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Research Highlights
5
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July 2001
Dispersed Peoples
==============
Dispersed people
groups (diaspora) present special problems of identification, which often
indicate even more complex issues for strategy developement. They are often
known by names they are called by the dominant ethnic groups. Thus the same
people group may be hidden under multiple names in the database.
Gypsy/Dom
=========
E
xample -- The DOM people in the Middle East. The Dom are one branch of the
people cluster commonly called "Gypsy" in English. The other major branch,
called Rom or Romany, are well known in Europe and America.
We find the Dom listed under names like
(1) Zott, Nawar, Ghagar (Arabic names in various places),
(2) Ghorbati (Persian) and
(3) Kurbat (Arabic in Syria).
The Dom Research Center lists 44 names by which this people group are called, across 24 countries! The Dom further have individual tribe and clan names.
The Dom are highly adaptable culturally and linguistically. Some no longer speak Domari, their original language. Many speak Arabic or Persian as a native language. Thus communication strategy has to consider separate language strategies.
Even in all their diversity, the Dom seem to still maintain a common identity. In this regard it would seem best to consider the Dom as one large people group, listed by language, with many segments defined by guild, tribal patterns or other cultural characteristics. Thus all the entries of these peoples will be modified to the name Dom, with alternative names Gypsy and the dominant local name.
Identification
===========
Visit the
Dom Research Center for suggestions on identification and grouping that
might apply to your people group.
For more on how to define a "people," check: What is a People Group? Cities and People Groups
Worldview and Communication
=========================
Underlying all
our research and media training is the worldview of the people groups. We
find most peoples of the world are not literate and abstract in the western
sense, but oral and relational in culture and learning style.
Early cultural experiences set the basic patterns for understanding the world around us, and for dealing with later experiences. Significant shared experiences with our family and other close society become the basis of worldview and the social patterns for living.
Read more about worldview
and experience.
Worldviews change in response to great social or technological changes. This is one reason new people groups come into existence or die out. Cities are a great cooking pot for new cultures and ethnic identities. Worldviews are changing and new worldviews are developing. So worldview discovery never ends.
Read how new people groups develop in response to new conditions.
Many other resources are found in the Strategy Leader Resource Kit.
Additional resources are available on my new publishing site:
Thoughts and Resources
Take a look at the new series: What is Culture?
Please feel free to share this newsletter with others.
Last Updated 03 January 2005
Web Sites
=========
Please send us
your people group web site address.
Link to
Us ========= We invite you to place a link on your site to our primary resource sites: The Virtual Research Centre http://virtualresearch.org Or http://virtualresearch.org/ The Strategy Leader Resource Kit http://strategyleader.org |
Banner
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- Orville Jenkins (OBJ) <
researchguy@iname.com> <
orville@jenkins.nu>
Copyright © Orville Boyd Jenkins 2001
Permission given for free download and use for personal
and educational purposes. All other rights reserved.
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