. The main point of contact 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. [26][27], The NRA managed to defeat all the rebel groups except the LRA which culminated in a 20-year conflict. colonial rule in their region for decades, before finally being integrated in the Ugandan territory Traditionally, lineage heads and elders were the most knowledgeable aboutand involved withthe lineage and chiefdom jogi, although rwodi also had a role to play in ceremonies involving the latter. Apart from hundreds of thousands of deaths and tens of thousands being abducted, Dwyer, John O. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Nairobi: Oxford University Press. The Song of Lawino, one of the most successful African literary works, was written by Okot p'Bitek, published in 1966 in Acholi, and later translated to English. More commonly, almost any salaried job in the public or private sector represents an income that averages several times that of a member of the majority peasant population. Deep-rooted divisions and polarization remain between different ethnic groups, and these have been greatly exacerbated by the way in which the countrys leadership has developed since independence. Religious Practitioners. In 2009, Acholi was one of the six Ugandan languages identified as having more than one before. (1972). Even in this . The camps caused misery and sufferingwith a conservative death toll of 1,000 people a week. Acholi have played a pivotal role in the turbulent post-independence era. Until 1967 Uganda was a quasi-federal polity that included five subregional monarchies, non-monarchical districts, and a central government. last large-scale conflict in Acholi until Amin came to power in 1971. "Some Notes on Acholi Religious Ceremonies." Milton Obote (196271, 198085). colonial times, were the Acholi stood often in opposition to the British colonial rule, the starting The council's representatives could mediate issues between clans, and essentially covered both civil and criminal functions, like a Supreme Court. A company limited by guarantee in the UK no. 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). A Study of the Acooli Language: Grammar and Vocabulary. The full integration of the Acholi into the British colonial complex happened comparatively late. From the Village to Entebbe: The Acholi of Northern Uganda and . POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. in 1911 in response to the British confiscation of Acholi guns was the 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. Inheritance has been, and largely remains, patrilineal. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. 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. "Land Tenure in Acholi." 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. 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. Recognized compensation and reconciliation procedures seem to have often limited or prevented serious conflict, especially among neighboring chiefdoms within the same zone. a civil resistance movement started forming in the region. Millet is the staple food of the Acholi, and tobacco is grown for trade. Identification. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Milton Obote, the independence leader, relied heavily on the support of his fellow Luo-speakers Acholi and Langi in government. Atkinson, Ronald R. (1989). Domestic Unit. Jur Alur Finally a common social order and political culture developed, and new society and [23][24], The attempt to pacify the Northern Uganda was carried out recklessly with much brutality and unprofessionalism from the NRA soldiers and government. 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. connected and intertwined chiefdoms. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Both Protestant and Catholic missionaries were active in Acholi from early colonial rule, providing written Luo religious, educational, and historical texts and producing a local educated elite, all of which fostered the further development of an Acholi identity within the colonial context of "tribal" culture, consciousness, and politics. Medicine. [26] However, it successfully popularised the LRA in the West. 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. deaths. When not disrupted or dispossessed by the violence endemic since the mid-1980s, most Acholi remain primarily mixed farmers. 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. 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. Political organizations are those engaged in political activities (e.g., lobbying, community organizing, campaign advertising, etc.) Diversity Management in Sudan's Democratic Transitional Arrangements: Technical Paper 1, January 2023. As droughts and It was a system of governance fully integrated with their religion and cosmology. [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. There were the spirits of known relatives, especially lineage ancestors; a second type was the nonancestral jok of the chiefdom as a whole. 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. NRA in 1986. 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]. But when Idi Amin overthrew Obotes first spell in power, and when Yoweri Musevini ousted Okello, the Acholi paid heavily for their allegiances. However, to what degree this emergence was accompanied with the creation of a common Instead, the Acholi were integrated in the Socialization. became more frequent, more deadly, and more widely spread. The insurgency's military. The word 'Acholi' is a misnomer that became adopted for convenience over the years. 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. ETHNONYMS: Balumbila, Batoka, Batonga, Bawe, Toka During Uganda's colonial period, the British encouraged political and economic development in the south of the country, in particular among the Baganda. members of royal lineages, and lineage heads all seem to have been In . 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). 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. 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. He overthrew Obote's government and established a dictatorship, ultimately suppressing and killing 300,000 people, including many Acholi. Malandra, Alfred (1939). of the nineteenth century, both among Acholi chiefdoms and with and slave trades, and the firearms that accompanied them, conflict It was not until 1995 that a constitutional reform recognized such cultural leaders, but they have not been fully restored to previous powers, as so much of society has changed. However, this rebellion was defeated when it attempted to attack From early on, girls and boys learn gender-appropriate behaviors and activities, and these are reflected in both their play and their chores and other responsibilities. 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. 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. With the coming of the ivory Estimated at 1,470,554 (4.4 per cent in the 2014 census). 23 Feb. 2023 . 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. When the victorious NRA started violent acts of vengeance in the following years, 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. 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". 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. The Acholi or Acoli are part of Luo-speaking Nilotic people of East Africa who lives predominantly in Northern Uganda (an area commonly referred to as Acholiland), including the districts of Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, Nwoya, Lamwo, and Pader; and Magwe County in South Sudan. At the peak of the conflict, 90% of the Acholi population moved into IDP camps designed as protected villages. 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. At the same time Joseph Kony formed his own rebel group, 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. This has continued in various guises ever since. The Social Origins of Violence in Uganda, 1964-1 985. [23] This resulted in resistance building up in the region and soon a host of rebel groups sprang up in the north. 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. A single rainy season, from April-May to October-November, produces a reliable annual rainfall nine years of every ten, ranging from 102 centimeters in the central and western portions of Acholi to only 51 centimeters in much of the north and east. The essential lawlessness of the Idi Amin and 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. 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. He was defeated in January 1986. It was filmed by Australian director Ebony Butler, Simon Hardwidge and Ugandan author Frey Onen. "Acholi-Arab Nubian Relations in the Nineteenth Century." Similarly, General Okello Lutwa who toppled the Obote II regime, was an Acholi. 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. 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 . "Kony's Message: A New Koine?". These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The Fipa are a Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Tanzania in East-Central Africa. (Whitmire, 2013, p. 46). Uganda Journal 19(1): 57-61. Figure 5. Kinship Terminology. 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. The 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. Even though the recent history of conflict can in some ways be tracked all the way back to the Dholuo p. 41). Social Control. According to the reconstruction by Atkinson (2011 [1994]), the Acholi as a group emerged Large, dry-season hunts were an important part of the precolonial economy; these gradually decreased in significance as the varied roster of both large and small game animals dwindled over the twentieth century. [22], In January 1986, the junta government of Gen. Tito Okello-Lutwa in Uganda was overthrown by Museveni and his NRA rebels. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information. 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. This made the chiefs more independent from They have also "played a vital role in Acholi traditional reconciliation processes and in preparing the community to receive former combatants.