From the beginning, the Acholi were marginal compared to Britain's concern with Buganda, at the core of the colony. According to the latest census, there are 1.47 million ethnic Acholi in Uganda, amounting to 4.4 per cent of the total population. for social control, though one of the attractions that assisted the During Obote's first term as president, and especially during his ETHNONYMS: Ebantfu ba kwa Ngwane (the people of Ngwane), emaSwati, emaSwazi, Swati This disorder in Acholi contrasts sharply with the solid organisation of Buganda, which always has a centralized, well-thought out and weighted responses to critical issues such as land and political contention that affect the kingdom. The third group of spirits were those of unknown persons and dangerous beasts; these were hostile, personified as ghosts, believed to cause sickness and other misfortunes, and dealt with by means of spirit possession. When the victorious NRA started violent acts of vengeance in the following years, . When Britain established its rule during the early twentieth century, both ideological predisposition and practical utility prompted the colonizers to consider the Acholi a "tribe" and to administer the area as a "tribal" unit. The republican constitution adopted in 1967 abolished the monarchies and assigned ultimate political power to an elected president. World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. to the land by Kuturia caused a lot of death in the sub-region of Acholi. (p. 34). Finally a common social order and political culture developed, and new society and commonly, almost any salaried job in the public or private sector Pottery and basket making were widespread and relatively nonspecialized arts, carried out by both men and women. University of Bradford eThesis This thesis is hosted in Bradford Scholars - The University of Bradford Open Access repository. The council's representatives could mediate issues between clans, and essentially covered both civil and criminal functions, like a Supreme Court. Much of that hierarchy continued into the independence era. (1991). The political ramifications for Uganda, however, were severe. As they have for centuries, Acholi farmers rely mainly on iron hoes and other hand tools. organisation to survive, a common identity had to form to support this new social structure of The Acholi occupy a 39,000-square-kilometer area, three-fourths of which lies within Uganda, extending roughly from 215 to 4159 N and 3325 to 3345 E. Their neighbors include the Luo-speaking Lango, Paluo, and Alur to the south and southwest, the Central Sudanic-speaking Madi to the west, and the Eastern Nilotic Jie and Karamojong to the east. In . With colonial rule "Acholi rule and since independence, have often reflected preexisting [6] While Acholi also lives north of the South Sudanese border, the Sudanese Acholi are often excluded from the political meaning of the term "Acholiland". Extensive mission activity in Acholi by both Protestants and Catholics has attracted many followers since the second decade of the twentieth century. Atkinson, Ronald R. (1989). [CDATA[ But a chief's territory seldom corresponded to any pre-colonial entity, while his wide-ranging executive and judicial powers were a complete novelty. in Acholi since the mid-1980s) have led to a breakdown of any meaningful As of September 2009, large numbers of Acholi people remain in camps as internally displaced persons. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. Latigo (2006), "Northern Uganda", p. 90-92, Branch, A. point to the most recent violent conflict was the overthrow of the Okello-led government by the Apart from hundreds of thousands of deaths and tens of thousands being abducted, The most common domestic animals are (and have long been) chickens and goats, with some cattle, especially in the dryer portions of Acholi. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. A rebellion The personal and group loss resulting from death is acknowledged as real and permanent. Identification and Location. The Acholi were considered a martial people by the British, and many joined the military. This cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website. Deep-rooted divisions and polarization remain between different ethnic groups, and these have been greatly exacerbated by the way in which the countrys leadership has developed since independence. At first fighting against the insurgence of the army of the central government, the This cookie is set by doubleclick.net. Marriage has been typically patrilocal and patriarchal, with the husband and father as the undisputed head of the household. (Ugandan Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs 1997. The Southern Lwoo language group POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. Most political organizations take the form of a voluntary association of persons or organizations that pools its members' and constituents' financial and other resources, and engages in conventional political actions to affect policy-making outcomes. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 30 Chiefly authority was however not absolute, as power was shared with lineage elders ( ladit kaka) and political authority was mainly vested in Okot p'Bitek (1971). became more frequent, more deadly, and more widely spread. (Whitmire, 2013, p. 46). The (1988). 61). Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Certain rwodi and interpreters began to accumulate some of the new wealth brought into Acholi by international trade, and descendants of some of these men used their inherited wealth to build up prominent twentieth-century families. Vincent (2012), a Gulu-based social control in the area. state, political organization of society, or the body politic, or, more narrowly, the institutions of government. More During Uganda's colonial period, the British encouraged political and economic development in the south of the country, in particular among the Baganda. more. (p. 34). The LRA has been targeting civilians, the majority being their own tribe, the Acholi. Malandra, Alfred (1939). Starting in the late seventeenth century, a new sociopolitical order developed among the Luo of Northern Uganda, mainly characterized by the formation of chiefdoms headed by Rwodi (sg. them Shuuli, based on their language being similar to Shilluk from South Sudan. 1544957. Comprising less than 5 percent of the country's population, during the early years of independence the Acholi constituted more than 15 percent of the police force and fully a third of the army. expression of difference, but one of a common political ideology and identity (Whitmire, 2013, Industrial Arts. The conflict had dramatic effects on the local Idi Amin was also from north Uganda, but was of the Kakwa people. Since Ugandan forces pushed the LRA out of Northern Uganda, the majority were able to return to their homes, though without much in the way of government support. At the peak of the conflict, 90% of the Acholi population moved into IDP camps designed as protected villages. [12] These camps had some of the highest mortality rates in the world, with an estimated 1,000 people dying per week at one point. Historian Mark Curtis says that after Amin instigated a coup, Britain, the United States, and Israel quietly backed Amin and his campaign against the socialist-leaning President Milton Obote in 1971. Precolonial trade, both within Acholi and throughout the region, focused mainly on obtaining iron ore and finished iron products in exchange for baskets or products of the farm, herd, or hunt. Given the anti-Museveni sentiment of most Acholis, the LRA's inability to mobilize support - or to at least avoid repudiation by its own ethnic base - is remarkable. Situated 1,025 to 1,350 meters above sea level, the Acholi landscape is typical East African game countryrolling grasslands with scattered trees, streams, and rock outcrops. [26], In 2016, the multi award-winning film, A Brilliant Genocide was produced. Orientation Acholi have played a pivotal role in the turbulent post-independence era. The earliest modern African political organization in Kenya Colony sought to protest pro-settler policies, and increased taxes on Africans and the despised Kipande (Identifying metal band worn around the neck). A Study of the Acooli Language: Grammar and Vocabulary. in the Western Nilotic branch of Nilo-Saharan. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. 116-25 Section 3101, requires electronic filing by exempt organizations in tax years beginning after July 1, 2019. "The Ancestral Shrine of the Acholi." Social Organization. The name "Acholi" is used for peoples living in the former Acholi District of northern Uganda (now divided into the Gulu and Kitgum districts) and the adjoining area of the southern Sudan. ETHNONYMS: Mende (Men-day), Mendes, Huro, Wuro Other uncategorised cookies are those that are being analysed and have not been classified into a category as yet. "[15] Although they were believed to have supernatural powers, the chiefs ruled through a Council of Clan Elders, so they never ruled singlehandedly. Similarly, General Okello Lutwa who toppled the Obote II regime, was an Acholi. Dwyer, John O. London: Oxford University Press. While Acholi also lives north of the South Sudaneseborder, the Sudanese Acholi are often excluded from the political meaning of the term "Acholiland". They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 1orthern Uganda or Acholiland is formally known as the Acholi sub-region, an area inhab N - ited primarily by speakers of the Acholi language, whom I refer to as the Acholi. The Acholi region is bordered in the west by the districts heard of gun sound, they were used to only lightning thunder sound. journalist who created an account of the history and traditions of the Acholi, wrote that the Crazzolara, J. P. (1950-1954). It has similarity with Alur, Padhola language, and other Luo languages in South Sudan Shilluk, Anuak,Pari, Balanda, Boor, Thuri. Aristotle wrote that politics stems . The Acholi are the descendants of a variety of Luo-speaking peoples who are believed to have migrated three or four centuries ago from adjacent areas of what is now South Sudan into what is now the Acholi district of Uganda. The Acholi have a modified Iroquois kinship-terminology system, reflecting Acholi's patrilineal and patrilocal ideology. During the colonial period, political leadership in Acholi was contested among those with traditional leadership qualifications and others who benefited from the new dispensation, including collaborators with the British and those who managed to obtain Western education. We have a small favour to ask: if you appreciate our work, would you mind considering making a donation to support our work? The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. Atkinson, Ronald R. (1994). He had established the Equatorial Province in 1870 Acholi: Talking Politics in Northern Uganda Many Ugandans follow politics with keen interest, and President Yoweri Musevei's 34-year tenure notwithstanding, politics is a frequent topic of in-depth conversation and spirited debate among friends and acquaintances, and my conversations with my mentor are no exception. Crazzolara, J. P. (1938). While rwodi, members of royal lineages, and lineage heads all seem to have been somewhat better off than others before the latter part of the nineteenth century, social stratification appears limited, owing primarily to both limited wealth in the society and redistribution. and created larger political They are speakers of Western Nilotic languages and are traditionally farmers. This cookie is used to enable payment on the website without storing any payment information on a server. For example, among Acholi, husbands pay a bride price to their wives fathers, and this payment supports the traditional belief that women are the property of the husband, since a payment was made for her. https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/acholi, "Acholi "Acholi Some Acholi mothers exclaim that they do not know their sons after they have been away in the army. Men have also traditionally played a significant role in agriculture, especially for such time-limited, labor-intensive tasks as clearing, planting, and harvesting (often as part of lineage-based cooperative labor teams). collective identity evolved, and a common language (Luo) spread. (Atkinson, 2011 During this period of growing integration into the colonial trade routes, the Acholi chiefdoms The Acholi have small chiefdoms of one or more villages, each with several patrilineal clans. In the precolonial era, warfare, herding, and hunting were the domain of men. Kinship Terminology. In the past, medical problems were addressed through approaches to various spirits, by visits to diviners, and by the use of herbs, roots, and other folk medicines. The camps caused misery and sufferingwith a conservative death toll of 1,000 people a week. prefix a- denoting the 1st Person Singular (Whitmire, 2013, p. 51). With colonial rule came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the authority of a district commissioner. were able gain wealth by trading mainly in ivory. (1972). The history and politics of ethnicity and language 37. Acholi by international trade, and descendants of some of these men used In precolonial Acholi, lineage heads and elders were most responsible for social control, though one of the attractions that assisted the development of chiefdoms seems to have been the ability of rwodi to help settle disputes that involved more than one lineage. The Fipa are a Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Tanzania in East-Central Africa. During the colonial period, political leadership in Acholi was This complex process was helped along by two major droughts, probably during the 1720s and c. 1790, which promoted larger-scale political leadership that held the promise of greater stability and security, and by the formation of neighboring identities against which members of an emergent Acholi could compete, compare, and define themselves. The LRA received much of its financial, logistical and military support from the Khartoum government in neighbouring Sudan. Since independence, a relatively few Acholi army officers have managed In terms of the afterlife, although spirits of the dead are believed to continue to exist and manifest themselves, there is no belief in a heaven to reward the virtuous or a hell to punish the sinful. into the 1990s, Acholi was the scene of similar levels of conflict. "Some Notes on Acholi Religious Ceremonies." Okot p'Bitek's epic poem, Song of Lawino, debates Acholi customs around the time that Uganda became independent. areas of the Buganda Kingdom and their main trading routes extended eastwards towards Kenya, The Acholi resisted the establishment of the It was a system of governance fully integrated with their religion and cosmology. Doom, Ruddy and Koen Vlassenroot. 1 Northern Uganda or Acholiland is formally known as the Acholi sub-region, an area inhab-ited primarily by speakers of the Acholi language, whom I refer to as the Acholi. The size and nature of this occasion depend on the age and status of the deceased, with the most lavish and festive celebrations taking place when the person who died was both aged and important. Western Nilotic Eastern Nilotic Southern Nilotic, Burun Lwoo Nuer-Dinka Teso-Turkana Bari Maa-Lotuko, North South With the coming of the ivory and slave trades, and the firearms that accompanied them, conflict became more frequent, more deadly, and more widely spread. One obvious candidate, Bazilio Olara-Okello who, although unrelated to Tito Okello, was, as in the case of Oyite Ojok, another officer who participated in the overthrow of Idi Amin. B. K. (1994). Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. be possessed by a spirit named Lakwena, the so-called Holy Spirit Movement fought a rebellion Uganda, leading raids all over the region. The 1980 population of the Uganda Acholi was approximately 580,000 (Kasozi 1994, ii), up from some 465,000 in 1969 (Langlands 1971), perhaps 125,000 in 1900 and about 100,000 at the end of the eighteenth century (Atkinson 1994, 275-281). The settlement of the Acholi in their current territory is compared to the ethnic groups in the The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". 30. It refers to people known locally as Luo Gang. find its conclusion until the 19th century. Colonial rule brought the penetration of a money economy into Acholi, along with the establishment of numerous rural and small-town trading centers and the two major urban centers of Gulu and Kitgum, where a range of local and imported goods are available. Identification. At its peak in 2005 over In the most recent phase of the cycle, beginning in the mid-1980s, Acholi has largely been on the receiving end of the violence. environment and larger distances between settlements kept the hierarchical structures common identity had already formed prior to that during the 18th century. Ironworking, mainly but not entirely confined to certain lineages, appears to be almost as ancient as agriculture, going back perhaps to the first millennium b.c. The Acholi's harrowing ordeal began under Idi Amin's dictatorship in the seventies. groups, the Ugandan army, and Karamojong raiders (who have been active that included areas now belonging to South Sudan and the northern regions of Uganda. friendly, but after the inception of the British Protectorate of Uganda in 1894, which included Notable among the Acholi soldiers who made the ranks were Gen. Tito Okello-Lutwa, Brig. After his own father, however, a man's strongest kinship ties are typically with his mother's brother. The major art forms of the Acholi have been drumming, singing, and dancing. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. The word 'Acholi' is a misnomer that became adopted for convenience over the years. Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. colonial times, were the Acholi stood often in opposition to the British colonial rule, the starting In 2005, the new International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and other top LRA commanders. Rwot, 'ruler'). Identification. Mothers are responsible for the initial care of their children and for much of their socialization. higher now, due to the ongoing growth in population. Acholi Sub-region is consist of seven districts, namely; Gulu, Kitgum, Lamwo, Pader, Agago, Amuru and Nwoya, and are situtated in northern Uganda. p. 41). Since 1996 this policy has expanded to encompass the entire rural Acholi population of four districts, one million people. The long civil war in the North has destroyed much of their society. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau. [10] Peace talks beginning in 2005 promised some relief to these people, and some camps were closed in 2007 as security in the north improved. They were approached in regard to such general concerns as good health, fertility, and appeals or thanks for good harvests in ceremonies that usually emphasized the consciousness, cohesiveness, and continuation of their respective groups as functioning corporate entities. 1679-1914." Common synonyms for this type of organization are "interest groups," "pressure groups," and . Stream and swamp fishing are important. The documentary focused on the unofficial discourse of the LRA war and it was largely critical of the Ugandan government role in the LRA war. Then a final dance and feast takes place at a time chosen to make possible the maximum attendance by relatives and other interested people. The civil war devastated the lives and livelihoods of the Acholi people of the north. It is Localized patrilineal lineages, some of which have "brother" lineages of the same or different name in other parts of Acholi, have long been the fundamental social and economic units in Acholi. There were the spirits of known relatives, especially lineage ancestors; a second type was the nonancestral jok of the chiefdom as a whole. Conflict. Farming and hunting dominated the live in this rural This period of increased contact with non-Acholi accelerated the While Bantu speaking groups had begun to occupy This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Milton Obote, the independence leader, relied heavily on the support of his fellow Luo-speakers Acholi and Langi in government. The Acholi of Uganda: Adjustment to Imperialism. million first language speakers at the time. According to Latigo, prior to colonialism, "the Acholi people maintained a traditional government that was rooted firmly in their religious beliefs, norms, and customs, which demanded peace and stability in Acholiland at all times, based on their philosophy of life. ETHNONYM: Karanga (historical) This paper is a case study analysis of the sociological phenomena of forgiveness occurring in an ongoing two-decade war in northern Uganda. Uganda Journal 7(1): 27-43. Instead, the Acholi were integrated in the The Population Geography of Acholi District. Hansen, Holger B., and Michael Twaddle, eds. These rebellions sprung up in defiance and from disapproval of the conduct and legitimacy of the new NRA government. latest redrawing of the administrative divisions, it contains seven districts; Agago, Amuru, Gulu, families living together in hamlets. interpreters began to accumulate some of the new wealth brought into Abstract The aim of this thesis will be to decipher why Acholi ethnic identity remained such a critical political tool in late and post-colonial Uganda, from 1950-1985, just before the outbreak of civil war in 1986. Following the The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". All lineage males, for example, are called "grandfather," "father," "brother," or "son," and all (likely resident) females "sister" or "daughter," depending upon their generational relationship to the speaker. The colonial experience of the Acholi differed greatly from the experience of those in the As some of these languages show some form He understood the emergence of an Acholi identity as a final step in a social process that did not Identification. The primary language of Acholi today is Luo, a Western Nilotic language spoken by groups scattered across East Africa from the southern Sudan to Tanzania; many also speak English and/or Kiswahili. . [13] The refugees in the camps have also been subject to raids by both LRA and government forces.[10]. B.A. Kin Groups and Descent. As droughts and This structure was maintained by the real anointed chiefs of the Acholi, the rwodi moo. The first government chiefs, appointed from 1912 onwards, represented a measure of continuity with the pre-colonial order, since they were nearly all drawn from the ranks of the clan leaders. colonial rule in their region for decades, before finally being integrated in the Ugandan territory In the administrative structure of Uganda, Acholi is composed of the districts of: It encompasses about 28,500km2 (11,000 square miles) near the Uganda-Sudan border.[5]. In precolonial Acholi, lineage heads and elders were most responsible In East African Childhood: Three Versions, edited by L. K. Fox, 43-75. neighboring chiefdoms within the same zone. Malaria and AIDS have been the primary disease causes of deaths. The relationship between the Acholi and the British had for a long time been rather loose and "Kony's Message: A New Koine?". The Tonga occupy much of Southern Province in Zambia (formerly No, ETHNONYMS: Batswana, Bechuana (colonial appellation) second Milton Obote regimes, however, as well as of the various rebel Political Organization. cooperation of their rwot (chief) Aliker with the British, the centre of the colonial With independence, the Acholi remained marginal within the framework of Uganda as a whole, with one crucial exception: their disproportionate numbers in the police and army. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. others who benefited from the new dispensation, including collaborators Most prominent among them was the Uganda People's Army (UPA) in Teso and Lango sub region, the West Nile Bank Frontiers (WNBF) in the West Nile region, the Uganda People's Democratic Army, the Holy Spirit Movement and the LRA in the Acholi region. Recognized compensation and reconciliation procedures seem to have often limited or prevented serious conflict, especially among neighboring chiefdoms within the same zone. The relationship between (real) brother and sister is often very close, especially when one acts as the lapidi (nurse-child) to the other, as are the bonds between the children of sisters. of them innocent civilianslost their lives; from the mid-1980s Building on a long-term relationship with the region and utilizing the methods of participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and a qualitative questionnaire, I identify two especially important social mechanisms that correlate with the prevalence .
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