The Dinka tribe (Dinka: Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Bor[1] to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile (two out of three Provinces that were formerly part of southern Sudan), and the Abyei Area of the Ngok Dinka in South Sudan.
They number around 4.5 million, according to the 2008 Sudan census, constituting about 40% of the population[2] of that country and the largest ethnic tribe in South Sudan. The Dinka refer to themselves as Muonyjang (singular) and jieng (plural). They make up one of the branches of Lake Nilotes (mainly sedentary agropastoral peoples of the Nile Valley and African Great Lakes region who speak Nilotic languages, including the Nuer and Luo).[3]
Dinka are noted for their height, and, along with the Tutsi of Rwanda, they are the tallest group in Africa.[4] Roberts and Bainbridge reported an average height of 182.6 cm (5 ft 11.9 in) in a sample of 52 Dinka Agaar and 181.3 cm (5 ft 11.4 in) in 227 Dinka Ruweng measured in 1953–1954.[5] However, the stature of Dinka males later declined, possibly as a consequence of undernutrition and 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).[6] Other studies of comparative height data and nutrition placed the Dinka as the world's tallest.[7]
The Dinka people have no centralised political authority. Instead their clans are independent but interlinked. Some traditionally provide ritual chiefs, known as the "masters of the fishing spear" or beny bith,[8] who provide leadership and are at least in part hereditary.
History
Sudanese tribesmen raid a Dinka village in around 1870
According to oral traditions, the Dinka originated from the Gezira in what became Sudan. In medieval times this region was ruled by the kingdom of Alodia,[9] a Christian, multi-ethnic empire dominated by Nubians.[10] Living in its southern periphery and interacting with the Nubians, the Dinka absorbed a sizable amount of Nubianvocabulary.[11] From the 13th century, with the disintegration of Alodia, the Dinka began to migrate out of Gezira, fleeing slave raids, military conflict, and droughts.[12]
Conflict over pastures and cattle raids has been happening between Dinka and Nuer as they battled for grazing land.[13]
In 1983, due to Sudan's second civil war, many educated Dinka were forced to flee the cities to rural areas. Some were Christians who had been converted by the Church Missionary Society.[15] Among them were ordained clergymen who began preaching in the villages. Songs and praise were used to teach the mostly illiterate Dinka about the faith.[16] Most Dinka converted to Christianity and are learning to adapt traditional religious practices to Christian teachings.[17] The conversion took place in rural villages and among Dinka refugees country. The Lost Boys of Sudan were converted in significant numbers in the refugee camps of Ethiopia.[18]
On November 15, 1991, the event known as the "Dinka Bor Masscre" commenced in South Sudan.[19][1] Forces led by the breakaway Riek Machar faction deliberately killed an estimated 2,000 Dinka civilians that included Hol, Nyarweng, Twic east and Bor,[20] and wounded several thousand more over two months. Much of their wealth was destroyed, which led to mass starvation deaths. It is estimated that 100,000 people left the area following the attack.[21][22]
Pastoral strategies
An example of rainy season temporary settlements—note the stilts upon which the huts are built to protect against periodic flooding of the region.Cattle of the Dinka people, Juba, South Sudan
Southern Sudan is "a large basin gently sloping northward",[23] 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 barrier swamp.
The terrain can be divided into four land classes:
Highlands: higher than the surrounding plains by a few centimeters; there host permanent settlements. Vegetation consists of open thorn woodland and/or open mixed woodland with grasses.
Intermediate Lands: slightly below the highlands, commonly subject to flooding from rainfall in the Ethiopian and East/Central African highlands. Vegetation is mostly open perennial grassland with some acacia woodland and other sparsely distributed trees.
Toic: land seasonally inundated by rivers and inland water courses, retaining enough moisture throughout the dry season to support cattle grazing.
Sudd: permanent swampland below the level of the toic; covers a substantial part of the floodplain; provides good fishing but not grazing; historically a physical barrier to outsiders.
The ecology of the large basin is unique; until recently, wild animals and birds flourished, rarely hunted by the agro-pastoralists.[23]
The climate determines the Dinka's migration patterns, responding to the periodic flooding and dryness of their surroundings. They begin moving around May–June, at the onset of the rainy season, migrating to their settlements of mud and thatch housing situated above flood level, where they plant their crops of millet and other grains. These rainy season settlements feature other permanent structures such as cattle byres (luak) and granaries. During the dry season (beginning about December–January), everyone except the aged, ill, and nursing mothers migrates 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 begins when the rains are heavy in June–August. Cattle are driven to the toic in September and November when the rainfall drops off and graze on crop remnants.[24]
The number of Dinka sub-divisions is contested, as the border between groups, sub-divisions, and sections is blurred and often difficult to determine. The Atuot people can be divided into Apaak and Reel, Bor into Bor, Twic, Nyarweng and Hol[25][20] and Panaruu into Awet and Kuel and Ciec manyiel (Jieng) into Ador and Lou.[26][27][28]
Rek people
The Rek are an ethnic group in South Sudan, a subgroup of the Dinka.[29] Its members speak South-Western Dinka, also called Rek, a Nilotic language. Many members of this ethnicity are Christians. Some estimates put the Rek population at or exceeding 1,200,000 people, they occupy Warrap state and Northern Bahr el Ghazel state.[30]
Dinka religious beliefs and practices also reflect their lifestyle. The Dinka religion, like most other Nilotic faiths, is Polytheistic, but has one creator, Nhialic, who leads the Dinka pantheon of gods and spirits. He is generally distant from humans and does not directly interact with them.[31] The sacrificing of oxen by the "masters of the fishing spear" is central to Dinka religious practice. Young men become adults through an initiation ritual that includes marking the forehead with a sharp object. During this ceremony, they acquire a second cow-color name. The Dinka believe they derive religious power from nature and the world around them rather than from scripture.[32]
Men and women eat separately. When milk supply is low, children get priority. Children are fed milk from 9–12 months. After about one year, children start eating solid food (porridge). After children turn three, they eat two meals a day. Adults also eat two meals a day.[33]
Abel Alier, known as "Abel Alier Kwai"–the first southerner to serve as president of the High Executive Council of Southern Sudan and Vice President of Sudan (1972-1982).
Manute Bol–deceased former NBA player, one of the two tallest players in league history
Manyang Mayom–journalist, son of Mayom Meen Lai who died during Sudan-South Sudan civil war. Manyang was an orphan and became influential in South Sudan.
Philip Kuol Awuou–businessman and a former child Soldier
John Bul Dau also known as Dhieu Deng Leek–one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan", author of God Grew Tired of Us, and the subject of the eponymous documentary
Chuei Mareng–author of Loveless Marriage among the Dinkas. Chuei was born in South Sudan. Mareng became a refugee at age 17. He stayed in Kakuma Refugee Camp with the lost boys. After years as a refugee, Chuei moved to Canada where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Politics and a Master of Education in Educational Administration with focus on public policy in education. He published academic non-academic articles
Salva Kiir Mayardit–first President of the Republic of South Sudan, Commander in Chief of Sudan People's Liberation Army, and Chairman of Sudan People's Liberation Movement
Kuol Manyang Juuk–former Commander of the SPLA Forces, Minister in the Government of National Unity, Governor of Jonglei State, former minister of Defence and current Senior Presidential Advisor
Daniel Deng Bul–former South Sudanese episcopalian archbishop and primate of episcopal church of Sudan, now called Province of the episcopal church of south Sudan.
Dinka/Jieng tribal groups
This list of Dinka tribal grouping by region. Note that these divisions are further divided into several subdivisions; for example, Dinka Rek is subdivided into Aguok, Kuac, and many other things, but they speak the same language; only the pronunciation is slightly different.
^Chali, D. (1995). "Anthropometric measurements of the Nilotic tribes in a refugee camp". Ethiopian Medical Journal. 33 (4): 211–217. PMID8674486.
^Eveleth and Tanner (1976) Worldwide Variation in Human Growth, Cambridge University Press; --Floud et al 1990 Height, Health and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1980, p. 6
^Lienhardt, G. (1961). Divinity and Experience: the Religion of the Dinka. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
^Beswick, Stephanie (2004). Sudan's Blood Memory. University of Rochester. pp. 21–23. ISBN1580461514.
^Werner, Werner (2013). Das Christentum in Nubien. Geschichte und Gestalt einer afrikanischen Kirche ["Christianity in Nubia. History and shape of an African church"] (in German). Lit. p. 160. ISBN978-3-643-12196-7.
^Beswick, Stephanie (2004). Sudan's Blood Memory. University of Rochester. p. 21. ISBN1580461514.
^Beswick, Stephanie (2004). Sudan's Blood Memory. University of Rochester. pp. 29–31. ISBN1580461514.
^Zink, Jesse (April 2017). "Women and Religion in Sudan's Civil War: Singing through Conflict". Studies in World Christianity. 23 (1): 67–83. doi:10.3366/swc.2017.0170.
^Beswick, Stephanie (2006). Sudan's blood memory: the legacy of war, ethnicity, and slavery in early South Sudan (Reprinted. ed.). Rochester, NY [u.a.]: Univ. of Rochester Press. ISBN9781580461511.[page needed]
^Middleton, John; Tait, David (2013). Tribes Without Rulers Studies in African Segmentary Systems. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. pp. 97–108. ISBN9781136532139.
^Beswick, S. F. (1 January 1994). "Islam and the Dinka of Southern Sudan from the Pre-Colonial Period to Independence (1956)". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 29 (3–4): 172–185. doi:10.1163/156852194X00298. S2CID143445534.
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