solidification of an Acholi identity, with their common language becoming an important marker. 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 However, to what degree this emergence was accompanied with the creation of a common 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. Traditionally, a grave is dug as soon as a person has died, following which a small and brief ceremony is held in the deceased's house prior to burial. Tonga Atkinson, Ronald R. (1989). As a result, many widowed Acholi have been unable to access their land on return to their homes. Ruhakana Rugunda, the Ugandan minister of internal affairs and leader of the government negotiating team, noted the effectiveness of the traditional system. 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. million first language speakers at the time. Diversity Management in Sudan's Democratic Transitional Arrangements: Technical Paper 1, January 2023. Encyclopedias almanacs transcripts and maps. Statt Afrika im Kampf gegen Hunger zu helfen, beuten Industriestaaten The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". 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. Under Amins brutal regime, an estimated 300,000 died many of them Acholi. The chiefs traditionally came from one clan, and each chiefdom had several villages made up of different patrilineal clans. Despite their common language and ethnic designation, the Acholi of Uganda and the southern Sudan have distinct origins and developed along different historical trajectories; the remainder of this cultural summary will focus on the more populous Uganda Acholi. 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. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/acholi. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The dry season is long and hot, with temperatures that can reach more than 35 C. Demography. The Acholi Traditional Approach to Justice and the War in Northern He has noted that the emphasis on the distinction among ethnic groups has even been part of the internal government dialogue." before. According to the The conflict had dramatic effects on the local Even bride-wealth marriages are now often mainly nuclear-family affairs, and other alternatives to traditional marriage are common. 30 Chiefly authority was however not absolute, as power was shared with lineage elders ( ladit kaka) and political authority was mainly vested in Conflict. Bride-wealth has varied over time but has usually included iron objects, domestic animals, and, in the twentieth century, money. Okot p'Bitek's epic poem, Song of Lawino, debates Acholi customs around the time that Uganda became independent. "At Home in the Village: Growing Up in Acholi." Crazzolara, J. P. (1950-1954). It is (1976). 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. [CDATA[ other parts of Uganda, where hundreds of thousands of peoplemany Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. The Roots of Ethnicity: The Origins of the Acholi of Uganda before 1800. The Acholi have small chiefdoms of one or more villages, each with several patrilineal clans. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Acholi have played a pivotal role in the turbulent post-independence era. Since independence, a relatively few Acholi army officers have managed to accumulate substantial fortunes, as have a few traders. Dwyer, John Orr (1972) 'The Acholi of Uganda: adjustment to imperialism'. 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. . Political Organizations | Internal Revenue Service - IRS tax forms 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 . 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. 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. The activities of the LRA have been devastating within Acholiland (though they spread also to neighbouring districts and countries). Other uncategorised cookies are those that are being analysed and have not been classified into a category as yet. As they have for centuries, Acholi farmers rely mainly on iron hoes and other hand tools. jok ). Uganda Journal 3(3): 175-202. This belief underlies the customary land tenure rule that prohibits women from having rights to land independent of their relationship with their father or husband. In addition to these six languages, some authors also classify Labwor (Ladefoged, The Acholi's harrowing ordeal began under Idi Amin's dictatorship in the seventies. The Central Lwo during the Aconya. A.D. Of their history during this time only little is known. One obvious candidate, Bazilio Olara-Okello who, although unrelated to Tito Okello, was, as in the case of Oyite Ojok, another officer who participated in the overthrow of Idi Amin. with chiefdoms providing a layer of organization above the lineages from in the form of the Acholi district (Vincent, 2012). 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. 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. Politics has been around for millennia. Ethnic group of South Sudan and Northern Uganda, Atkinson, Ronald R. "The Evolution of Ethnicity among the Acholi of Uganda: The Precolonial Phase.". PUBLISHED: 30/01/2023. . in Acholi since the mid-1980s) have led to a breakdown of any meaningful "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). Colonial chiefs in a stateless society: a case-study from Northern Estimated at 1,470,554 (4.4 per cent in the 2014 census). When conflict did occur, however, it was usually limited in scope, with relatively few deaths. Localized patrilineal lineages, some of which have "brother" lineages of the same or different name in other parts of Acholi, have long been the fundamental social and economic units in Acholi. Twentieth-century densities have been consistently the second lowest in all of Uganda (after Karamoja). (Byrnes, 1990, p. 6), did the Acholi not arrive in their present-day area before the 15th century Vincent (2012). development of chiefdoms seems to have been the ability of rwodi to help 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]. From the beginning, the Acholi were marginal compared to Britain's concern with Buganda, at the core of the colony. find its conclusion until the 19th century. All procedures are conducted with care, to attempt to ensure that the spirit of the departed does not become angry. Encyclopedia of World Cultures. They have also "played a vital role in Acholi traditional reconciliation processes and in preparing the community to receive former combatants. Apoko, Anna (1967). Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Death of Oulanyah exposes Acholi as proud and loud without leadership the late seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries. Since independence, formal schooling has provided a strong socializing influence from outside the home for more and more Acholi, especially those attending secondary school. Orientation environment and larger distances between settlements kept the hierarchical structures The Population Geography of Acholi District. administration within the region and the district headquarters were erected in the area of the into the independence era. and tributes paid to them. The Acholi region and language 51 - The history and politics of [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. Kin Groups and Descent. It is part of the Southern Lwoo languages The Acholi are the descendants of a variety of Luo-speaking peoples who are believed to have migrated three or four centuries ago from adjacent areas of what is now South Sudan into what is now the Acholi district of Uganda. Trade. 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. When the victorious NRA started violent acts of vengeance in the following years, However, during the dry season, as groups of families were forced to congregate around receding water sources, a greater degree of political organization developed. During the colonial period, political leadership in Acholi was (1988). Acholi conceive of death as an inevitable, personal defeat and tragedy, against which there is no ultimate defense. The LRA received much of its financial, logistical and military support from the Khartoum government in neighbouring Sudan. 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. Sociopolitical organization - Acholi 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. The results showed that students had, On the one hand, languages are translatable, which can be demonstrated from different perspectives such as the general characteristics of language, the parallel linguistic, The purpose of this study was to examine the language attitudes and language practices of Arabic-speaking families living in the United States. Since independence, a relatively few Acholi army officers have managed 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. Uganda journal 27(1): 15-30. . latest redrawing of the administrative divisions, it contains seven districts; Agago, Amuru, Gulu, population. All affines, meanwhile, are known as "mother." Dholuo This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. [25], Some of the groups in Acholi, like the UPDA, detested the Museveni regime because it had overthrown the government in which they served. Chopi (Storch, 2005), Index of languages, language families, linguistic areas, and ethnic groups.. African languages. Since 1996 this policy has expanded to encompass the entire rural Acholi population of four districts, one million people. Wright, A. C. A. Jur Alur Acholi | people | Britannica 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. 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. Milton Obote, the independence leader, relied heavily on the support of his fellow Luo-speakers - Acholi and Langi - in government. Even though this contact was described as a grossly negative experience for the Acholi, this Women daubed the walls with mud, decorating them with geometrical or conventional designs in red, white or grey. alongside the other Luo groups in Uganda and Kenya following several waves of migration The Fipa are a Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Tanzania in East-Central Africa. contested among those with traditional leadership qualifications and colonial rule in their region for decades, before finally being integrated in the Ugandan territory Due to its central location and the close 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. In such a context, the land rights of those with the least power widows, the disabled, the elderly were very insecure. The available evidence suggests that conflict in Acholi before the end of the nineteenth century, both among Acholi chiefdoms and with neighboring peoples, was neither rare nor endemic. were able gain wealth by trading mainly in ivory. London: James Currey. State | Definition, History, Figures, & Facts | Britannica As of September 2009, large numbers of Acholi people remain in camps as internally displaced persons. to the land by Kuturia caused a lot of death in the sub-region of Acholi. (p. 34). POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. Acholi: Talking Politics in Northern Uganda - Unizin 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. Milton Obote, the independence leader, relied heavily on the support of his fellow Luo-speakers Acholi and Langi in government. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Arts. London: Oxford University Press. They are speakers of Western Nilotic languages and are traditionally farmers. 1orthern Uganda or Acholiland is formally known as the Acholi sub-region, an area inhab N - ited primarily by speakers of the Acholi language, whom I refer to as the Acholi. 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. 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. somewhat better off than others before the latter part of the nineteenth 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. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 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. The political ramifications for Uganda, however, were severe. Even though the recent history of conflict can in some ways be tracked all the way back to the Linguistic Affiliation. But when Idi Amin overthrew Obotes first spell in power, and when Yoweri Musevini ousted Okello, the Acholi paid heavily for their allegiances. friendly, but after the inception of the British Protectorate of Uganda in 1894, which included be possessed by a spirit named Lakwena, the so-called Holy Spirit Movement fought a rebellion Inheritance has been, and largely remains, patrilineal. census of 2014, those seven districts were combined inhabited by just under 1.4 million people identity is rather disputed. came a new hierarchy of chiefs, clerks, and policemen, all under the [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].