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Somali People of the Horn of Africa

出版	HAAN Associates, 1991
ISBN	18742090579781874209058
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=tA4OAQAAMAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋Somalis have lived in the Horn of Africa for thousands of years. Today they number about six million people. As well as inhabiting the area known generally since 1960 as the Somali Republic, they also live in adjacent areas in Djibouti, the Ogaden area of Ethiopia and in northern Kenya. This is because traditional clan homelands pre-date modern day national borders. This factor has been a constant cause of conflict between Somalia and its neighbours right up to the present time. From time immemorial Somalis have been a nomadic people, migrating with their livestock, according to the season, in search of water and pasture. Nomads do not travel aimlessly, they follow traditional seasonal patterns of migration within as identifiable given location. They know the times when rain is expected, and know which areas are likely to have grass when other places have dried up. They travel in groups made up of the extended family. These family groupings are based on kinship relations of the adult male members. A father, his adult sons and their families will commonly constitute the nomadic family group, called the reer. It may also include other adult males related to the father, and their dependents. In times of plenty many members of the extended family will stay together; during the dry season and in times of drought the group will split up into smaller units and become more scattered.