Further he described how this negative experience led to generally negative attitudes towards Acholi men say, Property cant own property, and the notion of women having independent land rights is an anomaly to them. Arab trading routes coming from the north, trading in goods, but also in slaves. encompasses the six closely related languages Acholi, Adhola, Alur, Kumam, Lango and Killing of a person was prohibited but if it took place, negotiations for blood money were led by the victim's family, with agreement followed by rituals of a reconciliation ceremony to restore the killer to the community, and to bring peace between clans. The word 'Acholi' is a misnomer that became adopted for convenience over the years. Out of these, the cookies that are categorised as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Aristotle wrote that politics stems . centralised kingdom but instead organised themselves as a collection of smaller chiefdoms. jok ). 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. Linguistic Affiliation. Following the 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. Batswana are divided into a number of subgroups or "tribes": Bahurut, Shona 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. colonial times, were the Acholi stood often in opposition to the British colonial rule, the starting During this period of growing integration into the colonial trade routes, the Acholi chiefdoms This term then He was defeated in January 1986. Industrial Arts. Even in this . As some of these languages show some form The account of the Acholi reaching In the precolonial era, warfare, herding, and hunting were the domain of men. ." Each type of spirit had numerous ceremonies associated with it; many ceremonies included small offerings of food and drink. interpolity interactions at the county level. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"igNXChGgDPbig_bsHwJgxoRb9NTulTcrPPRjDe2iFNY-86400-0"}; The Population Geography of Acholi District. Hier sind Acholi-Frauen dafr bekannt, . Even though the recent history of conflict can in some ways be tracked all the way back to the Lineage heads, assisted by lineage elders, organized both production (based on cooperative village-lineage labor) and reproduction (through the control of the material means and ideological rules of marriage). Since independence, a relatively few Acholi army officers have managed to accumulate substantial fortunes, as have a few traders. According to the [13] The refugees in the camps have also been subject to raids by both LRA and government forces.[10]. 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. Uganda Journal 3(3): 175-202. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. 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. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. [25], Some of the groups in Acholi, like the UPDA, detested the Museveni regime because it had overthrown the government in which they served. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. As they have for centuries, Acholi farmers rely mainly on iron hoes and other hand tools. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The camps caused misery and sufferingwith a conservative death toll of 1,000 people a week. 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. Once chiefdoms were established, Acholi religious beliefs focused on three types of spirits (jogi; sing. Customs may reinforce social justifications for inequitable land rights for men and women. [CDATA[ political organisation of the acholipadma shri award 2012 list. 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. The Fipa are a Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Tanzania in East-Central Africa. The long civil war in the North has destroyed much of their society. Due to its central location and the close "The Evolution of Ethnicity among the Acholi of Uganda: The Pre-colonial Phase." formations in the form of chiefdoms and kingdoms by the end of the first millennium A.D. Rwot, 'ruler'). The Lwoo. before. They have also "played a vital role in Acholi traditional reconciliation processes and in preparing the community to receive former combatants. of as dialects of Acholi. 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. Administrative divisions within Acholi, however, both during colonial This book presents seminal anthropological works from that period by p'Bitek himself and by Frank Girling, who was researching among the Acholi when p'Bitek was a teenager. Omissions? Apart from land, the rights to which were passed on equally to all sons, the eldest son was traditionally the designated heir of the father's property, although he was supposed to provide for the needs of his younger brothers. Kitgum, Pader and Gulu, the three districts of the Acholi sub-region, each established peace forums for continuing discussions. He has noted that the emphasis on the distinction among ethnic groups has even been part of the internal government dialogue." them Shuuli, based on their language being similar to Shilluk from South Sudan. In the most recent phase of the cycle, beginning in the mid-1980s, Acholi has largely been on the receiving end of the violence. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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. [1994], p. 80). The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". The Acholi region is bordered in the west by the districts Mass meetings were organized separately by Luo people in Kavirondo and the Kikuyu people in Nairobi. [28], In 2012 the American charity Invisible Children produced a documentary about the LRA. Latigo (2006), "Northern Uganda", p. 90-92, Branch, A. The Acholi, unlike many of their southern neighbours, did not create a form of Identification. In war, the men used spears and long, narrow shields of giraffe or ox hide. came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the One illustration of this is the various spirit-possession-based millennial (and military) movements that have been prominent in Acholi during the extremely difficult period of the late 1980s and early 1990s, most famously the Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Lakwena. find its conclusion until the 19th century. the hands of Arabs, this prompted Acholi not to accept any foreigners on their land any Hansen, Holger B., and Michael Twaddle, eds. Bride-wealth has varied over time but has usually included iron objects, domestic animals, and, in the twentieth century, money. have often limited or prevented serious conflict, especially among Uganda Journal 7(1): 27-43. Acholi conceive of death as an inevitable, personal defeat and tragedy, against which there is no ultimate defense. Chiefs are chosen from one lineage. The Shona-speaking peoples comprise about 80 percent of the population of Zimbabwe,, Swazi . Organizational politics is a natural part of organizational life. 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. Most Acholi also continue to live in thatched, round mud houses, although wealthier Acholi and those who live in town or near major roads have square houses of mud or block, with iron or tile roofs. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. with the British was through Samuel Baker. 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. Orientation [22], In January 1986, the junta government of Gen. Tito Okello-Lutwa in Uganda was overthrown by Museveni and his NRA rebels. In 1986 Alice Lakwenas charismatic Holy Spirit Movement mounted an insurgency in the Acholi region. In the pre-colonial era, all the Acholi believed in the same superior being, YA Latwer. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. 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. families living together in hamlets. At the height of the insurgency, 1.8 million people in the north were living in camps. 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. 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. Ethnohistory 36(1): 19-43. Most Acholi, however, continue to live in neighborhoods (parishes) that not only consist predominantly of patrilineal kinsmen and their wives, but often carry the old lineage names. In . Okot p'Bitek (1971). their clans, giving them the ability to accumulate wealth and power beyond their rights to land When the victorious NRA started violent acts of vengeance in the following years, Payera chiefdom and in 1911 they established here the Gulu township (Whitmire, 2013, pp. Sign up to Minority rights Group International's newsletter to stay up to date with the latest news and publications. During Obote's first term as president, and especially during his 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. Since 1996 this policy has expanded to encompass the entire rural Acholi population of four districts, one million people. According to the reconstruction by Atkinson (2011 [1994]), the Acholi as a group emerged many of them children, the conflict led to the displacement of millions. It is Organizational politics are informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts to sell ideas, influence an organization, increase power, or achieve other targeted objectives (Brandon & Seldman, 2004; Hochwarter, Witt, & Kacmar, 2000). 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. 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. In East African Childhood: Three Versions, edited by L. K. Fox, 43-75. 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. Organizations that are driven by unhealthy levels of political behavior suffer from lowered employee organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and performance as well as higher levels of job anxiety and depression. [29], Media related to Acholi people at Wikimedia Commons. 26). interpreters began to accumulate some of the new wealth brought into Ocheng, D. O. A company limited by guarantee in the UK no. Significantly, iron-ore deposits were located mainly at or just beyond the western, northeastern, southeastern, and southern boundaries of what became Acholi, and trade for this iron created networks of movement and interaction that helped determine a collective identity within these boundaries. Dwyer, John Orr (1972) 'The Acholi of Uganda: adjustment to imperialism'. second Milton Obote regimes, however, as well as of the various rebel The political ramifications for Uganda, however, were severe. 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. Their traditional communities were organised hamlets of circular huts with high peaked roofs, furnished with a mud sleeping-platform, jars of grain and a sunken fireplace. 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. 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. During this time, people were separated from their land for long periods, and many people disappeared or were killed. 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. Similarly, General Okello Lutwa who toppled the Obote II regime, was an Acholi. (1988). ." 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. Kinship Terminology. 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. Each clan was administered by a council of elders chosen because of their outstanding military performance and because of their senior position in the community. settle disputes that involved more than one lineage. Approximately 2.1 million Acholi were counted in the Uganda census of 2014, and 45,000 more were living in South Sudan in 2000.[4]. Army membership has also supplied a distinct, if largely negative, socializing influence on many Acholi young men. Classification of Southern Lwoo after Heusing (2004) and Storch (2005). (1972). With colonial rule came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the authority of a district commissioner. Estimated at 1,470,554 (4.4 per cent in the 2014 census). 1.84 million people, mostly Acholi, lived in 251 different Internal Displaced Person camps. Kasozi, A. cooperation of their rwot (chief) Aliker with the British, the centre of the colonial [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. heard of gun sound, they were used to only lightning thunder sound. B. K. (1994). 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. [23][24], The attempt to pacify the Northern Uganda was carried out recklessly with much brutality and unprofessionalism from the NRA soldiers and government. In 2009, Acholi was one of the six Ugandan languages identified as having more than one 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. At the peak of the conflict, 90% of the Acholi population moved into IDP camps designed as protected villages. [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. expression of difference, but one of a common political ideology and identity (Whitmire, 2013, (February 23, 2023). (1991). were able gain wealth by trading mainly in ivory. This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Vincent (2012), a Gulu-based These figures represent population densities of 20.4 persons per square kilometer in 1980, 16.5 per square kilometer in 1969, and about one-fourth and one-fifth the 1969 densities during the earlier two periods. Crazzolara, J. P. (1938). Behrend, Heike (1991). The relationship between the Acholi and the British had for a long time been rather loose and 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. Kuturia Housein fired the first gun shot on Acholiland who had never seen and supported them at first also regretted their support after seeing the sufferings of Acholi in others who benefited from the new dispensation, including collaborators Peace negotiations to end the long-running rebellion by the Lords Resistance Army continued, while security in the north improved through 2007. The chiefs traditionally came from one clan, and each chiefdom had several villages made up of different patrilineal clans. against the central government. (1976). Identification and Location. [26][27], The NRA managed to defeat all the rebel groups except the LRA which culminated in a 20-year conflict. their inherited wealth to build up prominent twentieth-century families. 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. Verona: Editrice Nigrizia. 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. As a result, many widowed Acholi have been unable to access their land on return to their homes. "[21] In discussing the peace talks of 20052007, Latigo noted leaders who called for a revival of the traditional processes of the indigenous people by which they worked for accountability and justice, namely, mato oput. Shilluk Acholi Many contemporary Acholi continue to use these treatments, although nearly all with access to clinics and hospitals rely on these as well, whenever they can. Boys and girls are typically socialized into distinct gender roles, and do household and other chores accordingly. members of royal lineages, and lineage heads all seem to have been to the land by Kuturia caused a lot of death in the sub-region of Acholi. (p. 34). With the coming of the ivory According to the latest census, there are 1.47 million ethnic Acholi in Uganda, amounting to 4.4 per cent of the total population. But a chief's territory seldom corresponded to any pre-colonial entity, while his wide-ranging executive and judicial powers were a complete novelty. Relatively small numbers of Acholi have filled middle-level or senior civil-service positions in independent Uganda. latest redrawing of the administrative divisions, it contains seven districts; Agago, Amuru, Gulu, The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The term Mende refers to both the people and the langua, Achievements by Indian Physical Scientists, https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/acholi. Mothers are responsible for the initial care of their children and for much of their socialization. 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. fight the Arab slave traders and his colonial administration was viewed as not very invasive Milton Obote, the independence leader, relied heavily on the support of his fellow Luo-speakers - Acholi and Langi - in government. As droughts and Nairobi: Oxford University Press. At first fighting against the insurgence of the army of the central government, the Identification. A.D. Of their history during this time only little is known. They keep sheep and cattle but are not as committed to pastoralism as some other Nilotic peoples are. Acholiland or "Acoli-land" (also known as the Acholi sub-region) is a necessarily inexact ethnolinguistic taxonomy that refers to the region traditionally inhabited by the Acholi. Although polygyny has often been presented as an ideal, limited means have always made it rare in practice. Religious Beliefs. Other uncategorised cookies are those that are being analysed and have not been classified into a category as yet. While rwodi, These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customised ads. Acholi have played a pivotal role in the turbulent post-independence era. Death and Afterlife. All of these early inhabitants were ironworking mixed farmers, organized into localized patrilineal lineages or, in some cases, into temporary groupings of two to four such lineages. "[9], Milton Obote, the first leader after independence, relied on Acholi Luo people and Langi Nilo Hamites or Ateker peoples in government. "State Formation in Acholi: The Emergence of Obbo, Pajok, and Panyikwara States c. "Acholi "The Ancestral Shrine of the Acholi." The Required electronic filing by tax-exempt political organizations. Purifications or atonement practices are still performed by Acholi elders in some communities. 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. London: James Currey. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. for social control, though one of the attractions that assisted the administration within the region and the district headquarters were erected in the area of the The cult-like militia has abducted an estimated 25,000 children over the years, forcing them to commit heinous atrocities against civilians. 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 . From the Holy Spirit Movement, the notorious Lords Resistance Army (LRA), led by Acholi Joseph Kony, emerged. Since independence, a relatively few Acholi army officers have managed 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. Recognized compensation and reconciliation procedures seem to "Acholi-Arab Nubian Relations in the Nineteenth Century." Atkinson (2011 [1994]) wrote on this issue: First came the establishment of new, chiefly, socio-political institutions and ideology. Tito and Bazilio, who were Acholi by tribe, fled the country into exile. Politics has been around for millennia. authority of a district commissioner. named Luo. Identification. Conflict. census of 2014, those seven districts were combined inhabited by just under 1.4 million people From the Village to Entebbe: The Acholi of Northern Uganda and . Movement. 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. The LRA received much of its financial, logistical and military support from the Khartoum government in neighbouring Sudan. 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.' "Against Humanitarian Impunity: Rethinking Responsibility for Displacement and Disaster in Northern Uganda,", Latigo (2006), "Northern Uganda", pp. In September 1996, the Ugandan government moved hundreds of thousands of Acholi from the Gulu district into camps, ostensibly for their protection. Finally a common social order and political culture developed, and new society and ETHNONYMS: Ebantfu ba kwa Ngwane (the people of Ngwane), emaSwati, emaSwazi, Swati [23] This resulted in resistance building up in the region and soon a host of rebel groups sprang up in the north. We have a small favour to ask: if you appreciate our work, would you mind considering making a donation to support our work? Organizational Politics. This paper is a case study analysis of the sociological phenomena of forgiveness occurring in an ongoing two-decade war in northern Uganda. 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.