Hedareb people


The Hedareb or T'bdawe are one of the nine ethnolinguistic groups in Eritrea. They are a Beni-Amer division, a subgroup of the Beja. They are more diverse than the other Eritrean ethics; one subgroup speaks the traditional Beja language, which belongs to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, while another is more closely related to Sudanese Hadendoa. They are among the least-researched groups in Eritrea.
The Hedareb people live in northwestern Barka in Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt. Nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists, they typically migrate seasonally with their herds of camels, goats and sheep.

Language

The Hedareb speak the Beja language as a mother tongue. It belongs to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. In addition to their variety of Beja, known as Hedareb or T’badwe, most Hedareb people also speak at least one other language, typically either Arabic or Tigre.

Society

Hedareb society is hierarchical, and is traditionally organized into clans and subclans. Hedarebs are a Muslim group, and most are Sunni Muslims. Marriages are typically arranged to maximize alliances between extended families. It is customary for the groom's family to pay a bride price of five to twelve goats, and a varying amount of money, or as much as 70 camels.
Sociologist Abdulkader Saleh Mohammad writes that the Hedareb have been excluded from state conceptions of Eritrean nationhood, and have become a marginalized group with many members who do not feel connected to the Eritrean nation-state.
The status of women in Hedareb society is generally lower than that of men: the birth of female children is celebrated with fewer gifts and ululations than that of male children, and wives who consent to a divorce have no right to family property. Women generally inherit half as much property as men, and their testimony counts half as much in legal proceedings. An Eritrean survey in the early 2000s found that 100% of Hedareb women had undergone some form of female genital mutilation. Most Hedareb women are married by the age of eighteen.

Laws

As a Muslim people, the Hedareb follow Sharia law in most matters.
In the nineteenth century, blood feuds marked by chains of revenge killings existed among Hedareb groups; unlike those among neighboring groups, they were rarely resolved by the payment of blood money, possibly because the Hedareb had fewer trading practices. Also distinctively, killing one's wife was traditionally punished by death, while killing one's children went unpunished. Rape of a noblewoman by a serf was punishable by death, while rape of serfs by nobles was tolerated.