UCLA History 111C Group 7
Population
Population: 3,694,755 (July 2021 est.) (Central Intelligence Agency)
Why it is significant:
As of September 2020, 57.70% of the population were Omani citizens while 42.30% were expatriates. Considering the small population, the Omani portion of the population includes a series of closely-knit groups. The vast majority of the population lives along the coast in the north in the capital city Muscat, and in the farther south city of Salalah.
Religion
Muslim 85.9%, Christian 6.5%, Hindu 5.5%, Buddhist 0.8%, Jewish <0.1%, other 1%, unaffiliated 0.2% (2010 est.) (Central Intelligence Agency)
Why it is significant: Roughly 75% of Omanis are a part of the Islamic branch called Ibadism. Zanzibar was an important center for many Islamic scholars irrespective of the branch in the 1830s. Oman’s colonization of the island played a large role in the shift in Zanzibaris from being Shafi'i Muslims to Ibadis. It is also essential to note that Oman is the only Ibadi majority country. A large aspect of Ibadism is tolerance and respect which has played a role in Omani law allowing for more diversity (religious and ethnic) and coexistence in comparison to its neighboring countries (Hoffman, 201).
Ethnic Group
Ethnic groups: Arab, Baluchi, South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi), African (Central Intelligence Agency)
Why it is significant: As can be seen, there are many different ethnic groups in Oman. In addition to a high degree of ethnic diversity, there are a lot of tribal/clan differentiations among ethnic groups as well. As Interviewee B pointed out: “Arab is an ethnicity, not a race. There is a group that are Arab, but in the way that the term Hispanic works these days. You can be anything, but it just means you speak Spanish is how Arab just means that you speak Arabic. All over the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, and parts of East Africa, there are so many people that identify as Arab and they look nothing alike. You can be very, very pale and you can be very, very dark and you're still Arab. You're still as ingrained in your our culture, but then our culture itself isn't a monotonous, single thing.”
Basic Information about Oman
Zanzibaris as a Part of the Swahili Cultural Group
It is important to note that we recognize that Zanzibaris are only a small portion of the larger Kiswahili cultural group that exists within Oman and in East Africa. The label “Zanzibari” or “Zinjibari” is in no way used as a negatively-connotated term rather only used based off of individuals who were comfortable with the label and academic sources that used the label throughout their work. We recognize those from other Swahili-speaking origins including Mombasa, Malindi, Uganda, Burundi, and so forth… yet for the purpose of this presentation, we will be exclusively focusing on the history and narrative of those from modern-day Zanzibar specifically Stone Town and the entire island of Unguja.
Source: CIA 2010
Religious Identifications in Oman
