Caste systems in Africa are a form of social stratification found in numerous ethnic groups, in over fifteen countries, particularly in the Sahel, West Africa, and North Africa., Quote: "Castes, endogamous artisan and musician groups, are characteristic of over fifteen West African peoples, inhabiting at least fourteen states. They are found among the Soninke, the various Manding-speaking populations (including the Bambara, Malinke and Khassonke), the Wolof, Tukulor, Senufo, Minianka, Dogon, Songhay, and most Fulani, Moorish and Tuareg populations". These caste systems feature endogamy, hierarchical status, inherited occupation, membership by birth, pollution concepts and restraints on commensality.
The specifics of the caste systems in Africa vary among the ethnic groups. Some societies have a rigid and strict caste system with embedded slavery, whereas others are more diffuse and complex. Countries in Africa that have societies with caste systems include Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and others.Human Rights Watch Page 9. It is unclear exactly when and how these caste systems developed, some likely emerged sometime between the 9th century and 15th century in various ethnic groups.Tal Tamari (2005), Kingship and Caste in Africa: History, Diffusion and Evolution, Editor: Declan Quigley in The Character of Kingship, Berg, , pages 141–169 Others, such as the occupational segregation and caste-based endogamy practiced by the Ari people, have been revealed by advances in archaeogenetics to be among the oldest continuous caste systems in existence.David Reich (2019), Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past , pages 219-223. Quote: "Today there is an intricate caste system that shapes the lives of many people within Ethiopia, with elaborate rules preventing marriage between groups with different traditional roles. The Ari include three subgroups--the Cultivators, Blacksmiths, and Potters--who are socially and genetically differentiated from one another and from non-Ari groups. Since the Ari have a distinctive genetic affinity to the forty-five-hundred-year-old ancient highland individual compared to other Ethiopian groups, it is clear that there were strong local barriers to gene exchange and homogenization within the region of present-day Ethiopia that persisted for at least forty-five hundred years. This is the best example of strong endogamy that I know of even more ancient than the evidence of endogamy in India that so far is only documented as going back a couple of thousand years."
East Africa There has been much recent scholarship on caste systems in the Horn of Africa. They have been studied in communities that speak Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages. The term "Manja" or ""Manjo" is found repeatedly.Gebremariam, Getachew Robo. "A commentary on Gebreslassie Kiross study of social stratification and marginalization in the southern nations, nationalities and people region of Ethiopia: The case of Manjo minority groups." African Journal of History and Culture 13, no. 1 (2021): 27–36.Hailu, Gebreslassie Kiros. "Social Stratification and Marginalization in the Southern Nations Nationalities and People Region of Ethiopia: The Case of Manja Minority Groups." Global Journal of Human Social Science: C Sociology & Culture 16, no. 6 (2016): 52–58. The terminology used by various scholars has varied but they have found consistently found links between social groupings and occupations, often potters, metal workers, weavers, leather workers. This list of sources is incomplete, but contains important sources. Arthur, John W. "Transforming clay: Gamo caste, gender, and pottery of southwestern Ethiopia." African study monographs. Supplementary issue. 46 (2013): 5–25. Berafe, Tamiru. "Assessing the causes and effects of social exclusion: The case of pot makers in Yem Special Woreda in Southern Nation, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State in Ethiopia." African Journal of Political Science and International Relations 11, no. 4 (2017): 68–83. Finneran, Niall. "Ethiopian evil eye belief and the magical symbolism of iron working." Folklore 114, no. 3 (2003): 427–432. Freeman, Dena, and Alula Pankhurst, eds. (2003). Peripheral People: The Excluded Minorities of Ethiopia. The Red Sea Press. Haaland, Gunnar, Randi Haaland, and Data Dea. "Smelting iron: Caste and its symbolism in south-western Ethiopia." In Belief in the past: The proceedings of the 2002 Manchester Conference on Archaeology and Religion, pp. 75–86. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2004. Hallpike, Christopher R. "The Status of Craftsmen among the Konso of South-West Ethiopia." Africa 38, no. 3 (1968): 258–269. Pankhurst, Richard. (1999). Caste' in Africa: The evidence from South Western Ethiopia Reconsidered". Journal of the international Africa institute 69:485–509. Epple, Susanne. "Craftworkers, Hunters and Slave Descendants in Ethiopia New perspectives on the dynamics of social categories." Documenting Southern Ethiopia: Recognizing Past Legacies and Forging the Way forward (2018): 27-50.Yoshida, Sayuri. "Why did the Manjo convert to Protestant? Social discrimination and coexistence in Kafa, Southwest Ethiopia." In Proceedings of the 16th international conference of Ethiopian studies, vol. 2, pp. 299-309. Trondheim: Society of Ethiopian Studies, 2009.Yoshida, Sayuri. "The struggle against social discrimination: Petitions by the Manjo in the Kafa and Sheka zones of southwest Ethiopia." Nilo-Ethiopian Studies 2013, no. 18 (2013): 1-19.
Amhara people
The social stratification of the Amhara people of Ethiopia includes castes. According to Donald Levine – a professor of sociology specializing in Ethiopian society – the Amhara society has consisted of high-ranking clans, low-ranking clans, caste groups (Weyto caste, artisans), and slaves. The Amhara caste system was hierarchically higher than its lowest slaves strata.
The Amhara caste system consisted of: (1) endogamy, (2) hierarchical status, (3) restraints on commensality, (4) pollution concepts, (5) each caste has had a traditional occupation, and (6) inherited caste membership. This caste system has been a rigid, endogamous and occupationally closed social stratification among Amhara and other Afro-Asiatic-speaking Ethiopian ethnic groups. However, some state it as an economically closed, endogamous class system or as occupational minorities, whereas others such as the historian David Todd state that this system can be unequivocally labelled as caste-based.Dave Todd (1978), "The origins of outcastes in Ethiopia: reflections on an evolutionary theory", Abbay, Volume 9, pages 145-158, Quote: "Ethiopia has, until fairly recently, been a rigid feudal society with finely grained perceptions of class and caste".
Borana people The Borana people are found in southern Ethiopia and northeastern Kenya. They have historically had castes, among which the hunters and artisans have constituted the depressed strata. These are endogamous castes each with a specialized inherited occupation, and include a stratum that constitutes outcastes. They are found in virtually every Cushitic or Semitic community of this region.
The lower castes of the Borana people, states Herbert Lewis – a professor of anthropology specializing in East African societies – show no physical differences from the noble castes of Somalia and Somalilands. Other than endogamy and occupational differences between the castes, their ritual, social and political positions are different, as are the beliefs held by each about the nature of the other. For example, the castes have long considered each other as ritually impure, and food prepared by either nobles or artisans castes is considered a taboo to others. Similarly, traditionally, the craftsman and the noble are ritually forbidden to enter the house of the other. Low caste people are expected not to handle farm equipment or cattle.
Oromo people The Oromo people are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, also found in northern Kenya and Somalia, with an estimated total population of over 35 million.Ethiopia: People & Society, CIA Factbook (2016), See total population and % Oromo ethnic group
Like other ethnic groups in East Africa, Oromo people regionally developed social stratification consisting of four hierarchical strata. The highest strata were the nobles called the Borana, below them were the Gabbaro (some 17th to 19th century Ethiopian texts refer them as the dhalatta). Below these two upper castes were the despised castes of artisans, and at the lowest level were the slaves.J. Abbink (1985), Review: Oromo Religion. Myths and Rites of the Western Oromo of Ethiopia by Lambert Bartels, Journal: Anthropos, Bd. 80, H. 1./3. (1985), pages 285–287
In the Islamic Kingdom of Jimma, the Oromo society's caste strata predominantly consisted of endogamous, inherited artisanal occupations.; Each caste group has specialized in a particular occupation such as iron working, carpentry, weapon making, pottery, weaving, leather working and hunting.Asafa Jalata (2010), Oromo Peoplehood: Historical and Cultural Overview, Sociology Publications and Other Works, University of Tennessee Press, page 12, see "Modes of Livelihood" sectionEike Haberland (1993), Hierarchie und Kaste : zur Geschichte und politischen Struktur der Dizi in Südwest-Äthiopien, Stuttgart : Steiner, , pages 105–106, 117–119
The castes in the Oromo society have had a designated name, such as Tumtu were smiths, Fuga were potters, Faqi were tanners and leatherworkers, Semmano for weavers, Gagurtu were bee keepers and honey makers, Watta were hunters and foragers. While slaves were an endogamous strata within the Oromo society, they themselves were also victims of slavery. By the 19th century, Oromo slaves were sought after and a major part of slaves sold in Gondar and Gallabat slave markets at Ethiopia–Sudan border, as well as the Massawa and Tajura markets on the Red Sea.
Somali people The Somalis are an ethnic group of between 15 and 20 million people, constituting the largest ethnicity in Somalia, many of whom also live in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti.
They have historically exhibited social stratification that has included embedded castes referred to as Higal (or Higalki, Argobba). The upper noble strata has been called Gob (or Asha), while the lower servile strata have been referred to as Sáb.Е. de Larajasse (1972), Somali-English and Somali-English Dictionary, Trubner, pages 119, 178 The three main Somali castes are called Tumal (sometimes spelled Tomal), Midgan and Yibir (sometimes spelled Yebir). These fell outside of the traditional clan structure. The castes have been endogamous, a person born into it inherited its occupation. The Midgan have been the hunters, Tumal were the smiths, pottery and leatherworking caste, and the Yibir have been the saddle and prayer mat makers and magician caste., Quote: "Many of these items were not made by nomads but by a caste of artisans called the Saab, considered subservient (...) The Yebir, also members of the Saab caste, were responsible for crafting amulets (hardas), prayer mats, and saddles, and for performing rituals designed to protect nomads from snakes and scorpions, illnesses and harm during marriage and childbirth". Below the castes have been the Somali Bantus Jareer community, and these have been descendants of former slaves, including those who were runaway and emancipated slaves.Mohamed A. Eno and Abdi M. Kusow (2014), Racial and Caste Prejudice in Somalia, Journal of Somali Studies, Iowa State University Press, Volume 1, Issue 2, pages 93–94, 113