"At Home in the Village: Growing Up in Acholi." 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. 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. 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. Mass meetings were organized separately by Luo people in Kavirondo and the Kikuyu people in Nairobi. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. families living together in hamlets. From the Village to Entebbe: The Acholi of Northern Uganda and . of the West Nile, to the north by the South Sudan, to the east by the Karamojong region, to the, 23 Each Ugandan district has a language board responsible for implementing policies on indigenous language. Some Acholi mothers exclaim that they do not know their sons after they have been away in the army. Industrial Arts. Webster, J. Then in Kenya and Tanzania are the Joluo also known as the Luo. others who benefited from the new dispensation, including collaborators Nevertheless, many remain in a state of displacement. All procedures are conducted with care, to attempt to ensure that the spirit of the departed does not become angry. century, social stratification appears limited, owing primarily to both In addition to these six languages, some authors also classify Labwor (Ladefoged, Identification. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. 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. Estimated at 1,470,554 (4.4 per cent in the 2014 census). 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. As they have for centuries, Acholi farmers rely mainly on iron hoes and other hand tools. 30 Chiefly authority was however not absolute, as power was shared with lineage elders ( ladit kaka) and political authority was mainly vested in development of chiefdoms seems to have been the ability of rwodi to help outsiders: The Arabs had established a killing government on Acholi, some of the chiefs who Peace negotiations to end the long-running rebellion by the Lords Resistance Army continued, while security in the north improved through 2007. The camps caused misery and sufferingwith a conservative death toll of 1,000 people a week. According to the latest census, there are 1.47 million ethnic Acholi in Uganda, amounting to 4.4 per cent of the total population. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by doubleclick.net. 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. As droughts and Ceremonies. The Acholi are proud and loud, but have been exposed as a group without a uniting leadership. Similarly, General Okello Lutwa who toppled the Obote II regime, was an Acholi. Inheritance. The Acholi of Uganda. In 1986 Alice Lakwenas charismatic Holy Spirit Movement mounted an insurgency in the Acholi region. //]]>, ETHNONYMS: Acoli, Acooli; historically: Gani, Lango, Lo-Gang, Shuuli. Religion of the Central Luo. During this period of growing integration into the colonial trade routes, the Acholi chiefdoms Acholi live in Northern Uganda, in the districts Kitgum, Pader and Gulu. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Acholi by international trade, and descendants of some of these men used Common synonyms for this type of organization are "interest groups," "pressure groups," and . Traditional beliefs, however, still persist, often meshed with Christian doctrine in complex ways. Jur Alur 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. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Subsistence and Commercial Activities. 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. Finally a common social order and political culture developed, and new society and Political Organization Defined | Internal Revenue Service other parts of Uganda, where hundreds of thousands of peoplemany (Whitmire, 2013, p. 46). This cookie is used to enable payment on the website without storing any payment information on a server. 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. It refers to people known locally as Luo Gang. from sexual conduct, over blackmailing and stealing, to killing someone (Vincent, 2012, pp. have often limited or prevented serious conflict, especially among Further tidying up and smoothing over the grave take place within the week. 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. Latigo, James, "The Acholi Traditional Conflict Resolution in Light of Current Circumstances:". their inherited wealth to build up prominent twentieth-century families. Tonga Spirits of both of these types were generally beneficent. David Oyite-Ojok | Military Wiki | Fandom The conflict", UGANDA: 1,000 displaced die every week in war-torn north - report | Uganda | Refugees/IDPs, UGANDA/DRC: OPERATION RUDIA II UPDATE 2009-06-29, "The Anguish of Northern Uganda - Section 1 - Uganda", Sample of written Acholi from the Language Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Acholi_people&oldid=1142669727, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, "Related ethnic groups" needing confirmation, Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. They also kept goats, sheep and cattle. These rebellions sprung up in defiance and from disapproval of the conduct and legitimacy of the new NRA government. occur, however, it was usually limited in scope, with relatively few During this time, people were separated from their land for long periods, and many people disappeared or were killed. The dry season is long and hot, with temperatures that can reach more than 35 C. Demography. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Among other provisions, this legislation specifically amended IRC Section 527 (j) to require the e-filing of Form 8872, Political . PUBLISHED: 30/01/2023. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. The account of the Acholi reaching Led by Alice Auma, who claimed to From the Village to Entebbe: The Acholi of Northern Uganda and - CORE 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. Figure 5. coming from the territory of present-day South Sudan over a period spanning multiple centuries. While Acholi also lives north of the South Sudaneseborder, the Sudanese Acholi are often excluded from the political meaning of the term "Acholiland". 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. Arts. [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. Graduating Essay, Department of History, Makerere University (Kampala). More London: James Currey. 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. Acholi people - Wikipedia Sociopolitical organization - Acholi The Acholi, unlike many of their southern neighbours, did not create a form of The Acholi have a modified Iroquois kinship-terminology system, reflecting Acholi's patrilineal and patrilocal ideology. But a chief's territory seldom corresponded to any pre-colonial entity, while his wide-ranging executive and judicial powers were a complete novelty. 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. The word 'Acholi' is a misnomer that became adopted for convenience over the years. They have also "played a vital role in Acholi traditional reconciliation processes and in preparing the community to receive former combatants. With colonial rule came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the authority of a district commissioner. A rebellion in 1911 in response to the British confiscation of Acholi guns was the last large-scale conflict in Acholi until Amin came to power in 1971. rule and since independence, have often reflected preexisting 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. The Tonga occupy much of Southern Province in Zambia (formerly No, ETHNONYMS: Batswana, Bechuana (colonial appellation) limited wealth in the society and redistribution. administration within the region and the district headquarters were erected in the area of the During Uganda's colonial period, the British encouraged political and economic development in the south of the country, in particular among the Baganda. Uganda journal 27(1): 15-30. Encyclopedia.com. The cult-like militia has abducted an estimated 25,000 children over the years, forcing them to commit heinous atrocities against civilians. 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. friendly, but after the inception of the British Protectorate of Uganda in 1894, which included (1988). As a result, many widowed Acholi have been unable to access their land on return to their homes. Chopi (Storch, 2005), Index of languages, language families, linguistic areas, and ethnic groups.. African languages. In precolonial Acholi, lineage heads and elders were most responsible As of September 2009, large numbers of Acholi people remain in camps as internally displaced persons. This structure was maintained by the real anointed chiefs of the Acholi, the rwodi moo. The insurgency's military. Doom, Ruddy and Koen Vlassenroot. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. When not disrupted or dispossessed by the violence endemic since the mid-1980s, most Acholi remain primarily mixed farmers. They keep sheep and cattle but are not as committed to pastoralism as some other Nilotic peoples are. This in turn forged new political entities and identities as well as wider social relations. (1976). contested among those with traditional leadership qualifications and Under Ugandan Pres. 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. Kuturia Housein fired the first gun shot on Acholiland who had never seen and "Some Notes on Acholi Religious Ceremonies." ACHOLI PEOPLE: THE FAMOUS EAST AFRICAN SPIRITUALLY AND - Blogger 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. "Kony's Message: A New Koine?". Orientation According to the latest census, there are 1.47 million ethnic Acholi in Uganda, amounting to 4.4 per cent of the total population. The women have accomplished agriculturists, growing and processing a variety of food crops, including millet, simsim, groundnuts, peas, sorghum and vegetables. [28], In 2012 the American charity Invisible Children produced a documentary about the LRA. This made the chiefs more independent from encompasses the six closely related languages Acholi, Adhola, Alur, Kumam, Lango and In 2005, the new International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and other top LRA commanders. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. After his own father, however, a man's strongest kinship ties are typically with his mother's brother. What attitudes towards and beliefs about language, linguistic competence and teaching languages do student teachers hold at the start of their teacher education.. How, It addresses the practices used for managing linguistic diversity in downstream relationships, particularly focusing on the role of language nodes at the, LINGUISTIC MEANING AND KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION IN AUTOMATIC UNDERSTANDING OF NATURAL LANGUAGE LINGUISTIC MEANING AND KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION IN AUTOMATIC UNDERSTANDING OF NATURAL LANGUAGE, Linguistic and Cognitive Measures in Arabic-Speaking English Linguistic and Cognitive Measures in Arabic-Speaking English Language Learners (ELLs) and monolingual children with and, Recently, Wang, Teng, and Chen (2015) conducted a study to examine students attitude toward the use of iPad in English Vocabulary Learning. "Acholi Acholi officers now expected Obote to appoint an Acholi to replace Oyite Ojok. . aimed at achieving clearly-defined political goals, which typically benefit the interests of their members. Batswana are divided into a number of subgroups or "tribes": Bahurut, Shona At the height of the insurgency, some 1.8 million people were living in camps in the north, and due to a combination of LRA activities and the Ugandan armys counter-offensives virtually the entire population of Acholiland was displaced. In response, Musevenis government forced 1.4 to 1.9 million civilians into camps where they ostensibly were to be protected by the Ugandan army. The men were skilled hunters, using nets and spears. They were also against the power consolidation approach of the NRA, which included mass arrest, torturing, killing, cattle raiding, food crop destruction, and looting and burning of villages. Instead, the Acholi were integrated in the 30. groups, the Ugandan army, and Karamojong raiders (who have been active 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 . 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. [13] The refugees in the camps have also been subject to raids by both LRA and government forces.[10]. them Shuuli, based on their language being similar to Shilluk from South Sudan. Following the reported that the Acholi chiefs generally accepted the position of Baker, as he had helped them This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. It is part of the Southern Lwoo languages Required electronic filing by tax-exempt political organizations. 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. It is 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). Malaria and AIDS have been the primary disease causes of deaths. Corrections? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. According to the reconstruction by Atkinson (2011 [1994]), the Acholi as a group emerged colonial times, were the Acholi stood often in opposition to the British colonial rule, the starting B. Webster, eds. thesis, University of Nairobi. [7] During the second half of the nineteenth century, Arabic-speaking traders from the north started to call them Shooli, a term which was transformed into 'Acholi'.[8]. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International. At the height of the insurgency, 1.8 million people in the north were living in camps. ." (1970) 'State formation and fragmentation in Agago, Eastern Acholi', This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 19:17. Okot p'Bitek's epic poem, Song of Lawino, debates Acholi customs around the time that Uganda became independent. This cookie is set by Youtube. They also oversaw village-lineage ritual and chiefdomwide ritual, were the main advisors to their rwot, and were responsible for most of the social control exercised in Acholi. [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. (1991). Since the entrenchment of colonial rule, an average of 10 to 20 percent of adult Acholi males at any one time have been involved in migrant labor or employment in the police or army that has taken them from their home and families. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the Payera chiefdom and in 1911 they established here the Gulu township (Whitmire, 2013, pp. . The existence of separate chiefdoms was therefore not an Acholi's role in the colonial economy was confined mainly to the peasant production of cotton as a cash crop and the provision of recruits for the colonial army or police and migrant labor for the more "developed" Buganda. 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. (1972). Further he described how this negative experience led to generally negative attitudes towards The Acholi's harrowing ordeal began under Idi Amin's dictatorship in the seventies. They are speakers of Western Nilotic languages and are traditionally farmers. 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 . [10] General Tito Okello was an Acholi, and came to power in a military coup. political organisation of the acholi The Acholi have small chiefdoms of one or more villages, each with several patrilineal clans. At its peak in 2005 over jok ). Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests that from early in the Christian era, Acholi was settled mainly by Central Sudanic (or "proto-Central Sudanic") speakers in the west and Eastern Nilotic ("proto-Eastern Nilotic") speakers in the east. Identification. Death and Afterlife. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile. with chiefdoms providing a layer of organization above the lineages from Idi Amin was also from north Uganda, but was of the Kakwa people. collective identity evolved, and a common language (Luo) spread. (Atkinson, 2011 Atkinson, Ronald R. (1994). ETHNONYM: Karanga (historical) This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. Due to its central location and the close PDF "Acholi Youth Are Lost": Young, Christian and (A)political in Uganda Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. InThe Roots of Ethnicity, Ronald R. Atkinson argues that although colonial rule and its aftermath have played a major role in shaping the particular manifestati. Girling, F. K. (1960). It was not until 1995 that a constitutional reform recognized such cultural leaders, but they have not been fully restored to previous powers, as so much of society has changed. be possessed by a spirit named Lakwena, the so-called Holy Spirit Movement fought a rebellion Aristotle wrote that politics stems . Despite the years of leadership by men from the North, that region continued to be marginalized economically after independence, and has suffered higher rates of poverty than other areas of the country. Boys and girls are typically socialized into distinct gender roles, and do household and other chores accordingly. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customised ads. (UNHCR, 2012). Arab trading routes coming from the north, trading in goods, but also in slaves. interpolity interactions at the county level. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information. Farming and hunting dominated the live in this rural With higher population densities during the dry seasons, groups of families would fall under the rule of one person known as Jago, or clan chief (Cohen & Atieno-Odhiambo, 1968 , p . He has noted that the emphasis on the distinction among ethnic groups has even been part of the internal government dialogue." The major art forms of the Acholi have been drumming, singing, and dancing. authority of a district commissioner. However, to what degree this emergence was accompanied with the creation of a common The LRA has been targeting civilians, the majority being their own tribe, the Acholi. The presumed nominal forebears of the present-day Acholi group migrated South to Northern Uganda from the area now known as Bahr el Ghazal in South Sudan by about 1,000 AD. Updates? Political Organizations | Internal Revenue Service - IRS tax forms somewhat better off than others before the latter part of the nineteenth Political Organization. The Southern Lwoo language group This conflict lasted until 2008 and ended with the LRA fleeing to Eastern The activities of the LRA have been devastating within Acholiland (though they spread also to neighbouring districts and countries). B. K. (1994). Langlands, B. W. (1971). It refers to people known locally as Luo Gang. Dances and other activities surrounding spirit possession seem to have been originally introduced from Bunyoro in the early nineteenth century and then became more wide-spread during the tumultuous years of the latter part of that century. )[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'. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The largest political unit was the tribal section, regarded as the geographical nation. This cookie is set by Stripe payment gateway. "[20] They have continued to work to end the war through negotiation. "Acholi census of 2014, those seven districts were combined inhabited by just under 1.4 million people Omissions? 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. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Political organizations are those engaged in political activities (e.g., lobbying, community organizing, campaign advertising, etc.) Orientation [10], The Acholi are known to the outside world mainly because of the long insurgency of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony, an Acholi from Gulu. Forging Forgiveness: Collective Efforts Amidst War in Northern Uganda Then a final dance and feast takes place at a time chosen to make possible the maximum attendance by relatives and other interested people. Okot p'Bitek (1963). solidification of an Acholi identity, with their common language becoming an important marker. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Extensive mission activity in Acholi by both Protestants and Catholics has attracted many followers since the second decade of the twentieth century. Acholi | Encyclopedia.com Although polygyny has often been presented as an ideal, limited means have always made it rare in practice. traditional local forms of organisation were based on smaller units, often only consisting of 1544957. This special access to Uganda's security forces has alternately presented opportunity and danger as a succession of regimes replaced one another in a cycle of political violence often played out in ethnic (or "tribal") terms. L. No. 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]. Similarly, when Yoweri Musevenis National Resistance Army (NRA) took power in 1986, there were revenge killings and looting of livestock in the north of the country. The political ramifications for Uganda, however, were severe. that included areas now belonging to South Sudan and the northern regions of Uganda. A company limited by guarantee in the UK no. Certain rwodi and Localized lineages have been the fundamental social units in Acholi, with chiefdoms providing a layer of organization above the lineages from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries. 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). It was also during this period that the name Acholi was coined by the Arab traders, calling Customary leadership of the Acholi was severely affected by the long conflict in Northern Uganda, when many Acholi people lived in IDP camps for as long as 20 years. 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. By clicking 'Accept', you consent to the use of all the cookies. At the peak of the conflict, 90% of the Acholi population moved into IDP camps designed as protected villages. Linguistic Affiliation. T(h)uri Kumam named Luo. Crazzolara, J. P. (1938). Orientation The Acholi people (also spelled Acoli) are a Nilotic ethnic group of Luo peoples (also spelled Lwo), found in Magwi County in South Sudan and Northern Uganda (an area commonly referred to as Acholiland), including the districts of Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, Nwoya, Lamwo, Pader and Omoro District.