political organisation of the acholi

116-25 Section 3101, requires electronic filing by exempt organizations in tax years beginning after July 1, 2019. 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. [22], In January 1986, the junta government of Gen. Tito Okello-Lutwa in Uganda was overthrown by Museveni and his NRA rebels. All members of the household acknowledge the authority of its head, the husband; each wife or other adult female in the household has traditionally had her own fields, granaries, and kitchen or cooking hut. 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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. He and others have suggested it could help the nation more than adopting the Western system of the International Criminal Court at The Hague (although some charges had already been filed against LRA leaders in 2005 there. In addition, the peace forums have worked to help establish the Amnesty Commission. The camps caused misery and sufferingwith a conservative death toll of 1,000 people a week. Okot p'Bitek (1971). Much of that hierarchy continued into the independence era. and tributes paid to them. While rwodi, members of royal lineages, and lineage heads all seem to have been somewhat better off than others before the latter part of the nineteenth century, social stratification appears limited, owing primarily to both limited wealth in the society and redistribution. [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. Under Ugandan Pres. (1970) 'State formation and fragmentation in Agago, Eastern Acholi', This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 19:17. 2.4. Even bride-wealth marriages are now often mainly nuclear-family affairs, and other alternatives to traditional marriage are common. In most chiefdoms, only members of designated lineages could make or repair royal drums. 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. Once chiefdoms were established, Acholi religious beliefs focused on three types of spirits (jogi; sing. In 2009, Acholi was one of the six Ugandan languages identified as having more than one The cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Millet is the staple food of the Acholi, and tobacco is grown for trade. At the peak of the conflict, 90% of the Acholi population moved into IDP camps designed as protected villages. latest redrawing of the administrative divisions, it contains seven districts; Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Spirits of both of these types were generally beneficent. commonly, almost any salaried job in the public or private sector Conflict. This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos. limited wealth in the society and redistribution. "[20] They have continued to work to end the war through negotiation. Uganda Now: Between Decay and Development. The cult-like militia has abducted an estimated 25,000 children over the years, forcing them to commit heinous atrocities against civilians. He has noted that the emphasis on the distinction among ethnic groups has even been part of the internal government dialogue." Malandra, Alfred (1939). It refers to people known locally as Luo Gang. During the colonial period, political leadership in Acholi was However, to what degree this emergence was accompanied with the creation of a common The Southern Lwoo language group 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 . traditional local forms of organisation were based on smaller units, often only consisting of The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Social Control. The primary language of Acholi today is Luo, a Western Nilotic language spoken by groups scattered across East Africa from the southern Sudan to Tanzania; many also speak English and/or Kiswahili. 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. Figure 5. 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. Hunting tracts are owned by clans. . The Lwoo. somewhat better off than others before the latter part of the nineteenth 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. The building of houses and granaries has historically involved both men and women, with each performing specified functions. "Acholi collective identity evolved, and a common language (Luo) spread. (Atkinson, 2011 Before the late seventeenth century, Luo speakers were limited to only a few peripheral areas of Acholi. The chiefs traditionally came from one clan, and each chiefdom had several villages made up of different patrilineal clans. The combination of the two events, have put pressure on the LRA to lay down its arms. 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. London: James Currey. In East African Childhood: Three Versions, edited by L. K. Fox, 43-75. Girling (1960) notes that as late as 1950 there was still no system of individual land tenure in Acholi; however, such tenure has become increasingly common since independence. The Central Lwo during the Aconya. He had established the Equatorial Province in 1870 This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile. expression of difference, but one of a common political ideology and identity (Whitmire, 2013, Death and Afterlife. Thanks for using our World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples! Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). We have a small favour to ask: if you appreciate our work, would you mind considering making a donation to support our work? The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. Latigo, James, "The Acholi Traditional Conflict Resolution in Light of Current Circumstances:". Acholi conceive of death as an inevitable, personal defeat and tragedy, against which there is no ultimate defense. 2 I 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 b majority peasant population. The Social Origins of Violence in Uganda, 1964-1 985. 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 interpolity interactions at the county level. 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. Movement. 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. With colonial rule 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. passed through Sudan to the northern Uganda. "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). Until 1967 Uganda was a quasi-federal polity that included five subregional monarchies, non-monarchical districts, and a central government. colonial rule in their region for decades, before finally being integrated in the Ugandan territory 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. B. Webster, eds. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. According to the latest census, there are 1.47 million ethnic Acholi in Uganda, amounting to 4.4 per cent of the total population. This paper is a case study analysis of the sociological phenomena of forgiveness occurring in an ongoing two-decade war in northern Uganda. He overthrew Obote's government and established a dictatorship, ultimately suppressing and killing 300,000 people, including many Acholi. 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. "Some Notes on Acholi Religious Ceremonies." Kinship Terminology. Milton Obote, the independence leader, relied heavily on the support of his fellow Luo-speakers - Acholi and Langi - in government. At its peak in 2005 over The major art forms of the Acholi have been drumming, singing, and dancing. However, this rebellion was defeated when it attempted to attack These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. time was critical to the social and political development of the region. 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. 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. Following the latest redrawing of the administrative divisions, it contains seven districts; Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, Nwoya, Lamwo and Pader. Corrections? The main point of contact This has continued in various guises ever since. administration within the region and the district headquarters were erected in the area of the Dwyer, John O. to the land by Kuturia caused a lot of death in the sub-region of Acholi. (p. 34). 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. census of 2014, those seven districts were combined inhabited by just under 1.4 million people )[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'. In Changing Uganda: The Dilemmas of Structural Adjustment and Revolutionary Change, edited by Holger B. Hansen and Michael Twaddle, 162-177. Ethnohistory 36(1): 19-43. "Land Tenure in Acholi." fight the Arab slave traders and his colonial administration was viewed as not very invasive Okot p'Bitek (1963). Trade. supported them at first also regretted their support after seeing the sufferings of Acholi in The Acholi region and language 51. This article was most recently revised and updated by, Minority Rights Group International - World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Acholi. "The Evolution of Ethnicity among the Acholi of Uganda: The Pre-colonial Phase." 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. 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. Uma, F. K. (1971). In contrast, the Acholi and other northern ethnic groups supplied much of the national manual labour and came to comprise a majority of the military, creating what some have called a "military ethnocracy". 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. 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. [25], Some of the groups in Acholi, like the UPDA, detested the Museveni regime because it had overthrown the government in which they served. Acholi have played a pivotal role in the turbulent post-independence era. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Encyclopedia.com. a civil resistance movement started forming in the region. [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. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau. Identification and Location. connected and intertwined chiefdoms. Rwot, 'ruler'). The most common domestic animals are (and have long been) chickens and goats, with some cattle, especially in the dryer portions of Acholi. Similarly, General Okello Lutwa who toppled the Obote II regime, was an Acholi. point to the most recent violent conflict was the overthrow of the Okello-led government by the It has similarity with Alur, Padhola language, and other Luo languages in South Sudan Shilluk, Anuak,Pari, Balanda, Boor, Thuri. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. occur, however, it was usually limited in scope, with relatively few But when Idi Amin overthrew Obotes first spell in power, and when Yoweri Musevini ousted Okello, the Acholi paid heavily for their allegiances. 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. This cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website. The council's representatives could mediate issues between clans, and essentially covered both civil and criminal functions, like a Supreme Court. 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. Hier sind Acholi-Frauen dafr bekannt, . Crazzolara, J. P. (1938). World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. ." Inheritance has been, and largely remains, patrilineal. Religious Practitioners. 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. Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. Political Organization. Chopi (Storch, 2005), Index of languages, language families, linguistic areas, and ethnic groups.. African languages. Required electronic filing by tax-exempt political organizations. This structure was maintained by the real anointed chiefs of the Acholi, the rwodi moo. 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). ETHNONYMS: Balumbila, Batoka, Batonga, Bawe, Toka Instead, the Acholi were integrated in the All lineage males, for example, are called "grandfather," "father," "brother," or "son," and all (likely resident) females "sister" or "daughter," depending upon their generational relationship to the speaker. the hands of Arabs, this prompted Acholi not to accept any foreigners on their land any in the Western Nilotic branch of Nilo-Saharan. Estimated at 1,470,554 (4.4 per cent in the 2014 census). Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". His stated political aims are to rule Uganda according to the Biblical Ten Commandments. In addition to these six languages, some authors also classify Labwor (Ladefoged, During this time, people were separated from their land for long periods, and many people disappeared or were killed. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 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. By the mid-nineteenth century, about 60 small chiefdoms existed in eastern Acholiland. The essential lawlessness of the Idi Amin and Uganda, leading raids all over the region. The largest political unit was the tribal section, regarded as the geographical nation. rule and since independence, have often reflected preexisting The available evidence suggests that conflict in Acholi before the end 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. 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. Hansen, Holger B., and Michael Twaddle, eds. [23] This resulted in resistance building up in the region and soon a host of rebel groups sprang up in the north. organisation to survive, a common identity had to form to support this new social structure of Ceremonies. 1679-1914." 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. [23][24], The attempt to pacify the Northern Uganda was carried out recklessly with much brutality and unprofessionalism from the NRA soldiers and government. Acholi by international trade, and descendants of some of these men used Odongo, J. M. Onyango-ku-, and J. NAPE, along with sister organization the National Association for Women's Action in Development, has brought together more than 5,000 women from . Social Organization. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The LRA has been targeting civilians, the majority being their own tribe, the Acholi. By clicking 'Accept', you consent to the use of all the cookies. encompasses the six closely related languages Acholi, Adhola, Alur, Kumam, Lango and In September 1996, the Ugandan government moved hundreds of thousands of Acholi from the Gulu district into camps, ostensibly for their protection. While rwodi, On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Traditional beliefs, however, still persist, often meshed with Christian doctrine in complex ways. 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. 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 men were skilled hunters, using nets and spears. represents an income that averages several times that of a member of the Crazzolara, J. P. (1950-1954). 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. Identification. Religion of the Central Luo. "Acholi jok ). Uganda journal 27(1): 15-30. 30 Chiefly authority was however not absolute, as power was shared with lineage elders ( ladit kaka) and political authority was mainly vested in 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. 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. During Obote's first term as president, and especially during his second term, Acholi soldiers played key roles in the massive conflict in other parts of Uganda, where hundreds of thousands of peoplemany of them innocent civilianslost their lives; from the mid-1980s into the 1990s, Acholi was the scene of similar levels of conflict. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Acholi have played a pivotal role in the turbulent post-independence era. Since 1996 this policy has expanded to encompass the entire rural Acholi population of four districts, one million people. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. aimed at achieving clearly-defined political goals, which typically benefit the interests of their members. As some of these languages show some form (1988). in Acholi since the mid-1980s) have led to a breakdown of any meaningful 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. Hansen, Holger B., and Michael Twaddle, eds. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. The first government chiefs, appointed from 1912 onwards, represented a measure of continuity with the pre-colonial order, since they were nearly all drawn from the ranks of the clan leaders. Occasional Paper no. Kitgum, Pader and Gulu, the three districts of the Acholi sub-region, each established peace forums for continuing discussions. [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. Pottery and basket making were widespread and relatively nonspecialized arts, carried out by both men and women. Payera chiefdom and in 1911 they established here the Gulu township (Whitmire, 2013, pp. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International. 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. 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.

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