SUMMARY
The Degodia (also called Digodia and Digodi) are part of the Somali Hawiye clan family and live in southeastern Ethiopia and northeastern Kenya. More specifically, in Ethiopia the group is mainly located in Somali region’s Liben and Afder zones, making up a substantial part of the population in especially Liben zone’s Liben and Dolo Odo woredas (districts). In Kenya the Degodia inhabit North Eastern province’s Wajir and Moyale districts, as well as Eastern province’s Isiolo district.
The Degodia are by tradition mixed species pastoralists who move between wet- and dry season pastures. Their herds include camels, cattle and small stock, such as goats and sheep. Apart from herding, some Degodia have in recent times also taken up riverbank agriculture along the Dawa and Ganale rivers in Ethiopia.
The group is divided into ten sub-clans (reer), which in turn are divided into lineages. The social unit of the greatest importance in every-day life is the degma, or settlement; a territorial unit of nomadic shelters and livestock enclosures, among which resources are shared. Each sub-clan has a leader who in turn is part of a Council of Clans. The so-called Wabar is the paramount chief of the Council of Clans and overall leader of the Degodia. Together the Council of Clans and the Wabar run the affairs of the Degodia according to customary law, and decisions are often taken after democratic debates have been held in assemblies. This traditional power structure still functions, but has been weakened over time.
Alliances shift rapidly in the region inhabited by the Degodia. The two principal ethnic groupings are the Somali and the Oromo, and while the Degodia is most often regarded as part of the former, this is neither uncomplicated nor uncontested. Depending on the current state of alliance, many of the groups in the region can revise their overarching ethnic affiliation, which makes them difficult to categorise.
This change of affiliation is facilitated through three different traditional identity divisions which can be stressed more or less depending on the situational needs. First is the above mentioned Oromo versus Somali division, identified by language. Somali here refers to the use of Somali language, and not to the Somali nationality. Due to a long history of mutual interaction, many people in the region speak both the Boran dialect of Oromo and the Somali fluently, but depending on the current affiliation, consider one as their own language and the other as a foreign tongue. The second division is that between Islam (Somali) and the Boran Orormo age-grade system, with the latter being considered as a religious institution and a counter-weight to Islam. Note that most Boran Oromo are Muslims as well, but stress this affiliation less than the Somali. The third and last division is that between Worr Dasse and Worr Buyye, a distinction along the lines of life form. The Worr Dasse (translated: People of the mats) life in mat-covered tents and are usually Somali or Somali-like camel nomads, while the Worr Buyye (translated: People of the grass) life in grass-covered huts and are normally Boran cattle-keepers.
Historically the Degodia have emphasized their Somali-ness, oftentimes siding with fellow Somali groups in conflict settings. However, for a period during the 1980s and 1990s the group for a number of reasons grew closer to the Oromo (especially the Borana), even temporarily revising their genealogy so as to indicate a common origin.
The Degodia have been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
