 Vadoma people withectrodactyly | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Zimbabwe | |
 Zimbabwe | 16,000?[1] |
| Languages | |
| Dema,Korekore Shona,Kunda | |
| Religion | |
| Seventh-Day Adventist,African Traditional Religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Khoisan,Shona | |
TheDoma orvaDoma (singularmuDoma), also known asDema orWadoma,[2] are a tribe living in theKanyemba region in the north ofZimbabwe, especially in the Hurungwe and Chipuriro districts around the basins of Mwazamutanda River, a tributary of theZambezi River Valley. They are the only traditionalhunter-gatherers indigenous to Zimbabwe and are famous for the inheritedectrodactyly existing among some vaDoma families at much higher rates than typical globally.
The vaDoma speak theDema language, which is closely related to the dominantShona language of Zimbabwe and largely comprehensible to those who speak the Korekore and Tande Shona dialects.[3] Living alongside Shona and Kunda people in Kanyemba, they also speakKorekore Shona andKunda.
According to vaDomamythology, their ancestors emerged from abaobab tree. Upon descending from it, they walked upright to hunt and gather the fruits of the land.[4] The name vaDoma is also used in the Zambezi region for a semi-mythical people characterized as magical, capricious, hard to find, and living among the trees. This may refer toKhoisan hunter-gatherers who preceded themigration of the Bantu Shona into the Zambezi Valley, and the vaDoma are possibly related to this earlier population.[5] Rumors also persist among nearby peoples that the vaDoma are capable of disappearing in the forest and performing magic.
Historically, the vaDoma chiefly dwelt in the mountains, living a largelynomadic lifestyle of hunting, fishing, trapping,honey hunting, and gathering wild fruits and roots.[6] Prior to theEuropean colonization of Africa, the vaDoma also resisted incorporation into the Korekore Shonakingdom of Mutapa,[3] which resulted in little access to fertile land.[7]Land reform after Zimbabwe's independence did not change this, despite pressure from theMugabe government, and the vaDoma's continuing dispossession has made them Zimbabwe's only non-agricultural society, leading to stereotypes as "Stone Age cave-dwellers".[8][better source needed]
The mountain homeland of the vaDoma has now become theChewore Safari Area.[9] In recent years, vaDoma have been threatened by game rangers due to a crackdown onpoaching. Many abandoned their hunter-gatherer lifestyle and moved to the lowlands. Today, though they have little contact with the majority populace, many vaDoma families live settled lives as semi-foragers, building houses on wooden platforms to avoid predators. During rainfall, they cover the shelters with thatching. vaDoma are also reluctant to wear textile fabrics.[7][10] In 2014, theSeventh-day Adventist Church built Mariga Primary School to educate vaDoma children.[4]
A substantial minority of vaDoma have a condition known asectrodactyly in which the middle three toes are absent and the two outer ones are turned in, resulting in the tribe being known as the "two-toed" or "ostrich-footed" tribe. This is anautosomal dominant condition resulting from a single mutation onchromosome 3.[2][failed verification] It is reported that those with the condition are not handicapped and are well integrated into the tribe. While possibly an aid in tree climbing, the condition prevails because of a small genetic pool among the vaDoma and is propagated by the tribal law that forbids members to marry outside the group.[2]
Due to the vaDoma tribe's isolation, they have developed and maintained ectrodactyly, and their comparatively small gene pool has resulted in the condition being much more frequent than elsewhere.[2] The Talaunda/TalaoteKalanga of the Kalahari Desert also have a number of members with ectrodactyly and may share common ancestry with the VaDoma.[2]
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