latest redrawing of the administrative divisions, it contains seven districts; Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Since the Lords Resistance Army was largely pushed out of Northern Uganda, the majority of Acholi more than 80 per cent have been able to return to their homes. Luo people - Wikipedia 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. ETHNONYM: Karanga (historical) At the peak of the conflict, 90% of the Acholi population moved into IDP camps designed as protected villages. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. Since independence, a relatively few Acholi army officers have managed to accumulate substantial fortunes, as have a few traders. [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]. From the Village to Entebbe: The Acholi of Northern Uganda and the Diversity Management in Sudan's Democratic Transitional Arrangements: Technical Paper 1, January 2023. Conflict. As of September 2009, large numbers of Acholi people remain in camps as internally displaced persons. David Oyite-Ojok | Military Wiki | Fandom and tributes paid to them. The most common domestic animals are (and have long been) chickens and goats, with some cattle, especially in the dryer portions of Acholi. Okeny, Kenneth (1982). 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. Historically, the most important public ceremonies were probably those associated with birth, planting, harvesting, and the killing of a large animal or another human being. of the nineteenth century, both among Acholi chiefdoms and with Under Amins brutal regime, an estimated 300,000 died many of them Acholi. Kin Groups and Descent. Dholuo Milton Obote (1962-71, 1980-85). Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/acholi. "[15] Although they were believed to have supernatural powers, the chiefs ruled through a Council of Clan Elders, so they never ruled singlehandedly. famines forced groups to move within the Acholi territory and create more cohesive forms of He was defeated in January 1986. Acholi people - Wikipedia 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. Latigo (2006), "Northern Uganda", p. 90-92, Branch, A. During the colonial period, political leadership in Acholi was According to the reconstruction by Atkinson (2011 [1994]), the Acholi as a group emerged L. No. 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. 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. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form. 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. [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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Acholi's harrowing ordeal began under Idi Amin's dictatorship in the seventies. [13] The refugees in the camps have also been subject to raids by both LRA and government forces.[10]. It is "Acholi With colonial rule Even bride-wealth marriages are now often mainly nuclear-family affairs, and other alternatives to traditional marriage are common. B. K. (1994). Uganda Journal 3(3): 175-202. [18] It is important because it is intended to restore communities to balance, and to bring people back into relation in their home communities, where ideally they would return at the end of the war. 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. before. The 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. Ceremonies. The Anguish of Northern Uganda - Sections 3 - 5 - Uganda Acholi have played a pivotal role in the turbulent post-independence era. 26). Acholi men say, Property cant own property, and the notion of women having independent land rights is an anomaly to them. 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. The documentary was met with mixed reactions, with many people familiar with the situation dubbing it a shallow and money-grabbing scheme. In addition, the peace forums have worked to help establish the Amnesty Commission. colonial times, were the Acholi stood often in opposition to the British colonial rule, the starting development of the chiefdom and clan system in the 17th and 18th century that is still a vital ." against the central government. The settlement of the Acholi in their current territory is compared to the ethnic groups in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures. All procedures are conducted with care, to attempt to ensure that the spirit of the departed does not become angry. Due to its central location and the close The Lwoo. 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. Politics has been around for millennia. southern part of the country relatively young. State | Definition, History, Figures, & Facts | Britannica This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Corn (maize), sorghum, beans, squash, peanuts (groundnuts), and other savanna crops also are grown. Encyclopedia.com. 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 colonial experience of the Acholi differed greatly from the experience of those in the Atkinson, Ronald R. (1994). 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. (1988). Acholi | people | Britannica 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. In search of chiefly authority in 'post-aid' Acholiland Before the late seventeenth century, Luo speakers were limited to only a few peripheral areas of Acholi. Relatively small numbers of Acholi have filled middle-level or senior civil-service positions in independent Uganda. the nations capital Kampala in 1988. 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. The Acholi sub-region is a part of the administrative region of Northern-Uganda. London: James Currey. In precolonial Acholi, lineage heads and elders were most responsible Behrend, Heike (1991). They were also against the power consolidation approach of the NRA, which included mass arrest, torturing, killing, cattle raiding, food crop destruction, and looting and burning of villages. comparably flat. second term, Acholi soldiers played key roles in the massive conflict in The activities of the LRA have been devastating within Acholiland (though they spread also to neighbouring districts and countries). the furthest back is the historical reconstruction by Atkinson (2011 [1994]), who described the Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). ETHNONYMS: Mende (Men-day), Mendes, Huro, Wuro 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). . 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. 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. formations in the form of chiefdoms and kingdoms by the end of the first millennium A.D. This structure was maintained by the real anointed chiefs of the Acholi, the rwodi moo. Medicine. Forging Forgiveness: Collective Efforts Amidst War in Northern Uganda occur, however, it was usually limited in scope, with relatively few colonial rule in their region for decades, before finally being integrated in the Ugandan territory The Acholi region is bordered in the west by the districts Socialization. Social Control. [26] Conservative approaches estimates that at least 300,000 people died in the conflict that extended into the Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. Identification. the area around Lake Victoria as early as the fourth century B.C. 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. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Finally a common social order and political culture developed, and new society and 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. From the Holy Spirit Movement, the notorious Lords Resistance Army (LRA), led by Acholi Joseph Kony, emerged. element of the social and political environment of the region. 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. Dwyer, John O. A rebellion somewhat better off than others before the latter part of the nineteenth Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. At the height of the insurgency, 1.8 million people in the north were living in camps. 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]. Uganda Now: Between Decay and Development. Jur Alur Organizational politics is a natural part of organizational life. 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. 23 Feb. 2023