In Uganda, they live mainly in the Nebbi, Zombo, Pakwach and Arua districts, while in the DRC, they reside mostly north of Lake Albert.[6] As of 2014, there were around 800,000 members of the Alur in Uganda, and eight million Alur living in the DRC.[7] Members of the Alur diaspora span the globe.[8]
Most members of the group speak Alur, a language closely related to Acholi, Adhola, and Luo languages. Some Alur speak Lendu or Kebu.[11] Alur language dialects vary considerably. The highland Alur (Okoro) speak a slightly different dialect from the lowland Alur (Jonam), and it might be difficult to for a native highland Alur person to properly understand their lowland kinsman.[12]
Chiefdoms
The Alur Kingdom, also known as "Ker Alur,"[13] is thought to be the only kingdom unaffected by the 1966 Ugandan ban on traditional monarchies.[14] All Alur Kings are referred to as "Rwoth", just like all Luo Chiefs and Kings, and are crowned according to the royal spear head bearing tradition.
The current king, Rwoth Ubimu Phillip Rauni Olarker III, was crowned in 2010 and has his capital at Kaal Atyak Winam, Zombo district, Uganda.[7][9] He is currently committed to reconnecting the people of the Alur Kingdom both within the kingdom and in the diaspora,[8] with the goals including economic growth and social protection for girls and women and ending child marriage.[13] In recent years the king has organized cultural sports tournaments to bring together the community, where both men and women compete.[10][15]
One of the king's closest male relatives is the Prime Minister, second to the king. The current Prime Minister is Prince Lawrence Opar Angala the Jadipu.[7][15] The current Queen Mother, Rotzette Keronega, is also a very influential political figure.[8]
The Alur Kingdom currently has 64 chiefdoms, eight of which are located in the DRC and 56 in Uganda.[16] When the Europeans first arrived, the Alur people were organized in ten chiefdoms, namely: Angal, Juganda, Jukoth, Mukambu, War Palara, Panduru, Ukuru, Paidha, Padeo and Panyikano.
In Angal, the current king is Rwoth Djalore Serge II. He took over from his late father Kamanda who died in 1998. All these sub-tribes of the Alur descended directly from King Nyipir's lineage.[12]
History, politics and tribe life
The largest Alur tribe was the Ukuru clan, who counted 10,000 adult men among their ranks in 1914, although Alur counted boys as young as 14 years as men.
The Ukuru tribe was founded in 1630 when Ngira, a member of the Aryak family, migrated with a number of young men, including his younger brother, Ijira. They took over the territory from the indigenous Bantu inhabitants. The region was quickly Alur-ized.[17]
The descendants of the original Bantu men now form the Abira family. Bantu maternal ancestry is very common in Ukuru. The Ukuru tribes grew in competition with other tribes. Some other clans were completely taken over providing the Ukuru clan with more food resources, women, and men to defend their territory.[17]
Other clans were dominated from afar. In 1789 the Ukuru clan defeated the Panduru clan to become the most powerful Alur clan. For years the Ukuru clan was the most powerful, populous, and largest Alur clan.[17][18]
Meanwhile, in the Ukuru clan, the Atyak family was losing its importance. For generations the Atyak family provided for the Chief. Alur society was strictly hierarchical. There were multiple social ranks within each gender.[17]
Social rank depended on a lot of things – assertiveness, number of friends and family (allies), performance on male prestige tasks (war, patrols, hunting, and fishing). Rank is, in theory, not inheritable. However a man with a high-ranking father had, as a rule, more brothers, cousins, and family and was better able to attract allies. But overall, every man had the opportunity to reach a high status with the right mix of qualities.[17]
Every Alur men from 16 years old could vote which man was to become the chief. Only a man who was already high-ranking could become a chief.[17]
Usually, the chiefs are chosen from a young age, and they can remain as chiefs for life if the community looks favorably upon their job performance. Alur clans are, in fact, a number of patrilineages living together. Most clans have around five patrilineages, but the Ukuru clan has 11 patrilineages.[17]
These patrilineages can include large numbers of men, all descendants of the same man. The Parombo family (patrilineage) in the Ukuru clan, for example, included 2000 men in 1949. These patrilineages are not strictly fictional. The Alur are very serious about it and maintain a family tree. Of course, a certain level of flexibility has occurred but overall we can trust the picture the Alur paint of their patrilineages. By 1820 the other patrilineages worked together to prevent an Atyak man from becoming Rwoth. This decline in Atyak power resulted in the rapid growth of other patrilineages like the Parombo, Palei and The Aryek. In particular the Aryek family became politically important.[17]
High rank confers had many advantages in Alur society. Expecting respect and admiration, high-ranking men had first choice in food, especially prestige food like meat and beer. High-ranking men typically had a large number of cattle and since the Alur paid the bride price in cattle high-ranking men had the most wives and thus children. The chief typically had the most children of any man in the clan. High-ranking men had three or more wives, average men two and low-ranking men typically one. As always there was flexibility since low-ranking men could be very successful in tending cattle and thus in acquiring wives but then their rank typically rose.[17]
Men always stayed in the clan they were born in, but women married men from other clans and moved to their husband's clan. Very few women married men from their own clan, since the Alur had very strict rules about avoiding incest. Every man in ones patrilineage was un-marriageable no matter how distant the common ancestor was. Only a specific request from a man from her own clan could let an Alur woman remain within her clan.[17]
Traditions
Among many other traditions of the Alur, the Agwara dance is a notable example. It is a royal dance that is only performed in the presence of the king during community rituals or festivals, and is performed by both men and women.[19]
Day-to-day life
Traditionally, the Alur live in grass-thatched huts. The homesteads in Alur clans are in the central part of their territory. This helps keeps the territory under their control. The Alur were farmer-herders. The Alur grew (and grow) millet, cassava, maize, sweet potatoes, spinach, and pumpkins. They herded cattle, goats, and chickens. Goat and chicken were important sources of meat. Other important resources were salt, forest and wild animals all who were protected from other clans. In the drought season fishing was important. The large herds of animals the Alur typically hunt as secondary sources of meat so as not to exhaust their own goat and chicken numbers moved away to greener pastures.[17]
In Alur society, men herded the domestic animals, grew the crops, built the huts, hunted, fished, and dominated political life. The women were responsible for keeping house, rearing the children and cooking. Many of the men's jobs are bound to strict times (they hunted in large groups just once a month for example). The sexes are segregated by the Alur, with husbands and wives having separate huts, with the men sleeping apart from the women and the children. They also eat separately.[17]
Women and men rarely mix socially. This behavior is not enforced by the men, but it is said that is in the woman's best interest to minimize contact with men. This is done out of fear of aggression and the husband's jealousy. Generally, Alur men are very close and social with men from their own clan. They hunt, farm, fish, go to war, herd, and form coalitions against rivals together. Since Alur men stay in the clan they are born in, and women move to the clan of their husband, the men are typically more social, have more friends, and a wider social network. This is a very important factor in male dominance within the Alur.[17]
Famous Alur people
Chief Amula (1871–1942)
Amula was born in the Aryek patrilineage as the son of Alworuna and Acroama. The fortunes of the Aryek family had been rising before Amula's birth. The first known Aryek patriarch, Abok Ucweda had been an insignificant man in the politics of the Ukuru clan. The same couldn't be said for some of his sons. Ugena had been chief for five years (1845–1850) before being deposed with help from his half-brother Nziri, Amula's paternal grandfather. Amula's father Alworuna had been known to be the best warrior of the Ukuru clan. Three brothers of Alworuna, Amatho, Kubi and Avur also managed to become powerful, respected men. Four Amula brothers, including his full brother Aryem, also became powerful. Amula grew up in the 1878 Ukuru-Panduru war which the Ukuru clan lost and in which around 600 Ukuru men died in a few days of intense fighting. Amula's father Alworuna was burned alive by Panduru forces led by their chief, Ujuru. Amula's uncle Amatho died trying to avenge his brother's death. Amula grew up to be a powerful man who rapidly rose in the social hierarchy from the age of 15. In 1890, at 19 years old, he was elected as the chief of the Ukuru clan. He immediately began a war with the Panduru clan and managed to avenge his father's death. Afterward, he consolidated his hold on the Ukuru clan by entering into allegiances with other powerful patrilineages mainly with the Palei, Parombo and sections of the Patek patrilineage. He also could count on the support of many individual men. Amula proved to be a good chief, strong willed but compassionate. He was skillful in wars partly because of his ability to secure alliances with other clans. He was the voice of reason when the British arrived in 1914, compelling the clan not to fight them. He was exiled by the British in 1917 for not rigidly following their orders but was allowed back in 1922. He died in 1942, still very popular and loved by the clan. As a chief, Amula had many wives and children. His son Jalusiga (1896–1978) succeeded him as chief although this was a British doing and not a choice of the clan. Another son of his, Jalaure (born in 1888), acted as chief in his absence from 1917 to 1922.[18][20]
The Adhola people, also known as Jopadhola, are a Nilotic ethnic group of Luo peoples that live in Tororo District of Eastern Uganda and comprise about eight percent of the country's total population. They speak Dhopadhola,, which belongs to the Western Nilotic branch of the Nilotic language family. They are primarily pastoralists. The Jopadhola call their land Padhola which, according to historian Bethwell Ogot, is an elliptic form of "Pa Adhola" meaning the "place of Adhola", the founding father of the Jopadhola people. Officially, land of the Adhola is called Padhola, but the Baganda who misinterpret 'Widoma' – a Dhopadhola word for 'war cry' meaning 'You are in trouble' refer to the Jopadhola as "Badama". The social structure of the Jopadhola can be described as semi centralised because there is no traditional centralized government and its organization is limited to a clan called Nono. There are over 52 clans, each with cultural practices, common ancestry and a distinct lineage.
Buganda is a Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Uganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 14 million Baganda make up the largest Ugandan region, representing approximately 16% of Uganda's population.
The Luo, are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilotic 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. Their Luo languages belong to the western branch of the Nilotic language family.
Moshoeshoe I was the first king of Lesotho. He was the first son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bamokoteli lineage, a branch of the Koena (crocodile) clan. In his youth, he helped his father gain power over some other smaller clans. At the age of 34 Moshoeshoe formed his own clan and became a chief. He and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain. He became the first and longest-serving King of Lesotho in 1822.
The Luhya are a Bantu people and the second largest ethnic group in Kenya. The Luhya belong to the larger linguistic stock known as the Bantu. The Luhya are located in western Kenya and Uganda. They are divided into 20 culturally and linguistically united clans. Once known as the Kavirondo, multiple small tribes in North Nyanza came together under the new name Baluhya between 1950 and 1960. The Bukusu are the largest Luhya subtribe and account for almost 50% of the entire Luhya population, dominating other Luhya subtribes. They live in both Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia counties.
The Nyoro people, also known as Banyoro are a Bantu ethnic group native to the kingdom of Bunyoro in Uganda. They live in settlements on a well-watered and fertile plateau. Banyoro are closely related to other Bantu peoples of the region, namely the Batooro, Banyankole, Bakiga and the Bahema peoples.
The Nnabagereka is the official title of the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Buganda, a traditional kingdom in modern-day Uganda. The current Nnabagereka is Sylvia Nagginda, who married Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi II of Buganda on 27 August 1999.
Ssuuna II Kalema Kasinjo Mukaabya Sekkyungwa Muteesa Sewankambo Walugembe Mig'ekyaamye Lukeberwa Kyetutumula Magulunyondo Luwambya Omutanda Sseggwanga was Kabaka of the Kingdom of Buganda from 1832 until 1856. He was the twenty-ninth Kabaka of Buganda.
Kiga people, or Abakiga, are a Bantu ethnic group native to south western Uganda and northern Rwanda.
The Turu are an ethnic and linguistic group based in the Singida Region of north-central Tanzania who speak Bantu language Kinyaturu. In 1993, the Turu population was estimated to number 556,000. The current population of the Turu is now over 1,000,000. They speak the Turu language.
Buliisa District is a district in Western Uganda. As with most Ugandan districts, Buliisa District is named after its "main town" Buliisa, where the district headquarters are located. Bugungu has 6 sub counties: Kigwera, Ngwedo, Buliisa, Butiaba, Kihungya, and Biiso. It also contain 3 town councils: Buliisa, Butiaba and Biiso.
The Baganda also called Waganda, are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans, the Baganda are the largest people of the Bantu ethnic group in Uganda, comprising 16.5 percent of the population at the time of the 2014 census.
The Shilluk Kingdom, dominated by the Shilluk people, was located along the left bank of the White Nile in what is now South Sudan and southern Sudan. Its capital and royal residence were in the town of Fashoda. According to Shilluk folk history and neighboring accounts, the kingdom was founded by Nyikang, who probably lived in the second half of the 15th century. A Nilotic people, the Shilluk managed to establish a centralized kingdom that reached its apogee in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, during the decline of the northern Funj Sultanate. In the 19th century, the Shilluk were affected by military assaults from the Ottoman Empire, resulting in the destruction of the kingdom in the early 1860s. The Shilluk king is currently not an independent political leader, but a traditional chieftain within the governments of South Sudan and Sudan. The current Shilluk king is Reth Kwongo Dak Padiet who ascended to the throne in 1993.
The Bara people are a Malagasy ethnic group living in the southern part of the central plateaus of Madagascar, in the Toliara Province, concentrated around their historic capital at Ihosy. The Bara are the largest of the island's zebu-herding peoples and have historically lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, although an increasing proportion are practicing agriculture. Bara society is highly patriarchal and endogamy and polygamy are practiced among some Bara tribes. Young men practice cattle rustling to prove their manhood before marriage, and the kilalaky musical and dance tradition associated with cattle rustlers has gained popularity across the island.
The Mahafaly are an ethnic group of Madagascar that inhabit the plains of the Betioky-Ampanihy area. Their name means either "those who make holy" or "those who make happy", although the former is considered more likely by linguists. In 2013 there were an estimated 150,000 Mahafaly in Madagascar. The Mahafaly are believed to have arrived in Madagascar from southeastern Africa around the 12th century. They became known for the large tombs they build to honor dead chiefs and kings. Mainly involved in farming and cattle raising, they speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group.
Nabongo Mumia Shiundu was a prince who became 17th King of the Wanga Kingdom, a pre-colonial kingdom in Kenya prominent for being a centralised, highly organised kingdom and the most advanced form of government in terms of politics, economy and military in pre-colonial Kenya. He later became paramount chief of an expansive region of Kenya at the beginning of British imposition of colonial rule in East Africa.
Detailed anthropological and sociological studies have been made about customs of patrilineal inheritance, where only male children can inherit. Some cultures also employ matrilineal succession, where property can only pass along the female line, most commonly going to the sister's sons of the decedent; but also, in some societies, from the mother to her daughters. Some ancient societies and most modern states employ egalitarian inheritance, without discrimination based on gender and/or birth order.
Agwara is a royal dance of the Alur people of Northern Uganda, performed in the presence of the king (Rwot). It is performed by both women and men during social occasions. The dance is performed to drums, and uses linear and circular formations characterized by leg and waist twisting while wearing ankle bells to emphasize their footwork.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
