AY Honors/African Lore/Answer Key

For the Pakistani ethnic group, see Khosa.

The Xhosa (IPA [ˈkǁʰoːsa]) people are a group of peoples of Bantu origins living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central southern parts of the country.

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Local environment

The Xhosa settled on mountain slopes of the Amatola and the Winterberg Mountains. Many streams drain into great rivers of this Xhosa territory including the Kei and Fish River. Rich soils and plentiful rainfall make the river basins good for farming and grazing making cattle important and the basis of wealth. Traditional foods include sorghum, maize, milk, pumpkins, beans, vegetables, and umphokoqo, or dry maize porridge. Tobacco is an important crop in this area.

Language

Template:Main In South Africa, the Xhosa-speaking people form the second largest language group (after Zulu, to which the Xhosa language is very closely related). Among a wide variety of common speech sounds, the Xhosa language famously contains a variety of consonantal 'click' sounds, which have been borrowed from now extinct Khoisan languages of the region.

Xhosa has three basic click consonants: a dental (front) click, written with the letter 'c', e.g. icici 'earring' (very similar to the English tut-tut sound of disapproval); a palatal (top click), written with the letter 'q', e.g. iqaqa 'skunk' (similar to the imitation of a bottle being decorked); and a lateral (side) click, written with the letter 'x', e.g. xoxa 'discuss'. Each click can be used in up to six contrastive forms (each one is a completely separate consonant in Xhosa), e.g. c (plain), ch (aspirated), gc (voiced), nc (nasalised), ngc (nasalised voiced), nkc (nasalised, velarised). By contrast, Xhosa has five straightforward Spanish-type vowels (a, e, i, o, u).

Religion

Traditional Xhosa culture includes diviners, who serve as herbalists, prophets, and healers for the community. This job is mostly taken by women, who spend five years in apprenticeship. Many Xhosa people are Christian, particularly within the African Initiated Churches such as the Zion Christian Church.

Oral tradition

The key figure in the Xhosa oral tradition is the imbongi (plural: iimbongi) or praise singer. Iimbongi traditionally live close to the chief’s 'great place' (the cultural and political focus of his activity); they accompany the chief on important occasions - the imbongi Zolani Mkiva preceded Nelson Mandela at his Presidential inauguration in 1994. Iimbongi's poetry praises the chief’s actions and best features, and may also criticise the chief if aspects of his reign or government are unpopular.

Notables

Nelson Mandela is a Xhosa-speaking member of the Thembu people.

Other famous Xhosa speakers include: Amampondo Template:· Stephen Biko Template:· Fats Bookulane Template:· Brenda Fassie Template:· Ken Gampu Template:· Chris Hani Template:· General Bantu Holomisa Template:· Archibald Campbell Jordan Template:· John Kani Template:· Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Template:· Miriam Makeba Template:· Govan Mbeki Template:· Thabo Mbeki Template:· S.E.K. Mqhayi Template:· Victoria Mxenge Template:· Bongani Ndodana Template:· Bulelani Ngcuka Template:· Makhaya Ntini Template:· Winston Ntshona Template:· Percy Qoboza Template:· Walter Sisulu Template:· Robert Sobukwe Template:· Enoch Sontonga Template:· Oliver Tambo Template:· Zwelithini Tunyiswa Template:· Desmond Tutu Template:· Ashley Buti Template:· St John Page Yako Template:· Dr. George ClarkTemplate:Fact

Xhosa in popular culture

The Xhosa, named for the Xhosa people, is the name of the freighter commanded by Kasidy Yates in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

There is a well noted Canadian metal band called Xhosa out of Cranbrook, British Columbia. The band features Craig McCue as it's lead vocalist.

References

Results of the 2001 South African census

Note that the figure mentioned on this page is based upon the number of people speaking Xhosa as their home language, which may be greater or less than the total number of people claiming Xhosa descent. In addition, several million people in the Johannesburg-Soweto region speak Xhosa or Zulu as a second or third language. For a majority of these, the two languages become difficult to distinguish (unsurprising given the extreme closeness of their linguistic relationship).

Reader, J., 1997. Africa: A Biography of the Continent, Vintage Books, New York, NY, United States of America.jkadfgl;uh;lpuylaerpgh
Kaschula, Russell The Heritage Library of African People: Xhosa, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 1997.

External links

Template:Interwiki

Xhosa History and Society
2001 Digital Census Atlas
Xhosa Folklore - a collection of Xhosa folklore collected in 1886.
Xhosa Google - Google interface in Xhosa

Template:Ethnic groups in South Africa

ca:Xhosa da:Xhosa-folket de:Xhosa (Volk) es:Xhosa gl:Xhosa it:Xhosa nl:Xhosa (volk) pt:Xhosa sh:Xhosa fi:Xhosat