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Caste systems in Africa are a form of social stratification found in numerous ethnic groups, found in over fifteen countries, particularly in the Sahel, West Africa, and North Africa. [1] These caste systems feature endogamy , hierarchical status, inherited occupation, membership by birth, pollution concepts and restraints on commensality.
The Hausa didn't have the conical clan as their system of social organization (in Africa, this system predominated mostly among southern African peoples), but had a complex system of hereditary social stratification as well. The following excerpt is from Frank A. Salamone's "The Hausa of Nigeria":
The social status variables underlying social stratification are based in social perceptions and attitudes about various characteristics of persons and peoples. While many such variables cut across time and place, the relative weight placed on each variable and specific combinations of these variables will differ from place to place over time.
In a review of social stratification systems in Africa, Richter reports that the term caste has been used by French and American scholars to many groups of West African artisans. These groups have been described as inferior, deprived of all political power, have a specific occupation, are hereditary and sometimes despised by others.
Tuareg social stratification into noble, clerical and artisanal castes likely emerged after the 10th century, as a corollary of the rising slavery system. [99] Similar caste institutions are found in other communities in Africa. [100]
[11] [12] According to the anthropologist Jeffrey Heath, Tuareg artisans have been a separate endogamous castes known as the Inhædˤæn (Inadan) within this social stratification. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] The Inadan live in Tuareg settlements, are sedentary, considered subordinate and lowly, and endogamous because of social taboos towards inter-marriage ...
Within the stratified social system, the Islamic system of polygynous marriages is a norm, with preferred partners being cross cousins. [82] [83] This endogamy within Songhai-Zarma people is similar to other ethnic groups in West Africa. [84]
Within traditional Somali society (as in other ethnic groups of the Horn of Africa and the wider region), there has been social stratification. [42] [43] [44] According to the historian Donald Levine, these comprised high-ranking clans, low-ranking clans, caste groups, and slaves. [45]