The Hype of Hatred vs. Identity (Part 3)
The Hype of Hatred and Jieng/Dinka is cow-headed/rassoo beger and naked Jieng/arian Jengea
By Thiik Mou Giir, Melbourne, Australia
March 25, 2016 (SSB) —- Jieng people love their cows so much that the majority of them do not think being called rassoo beger/cow-headed is an insult. How could they, when they drink cow milk, eat its beef, sleep on its skin, use oil made from its milk as ointment and use cow dung ashes as body fly repellent? How could they, when their prayers pass on to Nhialic/God through consecrated cows, when they dream about them, fight over them, offered them as dowry, imitate their horns when dancing and, use cow colours as their personal nicknames? Calling them cow-headed/rassoom beger is like saying to fish, ‘You are wet!’
Now let us look at what some members of tribes in Equatoria, or some members of other tribes, mean when they say this or that Jieng is cow-headed/rassoo beger or naked Jieng/arian Jiengea! Cow-headed/rassoo begger is a metaphor that describes a Jieng who is stubborn, unsophisticated, uncivilized, aggressive, violent, animal-like, and an unpredictable. Naked Jieng/Arian Jiengea, on the other hand, had a literal meaning but now it has acquired a figurative meaning. It describes a Jieng who exposes himself as way too far different from the rest of other people, who does not hold himself/herself well in the society, who does not respect himself, who does not respect others, who does not demonstrate decent manners, who does not care about how other people think and feel and, who does not care about the wellbeing of others. This Jieng person stands in contrast with other people who are civilized, decent, peaceful, and well behaved. Because of Jieng and non-Jieng two different temperaments, these other people label Jieng as cow-headed/rassoo beger and Naked Jieng/arian Jengea.
(Happy-angry exchange between Jieng and Nuer)
Jieng: ‘What are you laughing at? Huh? What are you laughing at? Don’t you know that when they are done with me you will be next? Shut up!’
Nuer: ‘Blah-blah-blah!’
Jieng: ‘You are not much different from me, either.’
‘Nuer: ‘Blah-blah-blah!’
(End of exchange)
Rassoo beger and arian-jengae have nothing to do with the way you dress or what credentials you have. You may be seen as wearing three pieces, known as multilingual and known as a PhD holder and yet, if you are a Jeing, there will be a time, a situation, in your live in which you will be described as rassoo beger and arian-jengea saakit! Watch Alek Wek YouTube video clip, for example, and make your inferences from these two points of view. Alek is doing her routine catwalk on elevated walkway. She emerges from a door. There are people sitting to the right and to the left of her and background music is heard. All eyes are now focused on her. She then walks the full length of the catwalk way, stops, looks slightly to one side, takes off her black glasses with one hand and her blonde wig with the other. She then tosses the blonde wig onto the mostly blonde audience, turns around and walks back nonchalantly.
Now let us try to explain the two different points of view. From a Jieng point of view, Alek is a proud Jieng (South Sudanese) girl who has been resisting the notion that dictates that Africans must imitate Caucasian features in order for them to be recognized as beautiful. From the point of view of those who often call Jieng cow-headed/rasssoom beger, what she did was nothing but begerrish, very begerrish!
Inside Thiik’s Automobile Mechanic Repair Shop for Identity
This insult can be turned into a positive idea. Let me give you a fictional story. A Jieng man heard that a member of Moru tribe in Yambio was always calling Jieng people as cow-headed. This Jieng man said to himself that he was going to show Moru people how awesome cows were. ‘I am going to have my cow products transported to Moru people in Yambio’, he thought. Luckily enough, a few years earlier, the government had built a road that runs from Bahr el Ghazal all the way to Yambio and from there to Juba. He had one problem. How could he transport cow products to Yambio? It was suggested to him that he would not be able to do so without the assistance of a certain Nuer man. This Nuer owns a truck company. They both agreed to have dairy products be transported to Yambio. This truck that started to transport dairy products to Yambio had ‘We Rove for Identify’ painted on them. This was an effective way to let people learn the national vision. As soon as the truck arrived in Yambio, a local trader bought all cow products to sell in his shop. Beef, milk, butter, and leather were unloaded into the trader’s shop. The Moru man, who was calling Jieng people cow-headed/rassoom beger, was already one of the customers of that shop.
In Yambio town, there was another Moru man who lived in Yambio residential area. He owned a small shop that he wanted to expand. He decided to do something that no one in the area had ever done before. He would buy farm products, fruits and vegetables, from local farmers. Then, he would hire the same trucks that brought cow products and load them with farm products and had them transported to Bahr El Ghazal. The Nuer truck business was blossoming alongside with livestock and farming businesses.
The relationship between the Jieng livestock owner, Nuer truck company owner, and Moru farm owner developed deeper and deeper. They learned more and more about each other and about each other’s families. The children of Moru man were pestering their parents about wanting to see and learn about cows. They wanted to have a cattle camp experience. At the same time, the children of livestock owner were trying to persuade their parents to take them to Yambio so that they could learn how varieties of fruits and vegetables were grown. All the parents eventually gave in. They arranged their holidays in such a way that they all spend time in one destination before they move to the next destination. A Shilluk businessman, who owned buses, facilitated all this. Those buses were labeled, ‘). . . . . We Join the Dots for Identity’
Later on, similar businesses and connections sprung up all over South Sudan. The government then decided to send livestock and farm owners for training in countries such as Holland and USA. The livestock owners need to learn the techniques of improving the breed so that their herds produce more milk and farmers need to learn modern agricultural methods and productivity. With businesses such as these, South Sudan became self-sufficient. Its people were no longer in need of foreign aide.
Food has its place in South Sudanese culture. The menus in restaurants reflected all the favourite food of Nuer, Jieng, Nuer, Zande, Balanda, etc, etc. There was a well-known expression, ‘You are what you eat!’ The population of South Sudan fed on milk produced in Bahr El Ghazal, fruits and vegetables from Equatoria, and fish from Upper Nile. All these products were distributed evenly in all areas of South Sudan. The people looked healthier, their attitudes to each became positive: no more hatred, no more negative labeling, no more fear of travelling anywhere in South Sudan. They have internally liberated themselves and they have acquired spatial freedom as a result.
(A Conversation between Gatluak Chuol (Nuer) and John Smith (a USA citizen) while standing)
John Smith: ‘what’s your tribe? What are you? Could you tell me that, please?’
Gatluak Chuol: ‘I’m a Nuer; I’m a Jieng; I’m a Bari; I’m a Shilluk; I’m a ….’
(They both took chairs and sat down as Gatluak continued)
‘I’m a Murle; I’m a Jur; I’m a Fertit; I’m an Anyuak….
(John, losing interest, put his hand on his cheek to support his head, then closing his eyes, pretending to be having a nap. Gatluak shook him to wake him up)
‘Why are you sleeping while I’m still talking? I haven’t finished telling you who I’m. There are 27 tribes more to tell you. Ok?’
‘I’m a Balanda; I’m a ….’
John: ‘This answer of yours is ridiculously too long. Why don’t you just say you are a South Sudanese?’
Gatluak: ‘Oh yeah. That’s what I’m. You asked me to tell you my tribe and I’m made up of 64 tribes. If you think my answer is ridiculously too long, why then did you ask me to tell you my tribe in the first place? It’s your fault. (Raising his voice), I’m a South Sudanese. Ok?’
This is what the vision Construct Our New Identity feels like.
The Hype of Hatred and “Land grabbing” will be the next topic in the series. I will post it next Saturday. The writer can be reached at thiik_giir@hotmail.com
The opinion expressed here is solely the view of the writer. The veracity of any claim made are the responsibility of the author, not PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers (SSB) website. If you want to submit an opinion article or news analysis, please email it to paanluel2011@gmail.com. SSB do reserve the right to edit material before publication. Please include your full name, email address and the country you are writing.
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