André Mosis - Kingbotho

Society-BUSH-NEGROES

The Bush Negroes (also called Refugee Blacks or Guiana Maroons) arethe descendants of Black slaves brought as plantation labourers fromAfrica to Surinam in northeastern South America, starting in the lasthalf of the seventeenth century. (See Price 1976: fn. 2 on pp. 2-3,for a discussion of the derivation and meaning of the terms "BushNegro" and "Maroon.") The ancestors of the major Bush Negro tribesescaped from the plantations of coastal Surinam to the forests ofthe interior in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. There they developed distinctive societies reflecting a blending andadaptation to local conditions of various African socio-cultural patterns,and incorporating strong Amerindian influences in their material culture-- e.g. horticultural practices, hunting and fishing techniques, craftssuch as basketry, the use of therapeutic plants, and so forth.

After a half century of guerrilla warfare against colonial and Europeantroops, the Bush Negroes signed treaties with the Dutch colonial governmentin the 1760s, enabling them to live a virtually independent existenceuntil the past few decades. Their numbers increased markedly duringthe eighteenth and nineteenth centuries so that the modern Bush Negropopulation is generally estimated to be somewhere between 25,000 and 47,000, probably closer to the latter figure. For the most part, theylive along the rivers of the interior of Surinam. However, growingnumbers are now living in and around Paramaribo, the capitol of Surinam,and they also seem to be expanding eastward into adjacent French Guiana (cf. Herskovits and Herskovits 1934: vii; Hurault 1959: 2; Kobben1967: 35; Price 1972: 83; and Price 1976: 3-4, 21).

Today, according to Price (1976), there are six Bush Negro tribes.He divides them into two main groups on the basis of cultural andlinguistic differences, as well as location: (1) the Eastern Tribes,consisting of the Djuka (Aucaner, Awka), the Aluku (Aluku nenge, Boni),and the Paramaka (Paramacca); and (2) the Central Tribes, consistingof the Saramaka (Saramacca), the Matawai, and the Kwinti (cf. thetribal distribution map in Price 1976: 5). The Djuka and Saramakaare the largest tribes, with estimated populations of 15,000 to 20,000each. The Aluku, Matawai, and Paramaka are much smaller, with estimatedpopulations of around 2,000 each. The smallest tribe is the Kwinti,with fewer than 500 people.

Three main creole languages are spoken in Surinam: (1) Sranan (SrananTongo, Taki-Taki), which was once the language of the plantation slavesand is now the "national language" of Surinam, spoken throughout thecountry as a lingua franca; (2) Ndjuka, spoken by the Djuka, Aluku,and Paramaka; and (3) Saramaccan, spoken by the Saramaka and Matawai.It is not clear where the language of the Kwinti fits since it hasnot been adequately described. The Voegelins (1977) list a fourthlanguage, Aucaan, but give no further information about it.

Both Price and the Voegelins agree that Sranan and Ndjuka are, withlittle effort, mutually intelligible; while Saramaccan is the mostdistinct of the three languages and mutually unintelligible with Sranan.(It is not specified whether Saramaccan and Ndjuka are also mutuallyunintelligible.) There is one key difference between Price and theVoegelins with respect to the classification of these languages. Thelatter classify all of them as English-based creole languages belongingto the Atlantic branch of the West Germanic group of Germanic withinIndo-European. Price would presumably agree except in the case ofSaramaccan. If his estimate of the derivations of the Saramaccan vocabularyis correct (i.e., 50 percent African, 20 percent Portuguese, 20 percentEnglish, and 10 percent Dutch and Amerindian), then Saramaccan cannotbe classified as an English-based creole. Furthermore, Saramaccanis fully a tone language (cf. Price 1976: 35-36; Voegelin 1977: 142-44).

The modern Bush Negro tribes share a common cultural configuration,yet manifest important differences. As Price has stated (1976: 4),"These societies, though formed under broadly similar historical andecological conditions, nevertheless display significant variationsin everything from language, diet, and dress to patterns of marriage,residence, and migratory wage labor." Traditionally, the greatestdifferences were between the Eastern and Central Tribes, but "thedifferential development of Suriname's interior by government andmining interests is complicating this picture today." Price (1976:6-42) presents an excellent preliminary analysis of the historicalprocesses which may account for these major cultural variations. Althoughthe details of his analysis will not be reviewed here, they deservethe closest study by any serious student of the Bush Negroes.

Perhaps of greater immediate importance for our purposes are the broadsociocultural patterns shared by the Bush Negro tribes. Villages,which average one hundred to two hundred residents, consist of a coreof matrilineally-related kinsmen plus some spouses and descendantsof lineage men. Matriliny dominates descent ideology, with "matriclans"and "matrilineages" ... forming the basic units of the formal socialstructure. Since the colonial government signed treaties with theDjuka, Saramaka, and Matawai [an offshoot of the Saramaka] in themid-eighteenth century, and placed the Aluku, Paramaka, and Kwintiin "protectorate" relationships under these treaty tribes during thenineteenth century, a loose framework of indirect rule has obtained.Each tribe, except the tiny Kwinti, has a government-approved Paramount Chief (gaama, granman) ... a series of headmen (kabiteni), and otherpublic officials. Traditionally, the role of these officials in politicaland social control was exercised in a context replete with oracles,spirit possession, and other forms of divination ... In general, BushNegroes enjoy an extremely rich ritual life, and the complex seriesof shrines and cults serve as foci for groups of residentially dispersedkinsmen. Their economy has long been based on a combination of periodicmale wage labor on the coast and swidden horticulture and huntingand fishing ... Unusually skillful artists, performers, and orators,Bush Negroes in general exhibit a strongly aesthetic approach to life[Price 1976: 4,6].

Specifically, the first, modern anthropological field research withany Bush Negro tribe started among the Djuka in 1961 with the workof Kobben, Thoden van Velzen, and van Wetering. These Dutch scholarshave now published the standard ethnographic sources on the Djuka.General ethnographic research among the Saramaka was conducted byRichard and Sally Price in 1966, 1967-68, and briefly in 1974 and1975. Part of their data has been published, and other works are inpreparation. Other anthropologists have recently done field researchwith the Paramaka, Matawai, and Kwinti. A discussion of all of thisresearch, and the relevant citations, may be found in Price's invaluablehistorical and bibliographical introduction to the Bush Negroes (1976),which contains 1,330 entries dating from 1667 to 1975.

Etude demographique comparee des Indiens Oayana et des noirs refugies Boni du Haut-Maroni (Guyane Francaise) [Comparative demographic study of the Oyana Indians and the Boni refugee blacks of the Upper Maroni (French Guiana)]. Population, 14 (1959): 509-534.
Kobben, Andre J. F. Review of Jean Hurault 1961, Les Noirs Refugies Boni de la Guyane Francaise. Caribbean Studies, 5/3 (1965): 63-65.
Kobben, Andre J. F. Participation and quantification; field work among the Djuka (Bush Negroes of Surinam).
In D. G. Jongmans and P.C. W. Gutkind, eds. Anthropologists in the Field. Assen, Van Gorcum, 1967.
Price, Richard. The Guiana Maroons: a historical and bibliographical introduction. Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
Price, Richard. The Guiana Maroons: changing perspectives in "Bush Negro" studies. Caribbean Studies, 11/4 (1972): 82-105.
Voegelin, C. F. and F. M. Classification and index of the world's languages. New York, Elsevier, 1977.