Editing Caste (section)

=== Horn of Africa ===
In Ethiopia, there have been a number of studies of castes. Broad studies of castes have been written by [[Alula Pankhurst]], who has published a study of caste groups in [[South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region|SW Ethiopia]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pankhurst |first=Alula |date=1999 |title='Caste' in Africa: the evidence from south-western Ethiopia reconsidered |journal=[[Africa (journal)|Africa]] |volume=69 |number=4 |pages=485–509 |doi=10.2307/1160872 |jstor=1160872}}</ref> and a later volume by Dena Freeman writing with Pankhurst.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=D. |last2=Pankhurst |first2=A. |date=2003 |title=Peripheral people: The excluded minorities of Ethiopia |location=Lawrenceville, NJ |publisher=Red Sea Press}}</ref>{{pn|date=February 2025}}

[[File:NSRW Africa Midgan.png|thumb|upright|The [[Madhiban]] (Midgan) specialise in leather occupation. Along with the Tumal and Yibir, they are collectively known as ''sab''.<ref name="Lewis" />]]
In a review published in 1977, Todd reports that numerous scholars report a system of social stratification in different parts of Africa that resembles some or all aspects of caste system. Examples of such caste systems, he claims, are to be found in [[Ethiopia]] in communities such as the [[Gurage people|Gurage]] and [[Konso people|Konso]]. He then presents the Dime of Southwestern Ethiopia, amongst whom there operates a system which Todd claims can be unequivocally labelled as caste system. The Dime have seven castes whose size varies considerably. Each broad caste level is a hierarchical order that is based on notions of purity, non-purity and impurity. It uses the concepts of defilement to limit contacts between caste categories and to preserve the purity of the upper castes. These caste categories have been exclusionary, endogamous and the social identity inherited.<ref>{{cite journal |title=La Caste en Afrique? (Caste in Africa?) |first=D. M. |last=Todd |journal=[[Africa (journal)|Africa]] |date=October 1977 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=398–412 |doi=10.2307/1158345 |jstor=1158345 |s2cid=144428371}}</ref>

Among the [[Kingdom of Kafa|Kafa]], there were also traditionally groups labelled as castes. "Based on research done before the Derg regime, these studies generally presume the existence of a social hierarchy similar to the caste system. At the top of this hierarchy were the Kafa, followed by occupational groups including blacksmiths (Qemmo), weavers (Shammano), bards (Shatto), potters, and tanners (Manjo). In this hierarchy, the Manjo were commonly referred to as hunters, given the lowest status equal only to slaves."<ref>{{cite book |first=Sayuri |last=Yoshida |chapter=Why did the Manjo convert to Protestant? Social Discrimination and Coexistence in Kafa, Southwest Ethiopia? |title=Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies |editor1-first=Svein |editor1-last=Ege |editor2-first=Harald |editor2-last=Aspen |editor3-first=Birhanu |editor3-last=Teferra |editor4-first=Shiferaw |editor4-last=Bekele |location=Trondheim |date=2009 |pages=299–309 [299]}}</ref>

The [[Borana Oromo]] of southern [[Ethiopia]] in the [[Horn of Africa]] also have a class system, wherein the Wata, an acculturated hunter-gatherer group, represent the lowest class. Though the Wata today speak the [[Oromo language]], they have traditions of having previously spoken another language before adopting Oromo.<ref name="Westermann">{{cite book |first1=Edwin William |last1=Smith |first2=Cyril Daryll |last2=Forde |first3=Diedrich |last3=Westermann |title=Africa |year=1981|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=853}}</ref>

The traditionally nomadic [[Somali people]] are divided into clans, wherein the [[Rahanweyn]] agro-pastoral clans and the occupational clans such as the [[Madhiban]] were traditionally sometimes treated as outcasts.<ref>{{cite book |first=I. M. |last=Lewis |title=A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa |publisher=LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster |date=1999 |pages=13–14}}</ref> As Gabooye, the Madhiban along with the [[Yibir]] and Tumaal (collectively referred to as ''sab'') have since obtained political representation within [[Somalia]], and their general social status has improved with the expansion of urban centers.<ref name="Lewis">{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=I. M. |title=Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society |year=2008 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-70084-9 |page=8}}</ref>