3 vols. Since the Lords Resistance Army was largely pushed out of Northern Uganda, the majority of Acholi more than 80 per cent have been able to return to their homes. environment and larger distances between settlements kept the hierarchical structures PUBLISHED: 30/01/2023. The insurgency's military. [10] General Tito Okello was an Acholi, and came to power in a military coup. groups, the Ugandan army, and Karamojong raiders (who have been active By the mid-nineteenth century, about 60 small chiefdoms existed in eastern Acholiland. The women have accomplished agriculturists, growing and processing a variety of food crops, including millet, simsim, groundnuts, peas, sorghum and vegetables. The combination of the two events, have put pressure on the LRA to lay down its arms. with the British and those who managed to obtain Western education. Industrial Arts. This period of increased contact with non-Acholi accelerated the The Acholi or Acoli are part of Luo-speaking Nilotic people of East Africa who lives predominantly in Northern Uganda (an area commonly referred to as Acholiland), including the districts of Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, Nwoya, Lamwo, and Pader; and Magwe County in South Sudan. 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. Graduating Essay, Department of History, Makerere University (Kampala). Kitgum, Nwoya, Lamwo and Pader. This made the chiefs more independent from LRA, after losing support from the local population, also turned on the people of northern Kin Groups and Descent. "State Formation in Acholi: The Emergence of Obbo, Pajok, and Panyikwara States c. 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. [23] This resulted in resistance building up in the region and soon a host of rebel groups sprang up in the north. development of the chiefdom and clan system in the 17th and 18th century that is still a vital Specifically, this study explored, Living with Language. [22], In January 1986, the junta government of Gen. Tito Okello-Lutwa in Uganda was overthrown by Museveni and his NRA rebels. Millet is the staple food of the Acholi, and tobacco is grown for trade. In addition there were priest- or priestess-diviners, private practitioners who worked for the well-being of their clients, and witches, who worked in private for evil or destructive purposes. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Land Tenure. The Acholi's harrowing ordeal began under Idi Amin's dictatorship in the seventies. Estimated at 1,470,554 (4.4 per cent in the 2014 census). Divorce, which can occur for numerous reasons, is not uncommon and may or may not involve return of the bride-wealth; children, as members of the father's lineage, usually either stay with the father or return to him later. B. Webster, eds. Chiefs are chosen from one lineage. 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. But when Idi Amin overthrew Obotes first spell in power, and when Yoweri Musevini ousted Okello, the Acholi paid heavily for their allegiances. "The Ancestral Shrine of the Acholi." At first fighting against the insurgence of the army of the central government, the (1972). Army membership has also supplied a distinct, if largely negative, socializing influence on many Acholi young men. The men were skilled hunters, using nets and spears. Batswana are divided into a number of subgroups or "tribes": Bahurut, Shona 30. 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. Many of the Acholi soldiers who joined the Kings African Rifles (KAR), the British colonial army, were deployed to the frontlines in southeast Asia especially in Singapore and Burma during the World War II where they held British positions against an intense Japanese offensive. The movement hopes to strengthen the political and economic power of women in society and so push back destruction of the natural environment. census of 2014, those seven districts were combined inhabited by just under 1.4 million people Congo. B.A. Uganda Journal 19(1): 57-61. The largest political unit was the tribal section, regarded as the geographical nation. The camps caused misery and sufferingwith a conservative death toll of 1,000 people a week. deaths. Kinship Terminology. After weaning and up to the age of 5 or 6, however, much of the day-to-day caretaking of a child has customarily been done by an opposite-sex sibling or other preadolescent (often a member of the father's lineage), called lapidi (nurse-child). The building of houses and granaries has historically involved both men and women, with each performing specified functions. Okeny, Kenneth (1982). . ETHNONYMS: Balumbila, Batoka, Batonga, Bawe, Toka It refers to people known locally as Luo Gang. The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. Vincent (2012). PUBLISHED: 27/01/2023. Social Organization. They are speakers of Western Nilotic languages and are traditionally farmers. This trade brought new wealth into Acholi that was unevenly accumulated, with rwodi and interpreters (and eventually their sons and other kinsmen) the major beneficiaries. Organizational Politics. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This has continued in various guises ever since. These guns brought window.__mirage2 = {petok:"igNXChGgDPbig_bsHwJgxoRb9NTulTcrPPRjDe2iFNY-86400-0"}; [19], The religious leaders have tried to help end the conflict in the country of the last two decades and to reconcile the parties. These rebellions sprung up in defiance and from disapproval of the conduct and legitimacy of the new NRA government. Conflict. Apart from hundreds of thousands of deaths and tens of thousands being abducted, Ocheng, D. O. Localized lineages have been the fundamental social units in Acholi, 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. Identification and Location. M.A. At the height of the insurgency, 1.8 million people in the north were living in camps. Political Organization. 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. A company limited by guarantee in the UK no. Anywa Adhola With colonial rule came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the authority of a district commissioner. This term then This cookie is used to enable payment on the website without storing any payment information on a server. common identity had already formed prior to that during the 18th century. The cult-like militia has abducted an estimated 25,000 children over the years, forcing them to commit heinous atrocities against civilians. Arts. "[9], Milton Obote, the first leader after independence, relied on Acholi Luo people and Langi Nilo Hamites or Ateker peoples in government. The northerners also contributed to the further evolution of an Acholi identity, not only by introducing the name "Shuuli," which eventually became "Acholi," but by acting in ways that promoted Acholi as a meaningful ethnic and geographic entity. Identification. connected and intertwined chiefdoms. 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. the nations capital Kampala in 1988. The Acholi dialect is a Western Nilotic language, classified as Luo (or Lwo). 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. laws of social life among the Acholi were set up by the elders of the clans, regulating everything ETHNONYM: Karanga (historical) It is part of the Southern Lwoo languages 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 . Trade. Idi Amin was also from north Uganda, but was of the Kakwa people. The Acholi, unlike many of their southern neighbours, did not create a form of Further he described how this negative experience led to generally negative attitudes towards Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. (1936). London: James Currey. Each type of spirit had numerous ceremonies associated with it; many ceremonies included small offerings of food and drink. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. century, social stratification appears limited, owing primarily to both As of September 2009, large numbers of Acholi people remain in camps as internally displaced persons. (1976). 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. more. (p. 34). The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into western Kenya, and the Mara Region of Tanzania. Boys and girls are typically socialized into distinct gender roles, and do household and other chores accordingly. Then a final dance and feast takes place at a time chosen to make possible the maximum attendance by relatives and other interested people. When conflict did [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. Given the low population densities and minimal land pressure, almost anyone who was willing to clear and work unused land has been welcomed by lineage heads responsible for such land and, while they functioned, by the rwodi of chiefdoms within whose domains the land lay. During this period of growing integration into the colonial trade routes, the Acholi chiefdoms After his own father, however, a man's strongest kinship ties are typically with his mother's brother. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. "[20] They have continued to work to end the war through negotiation. Following the Uganda Journal 3(3): 175-202. Conflict. It is The Social Origins of Violence in Uganda, 1964-1 985. With the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan in 2005, and the establishment of the ex-rebel government in newly independent South Sudan in territory in which the LRA once operated freely, those lines of support have been substantially weakened, if not severed altogether. Hunting tracts are owned by clans. Political organizations are those engaged in political activities (e.g., lobbying, community organizing, campaign advertising, etc.) traditional local forms of organisation were based on smaller units, often only consisting of Religious Beliefs. The account of the Acholi reaching "The Evolution of Ethnicity among the Acholi of Uganda: The Pre-colonial Phase." - CORE Both Protestant and Catholic missionaries were active in Acholi from early colonial rule, providing written Luo religious, educational, and historical texts and producing a local educated elite, all of which fostered the further development of an Acholi identity within the colonial context of "tribal" culture, consciousness, and politics. "Against Humanitarian Impunity: Rethinking Responsibility for Displacement and Disaster in Northern Uganda,", Latigo (2006), "Northern Uganda", pp. Contemporary versions or amalgams of these practitioners continue to function in Acholi. social control in the area. reported that the Acholi chiefs generally accepted the position of Baker, as he had helped them The state is a form of human association distinguished from other social groups by its purpose, the establishment of order and security; its methods, the laws and their enforcement; its territory, the area of jurisdiction or geographic boundaries; and finally by its sovereignty . The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". before. Identification. centralised kingdom but instead organised themselves as a collection of smaller chiefdoms. The Acholi live in small hamlets among patrilineal kin. 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). [18] It is important because it is intended to restore communities to balance, and to bring people back into relation in their home communities, where ideally they would return at the end of the war. 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. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. When the camps were disbanded and people began to return to their land, customary rules for land tenure did not necessarily have the answers to some of the problems faced by Acholi people: men had lost their fathers from whom they would be granted land; children did not know where their clan land was; women were married to men without following the customary rules for marriage because of a lack of resources; and women were widowed and left with few options for survival. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Movement. The old staples of eleusine (finger) millet, sorghum, sesame, and various peas, beans, and leafy green vegetables continue to be grown, along with twentieth-century crops such as cassava, maize, peanuts (groundnuts), fruits, and cotton. The Fipa are a Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Tanzania in East-Central Africa. By clicking 'Accept', you consent to the use of all the cookies. in the Western Nilotic branch of Nilo-Saharan. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. [23][24], The attempt to pacify the Northern Uganda was carried out recklessly with much brutality and unprofessionalism from the NRA soldiers and government. From the Village to Entebbe: The Acholi of Northern Uganda and . [26], In 2016, the multi award-winning film, A Brilliant Genocide was produced. Linguistic Affiliation. According to the reconstruction by Atkinson (2011 [1994]), the Acholi as a group emerged "The Concept of Jok among the Acholi and Lango." Encyclopedia.com. He overthrew Obote's government and established a dictatorship, ultimately suppressing and killing 300,000 people, including many Acholi. Traditionally, a grave is dug as soon as a person has died, following which a small and brief ceremony is held in the deceased's house prior to burial. Encyclopedia of World Cultures. From the Holy Spirit Movement, the notorious Lords Resistance Army (LRA), led by Acholi Joseph Kony, emerged. This in turn forged new political entities and identities as well as wider social relations. As some of these languages show some form The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) under the leadership of Joseph Kony has waged a war against Yoweri Museveni's government. somewhat better off than others before the latter part of the nineteenth 53- 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. 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. [9], In the 2000s, James Ojent Latigo described some of Uganda's social problems as based on the way the political elites have used ethnicities to divide the country. et al., 1972; Heine & Knig, 2010) and Chopi (Storch, 2005) as individual languages, instead members of royal lineages, and lineage heads all seem to have been The council's representatives could mediate issues between clans, and essentially covered both civil and criminal functions, like a Supreme Court. named Luo. Yet the northerners living in these squalid camps were prone to attack by the LRA and the national army alike, and unable to raise their own food. During the later nineteenth century, the emergent Acholi became involved in the international trade in ivory and slaves, which were exchanged mainly for cattle, beads, blankets, cotton cloth, and firearms. the northern regions, this relationship changed. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customised ads. However, this rebellion was defeated when it attempted to attack Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). The Song of Lawino, one of the most successful African literary works, was written by Okot p'Bitek, published in 1966 in Acholi, and later translated to English. Milton Obote (196271, 198085). 17 de fevereiro de 2022 / Category . Though some sense of a community and identity has persisted among residents, the area is characterized by substandard housing, poor environmental health and limited livelihood opportunities. This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. organisation to survive, a common identity had to form to support this new social structure of More commonly, almost any salaried job in the public or private sector represents an income that averages several times that of a member of the majority peasant population. Acholi Quarter in Kampala, for example, is largely populated by formerly rural Acholi from Northern Uganda, uprooted by years of conflict and now caught in a situation of prolonged displacement. Omissions? Shilluk Acholi )[9], "Since independence in 1962, Uganda has been plagued by ethnically driven, politically manipulated violence referred to by some as a history of 'cycles of revenge and mistrust'. Under Ugandan Pres. "Acholi encompasses the six closely related languages Acholi, Adhola, Alur, Kumam, Lango and development of chiefdoms seems to have been the ability of rwodi to help Ceremonies. neighboring chiefdoms within the same zone. into the independence era. Chopi (Storch, 2005), Index of languages, language families, linguistic areas, and ethnic groups.. African languages. [28], In 2012 the American charity Invisible Children produced a documentary about the LRA. https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/acholi, "Acholi World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. prefix a- denoting the 1st Person Singular (Whitmire, 2013, p. 51). second Milton Obote regimes, however, as well as of the various rebel The Acholi of Uganda: Adjustment to Imperialism. The documentary was met with mixed reactions, with many people familiar with the situation dubbing it a shallow and money-grabbing scheme. 116-25 Section 3101, requires electronic filing by exempt organizations in tax years beginning after July 1, 2019. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Numbering between 400 and 500 by the turn of the twentieth century, these exogamous groups claim descent from a common ancestor (although means exist to incorporate many types of "outsiders" as well) and have special lineage shrines, ritual ceremonies, praise-calls, and totems. of mutual intelligibility amongst each other, they were at times interpreted as a dialectal cluster Due to a changing economy, after the 1950s, fewer Acholi was recruited to the armed forces but continued to be associated with them in popular mythology and stereotypes. second term, Acholi soldiers played key roles in the massive conflict in for social control, though one of the attractions that assisted the This belief underlies the customary land tenure rule that prohibits women from having rights to land independent of their relationship with their father or husband. in Acholi since the mid-1980s) have led to a breakdown of any meaningful Its current population is estimated to be around 2.155,000 individuals, or six percent of the total national population. Historically, the most important public ceremonies were probably those associated with birth, planting, harvesting, and the killing of a large animal or another human being. Certain rwodi and The Acholi, a Nilotic Lwo-speaking ethnic group, live predominantly in the central region of northern Uganda, an space collectively named to known as Acholiland. and created larger political The rwot was the most important political, economic and social personality in the political entity of 'chiefdoms', which were installed in Acholiland in the late seventeenth, early eighteenth century. Over the second half of the nineteenth century, Acholi was incorporated into international trade networks through the activities of northern, Arabic-speaking ivory and slave traders. Ethnohistory 36(1): 19-43. southern part of the country relatively young. "Kony's Message: A New Koine?". Inheritance. 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. Apoko, Anna (1967). formations in the form of chiefdoms and kingdoms by the end of the first millennium A.D. Mass meetings were organized separately by Luo people in Kavirondo and the Kikuyu people in Nairobi. [26] However, it successfully popularised the LRA in the West. Pyerino Okoya and Lt. Gen Bazilio Olara-Okello. 1.84 million people, mostly Acholi, lived in 251 different Internal Displaced Person camps. [CDATA[ "At Home in the Village: Growing Up in Acholi." 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. [16] In addition, the people have important rituals for cleansing homes and sites, to welcome back people who have been away a long time, to clear spirits from places where killings have occurred, and to welcome people who have been captive. 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. "In 1997, the Catholic, Anglican, Muslim, and later the Orthodox religious leaders of Acholi formalized their increasing cooperation on peace issues by setting up the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative (ARLPI). However, the date of retrieval is often important.
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