political organisation of the acholi political organisation of the acholi

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 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). Malaria and AIDS have been the primary disease causes of deaths. (1972). Even in this . [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. An individual had personal claim to land that he and his wife (or wives) had under cultivation or that had been cultivated but was lying fallow, and such rights passed from father to son. The term is derived from "Shuuli," first used by nineteenth-century ivory and slave traders who noted the similarity of Acholi Luo to the language of the previously encountered Shilluk or "Collo" of the southern Sudan (Crazzolara 1938, vii-viii). 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. Women also provide major labor in the fields, as well as being responsible for most child rearing and all cooking and other food-preparation tasks. Hier sind Acholi-Frauen dafr bekannt, . Identification. colonial rule in their region for decades, before finally being integrated in the Ugandan territory In 2009, Acholi was one of the six Ugandan languages identified as having more than one In search of chiefly authority in 'post-aid' Acholiland The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information. This paper is a case study analysis of the sociological phenomena of forgiveness occurring in an ongoing two-decade war in northern Uganda. Encyclopedia of World Cultures. While rwodi, and slave trades, and the firearms that accompanied them, conflict second Milton Obote regimes, however, as well as of the various rebel After his own father, however, a man's strongest kinship ties are typically with his mother's brother. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. more. (p. 34). administration within the region and the district headquarters were erected in the area of the came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the Medicine. others who benefited from the new dispensation, including collaborators The Acholi have a modified Iroquois kinship-terminology system, reflecting Acholi's patrilineal and patrilocal ideology. Further he described how this negative experience led to generally negative attitudes towards Acholi: Talking Politics in Northern Uganda - Unizin Classics in African Anthropology - International African Institute Uganda's current army, various local rebel groups (some headed by apocalyptic "prophets" such as Alice Lakwena), and heavily armed Karamojong raiders have all raped, looted, killed, and destroyed, making any kind of normal life in Acholi impossible. 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]. cooperation of their rwot (chief) Aliker with the British, the centre of the colonial This included both agricultural and hunting land. "[20] They have continued to work to end the war through negotiation. The LRA has been targeting civilians, the majority being their own tribe, the Acholi. As some of these languages show some form 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. 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. Sons have traditionally learned about farming, hunting, herding, and lineage and chiefdom traditions from their fathers and other lineage males; girls learn farming and domestic duties from their mothers. It has similarity with Alur, Padhola language, and other Luo languages in South Sudan Shilluk, Anuak,Pari, Balanda, Boor, Thuri. 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. Like Tattered Grass Beneath Warring Elephants: The Destruction of the The Land Tenure. However, this rebellion was defeated when it attempted to attack The Acholi's harrowing ordeal began under Idi Amin's dictatorship in the seventies. Bor Lango morphed into Chuuli, before finally becoming Acholi as it was applicated with the pronoun The combination of the two events, have put pressure on the LRA to lay down its arms. second term, Acholi soldiers played key roles in the massive conflict in Bride-wealth has varied over time but has usually included iron objects, domestic animals, and, in the twentieth century, money. Acholi men say, Property cant own property, and the notion of women having independent land rights is an anomaly to them. [11], After defeating Okello and his Acholi-dominated Uganda National Liberation Army, now-President Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army conducted revenge killings in the north. Ethnic group of South Sudan and Northern Uganda, Atkinson, Ronald R. "The Evolution of Ethnicity among the Acholi of Uganda: The Precolonial Phase.". While Acholi also lives north of the South Sudaneseborder, the Sudanese Acholi are often excluded from the political meaning of the term "Acholiland". During this time, people were separated from their land for long periods, and many people disappeared or were killed. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. occur, however, it was usually limited in scope, with relatively few 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. 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. Acholi conceive of death as an inevitable, personal defeat and tragedy, against which there is no ultimate defense. ." Domestic Unit. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. against the central government. ETHNONYMS: Balumbila, Batoka, Batonga, Bawe, Toka Sociopolitical organization - Acholi Chiefs are chosen from one lineage. a civil resistance movement started forming in the region. 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. 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. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Idi Amin (197179) the Acholi were severely persecuted and their men systematically executed for their past association with the colonial army and for their support of Pres. Some Acholi mothers exclaim that they do not know their sons after they have been away in the army. In . London: Oxford University Press. State | Definition, History, Figures, & Facts | Britannica Spirits of both of these types were generally beneficent. The dry season is long and hot, with temperatures that can reach more than 35 C. Demography. Ceremonies. development of chiefdoms seems to have been the ability of rwodi to help political organisation of the acholi into the independence era. This in turn forged new political entities and identities as well as wider social relations. (UNHCR, 2012). Trade. Then a final dance and feast takes place at a time chosen to make possible the maximum attendance by relatives and other interested people. last large-scale conflict in Acholi until Amin came to power in 1971. Acholi by international trade, and descendants of some of these men used Latigo, James, "The Acholi Traditional Conflict Resolution in Light of Current Circumstances:". areas of the Buganda Kingdom and their main trading routes extended eastwards towards Kenya, They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The cult-like militia has abducted an estimated 25,000 children over the years, forcing them to commit heinous atrocities against civilians. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. families living together in hamlets. 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. Millet is the staple food of the Acholi, and tobacco is grown for trade. 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. They also kept goats, sheep and cattle. Tonga 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. PDF CORE - Aggregating the world's open access research papers Malandra, Alfred (1939). Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. Encyclopedia.com. The Central Lwo during the Aconya. This cookie is set by Stripe payment gateway. In precolonial Acholi, lineage heads and elders were most responsible formations in the form of chiefdoms and kingdoms by the end of the first millennium A.D. Pottery and basket making were widespread and relatively nonspecialized arts, carried out by both men and women. with the British was through Samuel Baker. They have also "played a vital role in Acholi traditional reconciliation processes and in preparing the community to receive former combatants. Okeny, Kenneth (1982). 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. neighboring peoples, was neither rare nor endemic. Even bride-wealth marriages are now often mainly nuclear-family affairs, and other alternatives to traditional marriage are common. Traditionally, land rights were vested in localized patrilineal lineages, under the control and guidance of lineage heads and elders. 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 political ramifications for Uganda, however, were severe. However, the date of retrieval is often important. et al., 1972; Heine & Knig, 2010) and Chopi (Storch, 2005) as individual languages, instead journalist who created an account of the history and traditions of the Acholi, wrote that the 1.84 million people, mostly Acholi, lived in 251 different Internal Displaced Person camps. Under Amins brutal regime, an estimated 300,000 died many of them Acholi. 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 movement hopes to strengthen the political and economic power of women in society and so push back destruction of the natural environment. that included areas now belonging to South Sudan and the northern regions of Uganda. Although polygyny has often been presented as an ideal, limited means have always made it rare in practice. Further tidying up and smoothing over the grave take place within the week. higher now, due to the ongoing growth in population. LRA, after losing support from the local population, also turned on the people of northern That is why the Lango neighbours refer to the Acholi as Ugangi, meaning people of the home. The n, Mende southern parts of the country. 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 word 'Acholi' is a misnomer that became adopted for convenience over the years. Nevertheless, many remain in a state of displacement. Politics has been around for millennia. 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. The system values peace over justice, and has retributive and restorative aspects. Acholi | Encyclopedia.com Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Idi Amin (1971-79) the Acholi were severely persecuted and their men systematically executed for their past association with the colonial army and for their support of Pres. 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. Twentieth-century densities have been consistently the second lowest in all of Uganda (after Karamoja). became more frequent, more deadly, and more widely spread. Political Organization Defined A political organization subject to Code section 527 is a party, committee, association, fund or other organization (whether or not incorporated) organized and operated primarily for the purpose of directly or indirectly accepting contributions or making expenditures, or both, for an exempt function. The Canadian government, for instance, will be more inclined to fund an organisation whose mandate is continental Africa rather than an association with a very narrow focus on Acholi problems. The available evidence suggests that conflict in Acholi before the end Inheritance. By clicking 'Accept', you consent to the use of all the cookies. 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. [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. their clans, giving them the ability to accumulate wealth and power beyond their rights to land Identification. At the same time Joseph Kony formed his own rebel group, It is part of the Southern Lwoo languages (Byrnes, 1990, p. 6), did the Acholi not arrive in their present-day area before the 15th century Over the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some seventy chiefdoms were founded throughout the area that became Acholi, leading to the development of a new social order and political culture, the spread of a new language (Luo), and the evolution of a new society and collective identity. comparably flat. Movement. organisation to survive, a common identity had to form to support this new social structure of Uma, F. K. (1971). 1544957. Specifically, this study explored, Living with Language. solidification of an Acholi identity, with their common language becoming an important marker. ETHNONYM: Karanga (historical) We have a small favour to ask: if you appreciate our work, would you mind considering making a donation to support our work? state, political organization of society, or the body politic, or, more narrowly, the institutions of government. Identification and Location. They are speakers of Western Nilotic languages and are traditionally farmers. Central to the new order were a set of notions about political leadership in which chiefs (rwodi; sing, rwot ) shared power and decision making with the heads of chiefdoms' constituent lineages; a system of redistributive tribute within each polity, with the chief at the center; and royal, often rainmaking, drums as symbols of sovereignty and authority. Location. reported that the Acholi chiefs generally accepted the position of Baker, as he had helped them 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. portrayed this relationship in his account as rather hostile and negative: Most of these Arabs carrying business of slave trade were coming from Egypt, they The Acholi live in small hamlets among patrilineal kin. "Acholi-Arab Nubian Relations in the Nineteenth Century." Graduating Essay, Department of History, Makerere University (Kampala). Sign up to Minority rights Group International's newsletter to stay up to date with the latest news and publications. Milton Obote (1962-71, 1980-85). 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. As they have for centuries, Acholi farmers rely mainly on iron hoes and other hand tools. 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. The Acholi dialect is a Western Nilotic language, classified as Luo (or Lwo). NRA in 1986. represents an income that averages several times that of a member of the "Is Alice Lakwena a Witch? With colonial rule All procedures are conducted with care, to attempt to ensure that the spirit of the departed does not become angry. Uganda Now: Between Decay and Development. Corrections? He wrote, "Part of the structural causes of the conflict in Uganda has been explained as rooted in the 'diversity of ethnic groups which were at different levels of socio-economic development and political organisation.' Religious Practitioners. 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. Wright, A. C. A. Orientation Similarly, General Okello Lutwa who toppled the Obote II regime, was an Acholi. 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. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. encompasses the six closely related languages Acholi, Adhola, Alur, Kumam, Lango and //]]>, ETHNONYMS: Acoli, Acooli; historically: Gani, Lango, Lo-Gang, Shuuli. the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), echoing some of the spiritual themes used by the Holy Spirit 3 vols. Individual antecedents of political behavior include political . southeast by the Langi region and to the south, across the Nile, by Bunyoro. The Anguish of Northern Uganda - Sections 3 - 5 - Uganda [CDATA[ Children are highly prized, and historically a couple did not set up their own household until the birth of their first child, living until then in the household of the husband's mother. political organisation of the acholipadma shri award 2012 list. Once chiefdoms were established, Acholi religious beliefs focused on three types of spirits (jogi; sing. Political Organization Defined | Internal Revenue Service He has noted that the emphasis on the distinction among ethnic groups has even been part of the internal government dialogue." . Marriage has been typically patrilocal and patriarchal, with the husband and father as the undisputed head of the household. 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. It was filmed by Australian director Ebony Butler, Simon Hardwidge and Ugandan author Frey Onen. Visit the repository for full metadata or to contact the repository team alongside the other Luo groups in Uganda and Kenya following several waves of migration 102-104, Southern Sudan and the Government of the Republic of the South Sudan, State Minister for Foreign Affairs (International Affairs), https://www.peoplegroups.org/explore/GroupDetails.aspx?peid=15068#topmenu, "2014 Uganda Population and Housing Census Main Report", https://www.peoplegroups.org/explore/GroupDetails.aspx?peid=14887#topmenu, James Ojent Latigo, Chapter 4: "Northern Uganda tradition-based practices in the Acholi region, 1. A typical household consists of a nuclear family (husband, wife, and unmarried children), although aged parents, unmarried siblings, offspring of deceased siblings, or others are often household members as well. When not disrupted or dispossessed by the violence endemic since the mid-1980s, most Acholi remain primarily mixed farmers. Kitgum, Pader and Gulu, the three districts of the Acholi sub-region, each established peace forums for continuing discussions. Occasional Paper no. "The Evolution of Ethnicity among the Acholi of Uganda: The Pre-colonial Phase." Much of that hierarchy continued into the independence era. 30. 116-25 Section 3101, requires electronic filing by exempt organizations in tax years beginning after July 1, 2019. Administrative divisions within Acholi, however, both during colonial rule and since independence, have often reflected preexisting sociopolitical units: lineages at the parish level; chiefdoms at the subcounty level; and larger zones of the most intensive (and peaceful) interpolity interactions at the county level. As a result, many widowed Acholi have been unable to access their land on return to their homes. The Fipa are a Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Tanzania in East-Central Africa. Acholi chiefdoms ranged in population from under 1,000 to as many as 20,000 people and consisted of a number of fenced villages, each with recognized land rights vested in the patrilineal lineage (kaka ) at its core. Congo. The civil war devastated the lives and livelihoods of the Acholi people of the north. Encyclopedia of World Cultures. However, to what degree this emergence was accompanied with the creation of a common It does not store any personal data. 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. Hansen, Holger B., and Michael Twaddle, eds. ETHNONYMS: Afipa, Wafipa (Ugandan Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs 1997. 2.4. the northern parts remained ignored for a long time. It is "Acholi Orientation interpreters began to accumulate some of the new wealth brought into subcounty level; and larger zones of the most intensive (and peaceful) (1970) 'State formation and fragmentation in Agago, Eastern Acholi', This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 19:17. 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. Inheritance has been, and largely remains, patrilineal. With colonial rule came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the authority of a district commissioner. He overthrew Obote's government and established a dictatorship, ultimately suppressing and killing 300,000 people, including many Acholi. The EU's External Democracy Action in a New Geopolitical Reality: Policy Brief. many of them children, the conflict led to the displacement of millions. southern part of the country relatively young. 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. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Common synonyms for this type of organization are "interest groups," "pressure groups," and . 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. The PEPFAR Uganda 2023 Science Summit on HIV and TB: Following the Science and Sustaining the Gains as PEPFAR Turns Twenty This report is a record of the virtual summit organized by the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Uganda for its stakeholders; Uganda Ministry of Health (MoH) including its Public Health Fellowship Program (PHFP), implementing partners, and . 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. Anywa Adhola Ocheng, D. O. Social Control. 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. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. in the form of the Acholi district (Vincent, 2012). authority of a district commissioner. The LRA received much of its financial, logistical and military support from the Khartoum government in neighbouring Sudan. Changing Uganda: The Dilemmas of Structural Adjustment and Revolutionary Change. B. K. (1994). coming from the territory of present-day South Sudan over a period spanning multiple centuries. 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). He was defeated in January 1986. From the Village to Entebbe: The Acholi of Northern Uganda and . [17] Most of the LRA returnees, numbering 12,000, underwent nyono tong gweno ('stepping on the egg') after returning to their home villages, to help restore them to home.