|
Uganda Banyankole
Ankole (Nkole) is a large kingdom in southwestern
Uganda,
where the pastoralist Hima established dominion over the
agricultural Iru some time before the nineteenth century.
The
Hima and Iru established close relations based on trade
and
symbolic recognition, but they were unequal partners in
these
relations. The Iru were legally and socially inferior to
the
Hima, and the symbol of this inequality was cattle, which
only
the Hima could own. The two groups retained their separate
identities through rules prohibiting intermarriage and,
when such
marriages occurred, making them invalid.
The Hima provided cattle products that otherwise would
not
have been available to Iru farmers. Because the Hima
population
was much smaller than the Iru population, gifts and
tribute
demanded by the Hima could be supplied fairly easily.
These
factors probably made Hima-Iru relations tolerable, but
they were
nonetheless reinforced by the superior military
organization and
training of the Hima.
The kingdom of Ankole expanded by annexing territory to
the
south and east. In many cases, conquered herders were
incorporated into the dominant Hima stratum of society,
and
agricultural populations were adopted as Iru or slaves and
treated as legal inferiors. Neither group could own
cattle, and
slaves could not herd cattle owned by the Hima.
Ankole society evolved into a system of ranked
statuses,
where even among the cattle-owning elite, patron-client
ties were
important in maintaining social order. Men gave cattle to
the
king (mugabe) to demonstrate their loyalty and to
mark
life-cycle changes or victories in cattle-raiding. This
loyalty
was often tested by the king's demands for cattle or for
military
service. In return for homage and military service, a man
received protection from the king, both from external
enemies and
from factional disputes with other cattle owners.
The mugabe authorized his most powerful chiefs
to
recruit and lead armies on his behalf, and these warrior
bands
were charged with protecting Ankole borders. Only Hima men
could
serve in the army, however, and the prohibition on Iru
military
training almost eliminated the threat of Iru rebellion.
Iru legal
inferiority was also symbolized in the legal prohibition
against
Iru owning cattle. And, because marriages were legitimized
through the exchange of cattle, this prohibition helped
reinforce
the ban on Hima-Iru intermarriage. The Iru were also
denied highlevel political appointments, although they were often
appointed
to assist local administrators in Iru villages.
The Iru had a number of ways to redress grievances
against
Hima overlords, despite their legal inferiority. Iru men
could
petition the king to end unfair treatment by a Hima
patron. Iru
people could not be subjugated to Hima cattle-owners
without
entering into a patron-client contract.
A number of social pressures worked to destroy Hima
domination of Ankole. Miscegenation took place despite
prohibitions on intermarriage, and children of these
unions
(abambari) often demanded their rights as cattle
owners,
leading to feuding and cattle-raiding. From what is
present-day
Rwanda, groups launched repeated attacks against the Hima
during
the nineteenth century. To counteract these pressures,
several
Hima warlords recruited Iru men into their armies to
protect the
southern borders of Ankole. And, in some outlying areas of
Ankole, people abandoned distinctions between Hima and Iru
after
generations of maintaining legal distinctions that had
begun to
lose their importance.
Data as of December 1990
|
