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Uganda Basoga
The traditional territory of the Basoga (people of
Busoga;
sing., Musoga; adj. Soga) is in southeastern Uganda, east
of the
Victoria Nile River. The Basoga make up about 8 percent of
the
population. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Basoga
were
subsistence farmers who also kept cattle, sheep, and
goats.
Basoga often had gardens for domestic use close to the
homestead.
There the women of the household cared for the most common
staple
foods--bananas, millet, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Men
generally cared for cash crops--coffee, cotton, peanuts,
and
corn.
Traditional Soga society consisted of a number of small
kingdoms not united under a single paramount leader.
Society was
organized around a number of principles, the most
important of
which was descent. Descent was traced through male
forebears,
leading to the formation of the patrilineage, which
included an
individual's closest relatives. This group provided
guidance and
support for each individual and united related homesteads
for
economic, social, and religious purposes. Lineage
membership
determined marriage choices, inheritance rights, and
obligations
to the ancestors. An individual usually attempted to
improve on
his economic and social position, which was initially
based on
lineage membership, by skillfully manipulating
patron-client ties
within the authority structure of the kingdom. A man's
patrons,
as much as his lineage relatives, influenced his status in
society.
Unlike the kabakas of Buganda, Basoga kings are
members of a royal clan, selected by a combination of
descent and
approval by royal elders. In northern Busoga, near
Bunyoro, the
royal clan, the Babito, is believed to be related to the
Bito
aristocracy in Bunyoro
(see Western Lacustrine Bantu
, this
ch.).
Some Basoga in this area maintain that they are descended
from
people of Bunyoro.
Data as of December 1990
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