{{Short description|Cushitic ethnic group}} {{Ethnic group | group = Aweer | image = | image_caption = | population = 20,103<ref name =Census2019>{{cite web|url=https://www.knbs.or.ke/?wpdmpro=2019-kenya-population-and-housing-census-volume-iv-distribution-of-population-by-socio-economic-characteristics&wpdmdl=5730&ind=7HRl6KateNzKXCJaxxaHSh1qe6C1M6VHznmVmKGBKgO5qIMXjby1XHM2u_swXdiR |title=2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Volume IV: Distribution of Population by Socio-Economic Characteristics |accessdate=24 March 2020 |website=Kenya National Bureau of Statistics| df=dmy }}</ref> | popplace = {{flag|Kenya}}, {{flag|Somalia}} | rels = Predominantly [[Sunni Islam]]<ref name="Ethnbob"/> * Minority [[Traditional African religion|Traditional]]<ref name="Ethnbob"/> | langs = [[Aweer language|Aweer]], [[Somali language|Somali]] (In Somalia) | related = Other [[Cushitic-speaking peoples]], especially [[Garre]] }} The '''Aweer''' (also known as the '''Boni''', '''Waboni''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society |url=http://archive.org/details/journalof345819121914east |title=The Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society |last2=Coryndon Memorial Museum |last3=Museums Trustees of Kenya |date=1910 |publisher=London; New York : Longmans, Green |others=Smithsonian Libraries |page=37}}</ref> '''Wa-Boni''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fitzgerald |first=William Walter Augustine |url=http://archive.org/details/travelsincoastl01fitzgoog |title=Travels in the coastlands of British East Africa and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba; their agricultural resources and general characteristics |date=1898 |publisher=London, Chapman & Hall |others=Harvard University |page=335}}</ref> and '''Sanye''') are a [[Cushitic peoples|Cushitic]] ethnic group inhabiting the [[Coast Province]] in southeastern [[Kenya]]. Some members are also found in southern [[Somalia]]. They are indigenous foragers, traditionally subsisting on hunting, gathering, and collecting honey.
==Overview== Evidence suggests that the Aweer/Boni, along with the related Dahalo and Wata, are remnants of the early [[Bushmen|Bushman]] hunter-gatherer inhabitants of Eastern Africa. According to linguistic, anthropological and other data, these groups later came under the influence and adopted the [[Afro-Asiatic languages]] of the [[Lowland East Cushitic languages|Eastern]] and [[South Cushitic languages|Southern Cushitic]] peoples who moved into the area. [[Dahalo language|Dahalo]] has consequently retained some of the characteristic [[Click consonant|click sounds]] of the [[Khoisan languages|Khoisan]] languages.<ref name="Aminmoll">{{cite book|last=Mohamed Amin|first=Peter Moll|title=Portraits of Africa|year=1983|publisher=Harvill Press|isbn=0002726394|pages=16}}</ref>
The Aweer have historically been known in the literature as ''Boni'' or ''Sanye'', both of which are derogatory terms for low-caste groups.<ref name="Ethnbob">{{cite web|title=Aweer|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bob|publisher=Ethnologue|accessdate=10 August 2013}}</ref><ref name="Brenzinger">{{cite book|editor-last=Brenzinger|editor-first=Matthias|title=Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa|year=1992|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=3110134047|page=323|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKHOeLDvUVgC}}</ref> Their lives were drastically changed when the Kenyan government curtailed their traditional way of life in the 1960s, forcing them to settle in villages along the Hindi-Kiunga Road, between the [[Boni National Reserve]] and the [[Dodori National Reserve]].<ref>(2007, p. 472)</ref> Although the majority of the Aweer settled in villages located in this corridor between the two reserves, some established themselves in nearby [[Bajuni people|Bajuni]] villages.
Today, the Aweer in Kenya have been encouraged to adopt farming as their main livelihood.<ref name="Ethnbob"/> However, they also continue to engage in many of their traditional hunter-gatherer practices, utilizing the nearby forests for the collection of wild honey, plants for traditional medicine and building materials, and bush meat to supplement their diets. With laws banning the hunting of all wildlife in Kenya, the Aweer's traditional way of life is in danger.<ref>{{cite book |last=Umar |first=Abdi |title=Traditional Occupations of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples: Emerging Trends |year=2000 |publisher=International Labor Organization |isbn=92-2-112258-1 |pages=44–45 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_84Gg-o5BhYC&q=aweer+international+labor+office&pg=PA45 |chapter=Herding into the New Millennium: Continuity and Change in the Pastoral Areas of Kenya }}</ref> Although Aweer overwhelmingly reside in the East African nation of Kenya, due to the Aweer's traditional dwellings along the protuberant coastline, the Aweer, as well as other inhabitants of Lamu County are sometimes referred to as ''[[Horner (demography)|Horners]]''.<ref>Amin, Rajan, et al. "Africa's forgotten forests: the conservation value of Kenya's northern coastal forests for large mammals." Journal of East African Natural History 107.2 (2019): 41-61.</ref>
==Demographics== According to the 2019 Kenyan population census, around 20,103 Aweer live in Kenya, where they are an officially recognized group. They have traditionally been concentrated in forests in the [[Coast Province]], particularly the [[Lamu County|Lamu]] and [[Tana River County|Tana River]] districts.<ref name =Census2019>{{cite web|url=https://www.knbs.or.ke/?wpdmpro=2019-kenya-population-and-housing-census-volume-iv-distribution-of-population-by-socio-economic-characteristics&wpdmdl=5730&ind=7HRl6KateNzKXCJaxxaHSh1qe6C1M6VHznmVmKGBKgO5qIMXjby1XHM2u_swXdiR |title=2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Volume IV: Distribution of Population by Socio-Economic Characteristics |accessdate=24 March 2020 |website=Kenya National Bureau of Statistics| df=dmy }}</ref>
Some Aweer also inhabit southern Somalia's [[Badhadhe District|Badhade]] district.<ref name="Prins">A.H.J. Prins. 1960 Notes on the Boni, a Tribe of Hunters in Northern Kenya. ''Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research.'' Vol. 1 (3): 25-27; 1963 The Didemic Diarchic Boni. ''The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.'' Vol. 93 (2): 174-85.</ref>
==Language== The Aweer speak the [[Aweer language]], also known as Boni. It belongs to the [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] branch of the [[Afro-Asiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]] family.<ref name="Ethnbob"/>
According to ''[[Ethnologue]]'', there are around 8,000 speakers of Aweer/Boni. Most are bilingual and speak the languages of their immediate neighbors, with about 20% speaking only Aweer.<ref name="Ethnbob"/>
Aweer linguistically resembles [[Garre language|Garre]], but the speakers are physically and culturally unalike.<ref name="Frawley">{{cite book|editor-last=Frawley|editor-first=William|title=International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Volume 1|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195139771|page=408|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sl_dDVctycgC}}</ref> The language is believed to be threatened by extinction.<ref name="Brenzinger"/>
==Religion== The Aweer historically practised [[Traditional African religion|traditional faiths]] such as [[Waaqism]], though most have today adopted [[Islam]].<ref name="Ethnbob"/>
==See also== *[[Hadza people|Hadza]] *[[Sandawe people|Sandawe]]
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{cite book|author=Kipuri, Naomi |year=2007 |chapter=Kenya |title=The Indigenous World 2007 |url=http://www.iwgia.org/sw29940.asp |format=PDF online edition |editor=Sille Stidsen (compilation and ed.) |others=Marianne Wiben Jensen (Horn of Africa and East Africa regional ed.) |series=International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs yearbooks series |issn=1024-0217 |location=Copenhagen |publisher=[[IWGIA]], distributed by Transaction Publishers |pages=468–476 |isbn=978-87-91563-23-2 |oclc=30981676 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022134122/http://www.iwgia.org/sw29940.asp |archivedate=2008-10-22 }} * Antipa, R. S, Ali, M. H. and Hussein, A. A. (2007) [https://web.archive.org/web/20111003041745/http://www.terranuova.info/file_download/49 Preservation and Maintenance of Biological Diversity Related Knowledge of Indigenous Diversity and Local Communities with Traditional Lifestyles Boni Forest, Ijara District]. National Environmental Management Authority of Kenya. * International Labour Office. "Part I: Traditional Economies." Traditional Occupations of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples: Emerging Trends. International Labour Organization, 2000. 318. Print. *"THE AWEER PEOPLE." AFRICAN FIRST PEOPLES: THE AWEER PEOPLE. ECOTERRA Intl. Web. 19 Feb. 2012. [http://www.aweer.org/ The Aweer People] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522201655/http://aweer.org/ |date=2022-05-22 }}.
==External links== *[http://www.aweer.org/ AWEER] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522201655/http://aweer.org/ |date=2022-05-22 }}
{{Ethnic groups in Kenya}}
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[[Category:Ethnic groups in Kenya]] [[Category:Indigenous peoples of East Africa]] [[Category:Cushitic-speaking peoples]] [[Category:Coast Province]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Somalia]]