (Version 13 originally used, Editions 14-15 now online). Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1995.
Lienhardt, R.G. Divinity and Experience: The Religion of the Dinka. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.
Tradition and Modernization. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971.
Orville Boyd Jenkins
January 1997
Updated and posted 19 April 2002
Last updated 3 May 2010
Copyright © 1997, 2006 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use. Other rights reserved.
Email: [email protected]
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Other References
Ancient Historical Society Virtual Museum, 2011
Seligman, C. G.; Seligman, Brenda Z. (1965). Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
"The Tutsi" In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa 1885-1960. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
Roberts, D. F.; Bainbridge, D. R. (1963). "Nilotic physique". Am J phys Anthropol 21(3): 341–370 doi: 10 1002/ajpa. 1330210309.
Chali, D. (1995). "Anthropometric measurements of the Nilotic tribes in a refugee camp". Ethiopian Medical Journal 33 (4): 211–217. PMID 8674486
Lienhardt, G. (1961). Divinity and Experience: the Religion of the Dinka. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
"TECOSS"Twic East Community of South Sudan.
"Sudan Twic Association of Michigan"
"The UN Refugee Agency". UNHCR.
Deng, Francis Mading. The Dinka of the Sudan. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, Inc., 1972.
Beswick, S.F. (1994) JAAS XXIX, 3-4 (c) E. J. Brill, Leiden Religious Beliefs
Garang de Mabior, John (June, 2011). The Undiscovered Stories About Man Behind South Sudanese' Freedom. ISBN 978-0-9837134-1-8
Stubbs, J.M.; Morison C.G.T. (1940). The Western Dinkas, Their land and their agriculture. Sudan Notes and Records XXI. pp. 251–266.
The Dinka have no centralised political authority, instead comprising many independent but interlinked clans. Certain of those clans traditionally provide ritual chiefs, known as the "masters of the fishing spear" or "beny bith" "tiët de jɔk in Twic Dinka culture" who provide leadership for the entire people and appear to be at least in part hereditary.
Their language called Dinka as well as "thuɔŋjäŋ (thuongjang)" is one of the Nilotic languages of the Eastern Sudanic language family. The name means "people" in the Dinka language. It is written using the Latin alphabet with a few additions.
- South Sudan has been described as a large basin gentle sloping northward (Roth 2003) through which flow the Bahr el Jebel River, the (White Nile), the Bahr el Ghazal (Nam) River and its tributaries, and the Sobat, all merging into a vast banner swamp.
- Vast Sudanese oil areas to the south and east are part of the flood plain, a basin in the southern Sudan into which the rivers of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia drain off from an ironstone plateau that belts the regions of Greater Bahr el Ghazal and Greater Upper Nile.
- The terrain can be divided into four land classes:
- Highlands—higher than the surrounding plains by only a few centimeters; are the sites for “permanent settlements.” Vegetation consists of open thorn woodland and/or open mixed woodland with grasses.
- Intermediate Land—lie slightly below the highlands, commonly subject to flooding from heavy rainfall in the Ethiopian and East/Central African highlands; Vegetation is mostly open perennial grassland with some acacia woodland and other sparsely distributed trees.
- Toc—land seasonally inundated or saturated by the main rivers and inland water-courses, retaining enough moisture throughout the dry season to support cattle grazing.
- Sudd—permanent swampland below the level of the Toc; covers a substantial part of the floodplain in which the Dinka reside; provides good fishing but is not available for livestock; historically it has been a physical barrier to outsiders’ penetration.
- Ecology of large basin is unique; until recently, wild animals and birds flourished, hunted rarely by the agro-pastoralists (Roth 2003).
The Dinka tribe (or Jieng) has more than 15 main subdivisions of: Bor, Chiej (Kiech), Agar, Gok, Rek, Twic (Twi) East, Malual, Abyei Dinka, Padang, Abiliang, Ruweng, Hol, Nyarweng, Atuot, etc. Malual is the largest of those groups, numbering over a million people. The Dinka's migrations are determined by the local climate, their agro-pastoral lifestyle responding to the periodic flooding and dryness of the area in which they live. They begin moving around May–June at the onset of the rainy season to their “permanent settlements” of mud and thatch housing above flood level, where they plant their crops of millet and other grain products.
These rainy season settlements usually contain other permanent structures such as cattle byres (luaak) and granaries. During dry season (beginning about December–January), everyone except the aged, ill, and nursing mothers migrate to semi-permanent dwellings in the toic for cattle grazing. The cultivation of sorghum, millet, and other crops begins in the highlands in the early rainy season and the harvest of crops begins when the rains are heavy in June–August. Cattle are driven to the toic in September and November when the rainfall drops off; allowed to graze on harvested stalks of the crops
Cultural and religious beliefs Late Nhialic, who speaks through spirits that take temporary possession of individuals in order to speak through them. The sacrificing of oxen by the "masters of the fishing spear" is a central component of Dinka religious practice. Age is an important factor in Dinka culture, with young men being inducted into adulthood through an initiation ordeal which includes marking the forehead with a sharp object. Also during this ceremony they acquire a second cow-color name. The Dinka derive religious power from nature and the world around them, rather than from a religious tome.
Following the war, Christianity predominated over Dinka religious practices, being introduced to the region by British missionaries in the 19th century and during the civil war.
War with the North and status as refugees, the Dinka's religions, beliefs and lifestyle have led to conflict with the government in Khartoum. The Sudan People Liberation Army, led by late Dr. John Garang De Mabior, a Dinka, took arms against the government in 1983. During the subsequent 21 Years civil war, many thousands of Dinka, along with fellow non-Dinka southerners, were massacred by government forces. The Dinka have also engaged in a separate civil war with the Nuer.
1991 Greater Upper Nile Dinka Massacre
On November 15, 1991 the event known as "the Greater Upper Nile Dinka Massacre" or Southeastern or Eastern Dinka Massacre commenced in South Sudan. Forces led by the breakaway faction of Riek Machar deliberately killed an estimated more 4,000 civilians in Greater Upper Nile Dinka and wounded several thousand more over the course of two months. It is also estimated that more than 200,000 people left the area following the attack. Famine followed the massacre, as Machar's forces had looted and burnt villages and as well as raiding cattle. An estimated 25,000 more people died as a result of hunger, according to Amnesty International.The Greater Upper Nile Dinka massacre was triggered by a coup declaration against the then SPLM chairman, the late Dr. John Garang on August 28, 1991, by the current vice president of the government of South Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar. His motives are believed to be an attempt to hurt the Dinka, and to create a pluralistic less Dinka centric model for the SPLM. Thousands of civilians in the the Greater Upper Nile Dinka area died when Dr. Riek's Nuer forces turned against them and killed them after his failure to topple Dr. John Garang. Some people had perished in the Dinka areas as determined by the United Nations assessment of casualties in 1992. The Greater Upper Nile Dinka are comprises of Abiliang Dinka, Padang Dinka, Paweny Dinka, Dongjol Dinka, Hol Dinka, Nyarweng Dinka, Twic Dinka, Bor Dinka, etc.
Dr. Riek described the incident as "propaganda" and "myth" despite evidence of mass killing shown by bones and corpses in the aftermath of the massacre.
The Dinka of the South Sudan
Religion: Traditional; 8% Christian
Population: 1,900,000 (1996 estimates)
Status of Christianity: 8% Christian; 2% Evangelical
Registry of Peoples codes
Dinka, Central/Greater Bahr el Ghazal Dinka (Gok): 102617
Dinka, Northeastern/Greater Upper Nile Dinka (Padang): 102618
Dinka, Northwestern/Greater Bahr el Ghazal Dinka (Malual): 102619
Dinka, Southeastern/Greater Upper Nile Dinka (Hol Dinka, Nyarweng Dinka, Twi Dinka, Bor Dinka, etc.): 105423
Dinka, Southwestern/Greater Bahr el Ghazal Dinka (Rek, Agar): 102622
Registry of Languages code (Ethnology)
Dinka, South Central: dib
Dinka, Northeastern: dip
Dinka, Northwestern: diw
Dinka, Southeastern: dks
Dinka, Southwestern: dik
===================
NARRATIVE PROFILE
Location: The Dinka are a group of several closely related peoples living in southern Sudan along both sides of the White Nile. They cover a wide area along the many streams and small rivers, concentrated in the Upper Nile province in southeast Sudan and across into southwest Ethiopia.
History: Ancient pictographs of cattle in Egypt give reason to associate the Dinka with the introduction of domesticated cattle south of the Sahara. Around 3000 BC, herders who also fished and tilled settled in the largest swamp area in the world, the area of southern Sudan where the flood plain of the White Nile is also fed by the Rivers Bor, Aweil and Renk. The Dinka are one of three groups that gradually developed from the original settlers. Dinka society spread out over the area in recent centuries, perhaps around AD 1500. The Dinka defended their area against the Ottoman Turks in the mid-1800s and repulsed attempts of slave merchants to convert them to Islam. Otherwise they have lived in seclusion.
Identity: The Dinka are one of the branches of the River Lake Nilotes. Though known for centuries as Dinka, they actually call themselves Moinjaang, "People of the people." The more numerous Southern Luo branch includes peoples throughout central Uganda and neighboring sections of Zaire and the lake area of western Kenya. The Dinka peoples still live near the hot and humid homeland of the River-Lake Nilotes. They are the largest ethnic group in southern Sudan.
The Dinka groups retain the traditional pastoral life of the Nilotes, but have added agriculture in some areas, growing grains, peanuts, beans, corn (maize) and other crops. Women do most of the agriculture, but men clear forest for the gardening sites. There are usually two plantings per year. Some are fishers. Their culture incorporated strategies for dealing with the annual cycle of one long dry season and one long rainy season.
The boys tend goats and sheep while the men are responsible for the cattle. The cattle are central to the Dinka culture and worldview. A man will identify with one special ox, will name it and compose songs and dances about the ox. He calls himself by the name of the ox, which is given to him at his initiation to adulthood. The ox will be referred to by many reference names, allusions to the direct name, which is actually its colour. The Dinka expect an individual to be generous to others in order to achieve status in the society. The Dinka base their life on values of honor and dignity. They discuss and solve problems in public forums.
Language: The Dinka peoples speak a series of closely-related languages which are grouped by linguists into five broad families of dialects. The five languages are called Northeastern, Northwestern, Southeastern, Southwestern and South Central. Each subgroup calls its own speech by the group´s name and over thirty dialects have been identified among the five language groupings. Some writers refer to these technically distinct languages as one language. The Dinka languages are written in Latin script. A large percentage is reported to be bilingual in Sudanese Arabic.
In the broader Nilotic family the Dinka languages are most closely related to Nuer and Atuot. The Atuot are culturally Dinka, but the language is different enough to be a sixth separate language group. The Atuot and Dinka have often had bloody encounters over grazing areas in droughts.
Political Situation: The Dinka have lived pretty much on their own, undisturbed by the political movements in their area. They did fight the Ottoman Turks when they were ruling Sudan. They have periodically had clashes with neighboring peoples, such as the Atuot, with whom they have fought over grazing areas. They have not been active in national politics.
Customs: Before the coming of the British the Dinka did not live in villages, but traveled in family groups living in temporary homesteads with their cattle. The homesteads might be in clusters of one or two all the way up to 100 families. Small towns grew up around British administrative centers. Each village of one or more extended families is led by a leader chosen by the group.
Traditional homes were made of mud walls with thatched conical roofs, which might last about 20 years. Only women and children sleep inside the house, while the men sleep in mud-roofed cattle pens. The homesteads were located to enable movement in a range allowing year-round access to grass and water. Permanent villages are now built on higher ground above the flood plane of the Nile but with good water for irrigation. The women and older men tend crops on this high ground while younger men move up and down with the rise and fall of the river.
Polygamy is the ideal for the Dinka, though many men may have only one wife. The Dinka must marry outside their clan (exogamy), which promotes more cohesion across the broader Dinka group.
A "bride wealth" is paid by the groom´s family to finalize the marriage alliance between the two clan families. Levirate marriage provides support for widows and their children. All children of co-wives are raised together and have a wide family identity. Co-wives cook for all children, though each wife has a responsibility for her own children.
Girls learn to cook, but boys do not. Cooking is done outdoors in pots over a stone hearth. Men depend upon women for several aspects of their life, but likewise the division of labor assigns certain functions to the men, such as fishing and herding, and the periodic hunting. After initiation to adulthood, the social spheres of the genders overlap very little. The basic food is heavy millet porridge, eaten with milk or with a vegetable and spice sauce. Milk it, in various forms, is also a primary food.
The Dinka wear few clothes, particularly in their own village. Adult men may be totally nude except for beads around the neck or wrist. The women commonly wear only goatskin skirts, but unmarried adolescent girls will typically be nude. Clothes are becoming more common. Some men will be seen in the long Muslim robe or short coat. They own very few material possessions of any kind.
Personal grooming and decoration are valued. The Dinka rub their bodies with oil made by boiling butter. They cut decorative designs into their skin. They remove some teeth for beauty and wear dung ash to repel mosquitoes. Men dye their hair red with cow urine, while women shave their hair and eyebrows, but leave a knot of hair on top of the head.
The major influence formerly was exercised by "chiefs of the fishing spears" or "spear masters." This elite group provided health through mystical power. Their role has been eradicated due to changes brought about by British rule and the modern world. Their society is egalitarian, with no class system. All people, wealthy or poor, are expected to contribute to the common good.
The primary art forms are poetry and song. There are certain types of songs for different types of activities of life, like festive occasions, field work, preparation for war and initiation ceremonies. History and social identity are taught and preserved through songs. They sing praise songs to their ancestors and the living. Songs are even used ritually in competition to resolve a quarrel in a legal sense. Women also make pottery and weave baskets and mats. Men are blacksmiths, making all sorts of implements.
Religion: The Dinka believe in a universal single God, whom they call Nhialac. They believe Nhialac is the creator and source of life but is distant from human affairs. Humans contact Nhialac through spiritual intermediaries and entities called yath and jak which can be manipulated by various rituals. These rituals are administered by diviners and healers. They believe that the spirits of the departed become part of the spiritual sphere of this life. They have rejected attempts to convert them to Islam, but have been somewhat open to Christian missionaries.
Cattle have a religious significance. They are the first choice as an animal of sacrifice, though sheep may be sacrificed as a substitute on occasion. Sacrifices may be made to yath and jak, since Nhialac is too distant for direct contact with humans. The family and general social relations are primary values in the Dinka religious thought.
Christianity: The Sudan Interior Mission began work among the Dinka in the 1930s, along with the Uduk and Mabaan peoples. From these groups, gospel work has spread to surrounding peoples including the Jum Jum, Berta, Gumus, Ignessena, and Shilluk.
It is estimated that various Dinka groups are 4-8% Christian. Even so, Global Research (Southern Baptist) classifies all Dinka groups as World A except for the Padang, or Northern group (Northeastern language group), listed as Unreached. Access to Christian resources is limited by geography, climate and the political situation in the country. Evangelical sources report that 2% of the Dinka are Evangelical believers.
For more on Dinka People
Internet
Dinka-South Sudan 101
Dinka--Society and Culture Association
Deng, F.M. The Dinka of Sudan. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1970.
Eads, Brian. "Slavery's Shameful Return to Africa," Reader's Digest. Pleasantville, New York: Reader's Digest Association, Inc., March, 1996.
Evens, Terence M. S. "Mythic Rationality, Contradiction and Choice Among the Dinka," Social Anthropology, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1994.
Grimes, Barbara. Ethnologue (Version 13 originally used, Editions 14-15 now online). Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1995.
Lienhardt, R.G. Divinity and Experience: The Religion of the Dinka. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.
Tradition and Modernization. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971.
Orville Boyd Jenkins
January 1997
Updated and posted 19 April 2002
Last updated 3 May 2010
Copyright © 1997, 2006 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use. Other rights reserved.
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Other References
Ancient Historical Society Virtual Museum, 2011
Seligman, C. G.; Seligman, Brenda Z. (1965). Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
"The Tutsi" In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa 1885-1960. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
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Garang de Mabior, John (June, 2011). The Undiscovered Stories About Man Behind South Sudanese' Freedom. ISBN 978-0-9837134-1-8
Stubbs, J.M.; Morison C.G.T. (1940). The Western Dinkas, Their land and their agriculture. Sudan Notes and Records XXI. pp. 251–266.