 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(November 2019) |
| Guns For Sale | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Richard Alwyn |
| Written by | Richard Alwyn & Sarah Errington |
| Produced by | Sarah Errington |
| Starring | Lokwarionga |
| Narrated by | Andrew Sachs |
Running time | 50 minutes |
| Countries | Northern Uganda, Africa |
| Languages | Ugandan, English |
Guns for Sale is a 1998 documentary film about the effect of guns on manhood, raiding, and livelihood in Karamajong, northern Uganda.
This film starts off with a brief introduction of the Karamajong people in Northern Uganda, Africa. They are one of the most feared tribes in all of Africa and are well known for their cattle herding and raiding. Traditions remain, but guns entered the fold and have become intertwined not only in Karamajong culture, but also the culture of neighboring tribes as well. The arms trade is responsible for this rise in guns from traditional sticks, spears, and bow & arrows; which has led to overwhelming brutality and violence all throughout Africa.
The film introduces Lokwarionga, a skilled warrior, commander, guardian, and feared raider who is part of the Karamajong ethnic people and has his fair share of violence. He has ten confirmed kills and holds much renown among his people. However, an aged Lokwarionga is introduced not a youthful one and his many wives and children have brought out a peaceful nature to him. He has seen the blood that spills with combat and has transitioned to a peaceful protector role. Violence plagues Uganda and the Ugandan government developed an initiative to recruit Karamajong warriors, including Lokwarionga, as vigilantes to bring peace to surrounding areas. These peace keepers essentially settle disputes and report back to the government.
An important conflict that opens this story up is a cattle raid on the Karamajong by a neighboring enemy, which causes Lokwarionga and other warriors to investigate and than contact the government. He meets with a Ugandan government official, but the official really just receives the report and tells them there is nothing that can really be done at that point. Simultaneously, Longora, younger brother of Lokwarionga, is presented in the film. Longora is not a warrior yet and does not own a firearm at this point. He is still learning the ropes and even raiding is fairly new to him. Juxtaposed to Lokwarionga, who is transitioning from that lifestyle, Longora is actively pursuing it. So, as a response to the cattle raid the Karamajong along with Lokwarionga plan to do a counter raid. First, they commence a raiding ceremony that has incorporated modern elements. The ceremony begins with the sacrifice of a cow. The cow is cut open and warriors must eat bits of the raw meat. Next, the warriors and their guns are smeared with the insides of the cow's intestines.
Finally, the raid comes to fruition and is ultimately successful. Longora, who was part of the raiding party, at this point shows his first real demonstration of manhood. Lokwarionga contradicts his new lifestyle when he presents his younger brother with a weapon. Although it seems necessary to have on in the type of environment these men were brought up in. The story comes to a close with violence and guns shown as pivotal to manhood.
This film was shot in Northern Uganda where the Karamajong ethnic group resides as well neighboring areas. Writer, Director, and Ethnographer Richard Alwyn and Writer, Ethnographer, and Producer Sarah Errington follow the real life events of Lokwarionga. The production centers around him and the geographic location where production took place was fairly focused. Most dialogue is translated, but Andrew Sachs, the narrator of this film, gives historical context and description of events to tie the film together.
The film was released in 1998 with a plethora of documentaries that can be seen in Under the Sun, a doc-series, based out of London, England through BBC Worldwide.
This film has yet to receive any reception through any mainstream media, but there were some scholarly articles by Ben Knighton. Knighton is a Co-ordinator of Africa Research Interest Group, Research Tutor, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. In his three separate articles using this film as a reference he discussed the raider state and the threat of guns. Knighton even discusses how intertwined the gun has become with Karamajong culture.
The Kalenjin are a group of a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people (thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.) The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tanzania and Malawi. In contrast, their designation groups them with other Nilotes including Maasai, Luo,Turkana and Nuer, Dinka among others. They are indigenous to East Africa, residing mainly in what was formerly the Rift Valley Province in Kenya and Eastern slopes of Mount Elgon in Uganda. Upon their arrival in the forest region of Mau, the Kalenjin assimilated the aboriginal hunter-gatherer race known as Okiek. They number 6,358,113 individuals as per the Kenyan 2019 census and an estimated 300,000 in Uganda mainly in Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo districts They have been divided into 11 culturally and linguistically related tribes: Kipsigis, Nandi (937,000), Sebei Keiyo, Marakwet, Sabaot (296,000), Pokots, Tugen, Terik, Sengwer, and Ogiek. They Kalenjin speak the Nadi-Marakweta languages but can also be inclusive of Akie language in Tanzania and Pokot language spoken in Kenya; all being classified collectively as Kalenjin Language; while in combination with Datooga languages of Tanzania, this cluster is called Southern Nilotic languages.
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The Rozvi Empire (1684–1866) was a Shona state established on the Zimbabwean Plateau by Changamire Dombo. The term "Rozvi" refers to their legacy as a warrior nation, taken from the Shona term Kurozva or to plunder.
The Oropom were the aboriginal inhabitants of much of Karamoja in Uganda, Mt. Elgon area and West Pokot, Trans Nzoia and Turkana regions in Kenya. Their descendants were largely assimilated into various communities present in their former territories, including the Iteso, Karamojong, Pokot, Turkana and Bukusu. They are or were found in scattered pockets between the Turkwel River, Chemorongit Mountains and Mt. Elgon. One report indicates that they formerly spoke the unclassified Oropom language.
The northern Kenya region is a very insecure area. For years now, there has been a number of cattle raids going on, terrorising the civilian population and killing hundreds of people.
The Karamojong or Karimojong are a Nilotic ethnic group. They are agro-pastoral herders living mainly in the north-east of Uganda. Their language is also known as ngaKarimojong and is part of the Nilotic language family.
The Iteso are a Nilotic ethnic group in eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Teso refers to the traditional homeland of the Iteso, and Ateso is their language.
Karamoja sub-region, commonly known as Karamoja, is a region in Uganda. It covers an area of 27,528km and comprises Kotido District, Kaabong District, Abim District, Moroto District, Napak District and Nakapiripirit District
The Toposa are an ethnic group in South Sudan, living in the Greater Kapoeta region of the erstwhile Eastern Equatoria state. They have traditionally lived by herding cattle, sheep and goats, and in the past were involved in the ivory trade. They have a tradition of constant low-level warfare, usually cattle raids, against their neighbors.
The Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation is a peace and development organization based in Nairobi, Kenya. It is named for Tegla Loroupe, a world-champion marathon runner from Kapenguria, Kenya.
The Ugandan Bush War, also known as the Luwero War, the Ugandan Civil War or the Resistance War, was a civil war fought in Uganda by the official Ugandan government and its armed wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), against a number of rebel groups, most importantly the National Resistance Army (NRA), from 1980 to 1986.
The Uganda People's Army (UPA) was a rebel group recruited primarily from the Iteso people of Uganda that was active between 1987 and 1992. The UPA was composed mostly of former soldiers in the special forces of the Uganda National Liberation Army and opposed the National Resistance Army (NRA) government of Yoweri Museveni, who took power in January 1986. Reaching a height after the widespread cattle raid by Karamojong in 1987, the UPA rebellion was eventually ended through the mediation of the Teso Commission.
Ikotos County was an administrative area in the Eastern Equatoria state of South Sudan with headquarters in the town of Ikotos. The people, who live in the former county's area by subsistence agriculture and cattle herding, are poverty-stricken. Years of civil war have made violence commonplace: most people have experienced the murder of a close family member. In 2009, AK-47 rifles were used in 42 per cent of killings.
South Sudan is home to around 60 indigenous ethnic groups and 80 linguistic partitions among a 2018 population of around 11 million. Historically, most ethnic groups were lacking in formal Western political institutions, with land held by the community and elders acting as problem solvers and adjudicators. Today, most ethnic groups still embrace a cattle culture in which livestock is the main measure of wealth and used for bride wealth.
The Jie are an ethnic group of Uganda. They belong to the Karamojong Cluster, which also includes the Karamojong and Dodoth people. Their country in northeast Uganda lies between the Dodoth to the north and the Karamojong to the south.
The Dodoth are an ethnic group in north eastern Uganda. They belong to the Karamojong Cluster, which also includes the Karamojong and Jie people. Their language is a dialect of the Karamojong language.
Losilang is a Sub-County in Kotido District of northern Uganda. It lies to the northeast of Kotido town. It has an area of 144.3 square kilometres (55.7 sq mi). Estimated population in 2009 was 17,000. Losilang was one of the early centers of the Karamojong cluster of related people. From here, the Toposa people drifted northeast and then west to settle in Kapoeta by 1830. In more recent times, Losilang has been the scene of clashes between armed warriors and Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) troops seeking illegal arms and property. On 19 May 2006 there were several hours of fighting, between 200 and 500 houses were burned down and several civilians died.
The Kalenjin people are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to East Africa, with a presence, as dated by archaeology and linguistics, that goes back many centuries. Their history is therefore deeply interwoven with those of their neighboring communities as well as with the histories of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.
Karamoja Regional Museum is a public museum in Moroto Town run under the Department of Museums and Monuments in the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities of Uganda. It also serves as a cultural center where cultural heritage in form of objects is showcased for people to access and appreciate the cultural heritage of the Karamoja sub-region.
The Eastern Uganda campaign of 1979 was a military operation by Tanzanian forces and allied Ugandan rebels, most importantly the Uganda National Liberation Army, against Uganda Army (UA) troops loyal to Idi Amin during the Uganda–Tanzania War. The operation was launched by the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) on 15 April 1979 to secure eastern Uganda and oust UA remnants which were still active in the area. The TPDF mainly targeted the important towns of Jinja, Mbale, Tororo, Soroti, and Moroto. It encountered only sporadic resistance, as most UA soldiers focused on fleeing with loot instead of resisting, and successfully secured most of eastern Uganda. In the northeast, the collapse of the Uganda Army resulted in local Karamojong groups seizing much weaponry which would result in long-lasting security issues.
"Gun for Sale". Under the Sun, written by Richard Alwyn, Sarah Errington, directed by Richard Alwyn. produced by Sarah Errington. BBC Worldwide, 1998. Alexander Street video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/gun-for-sale. 11/28/2019.
Knighton, Ben. "Belief in guns and warlords: freeing Karamojong identity from Africanist theory." African Identities 4.2 (2006): 269-286.
Knighton, Ben. "The State as Raider among the Karamojong:‘Where there are no Guns, they use the Threat of Guns’." Africa 73.3 (2003): 427-455.
Knighton, Ben. "Karamojong:'Where there are no Guns."