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Uganda Langi and Acholi
The Langi and Acholi occupy north-central Uganda. The
Langi
represent roughly 6 percent of the population. Despite
their
linguistic affiliation with other Lwo speakers, the Langi
reject
the "Lwo" label. The Acholi represent 4 percent of the
population
but suffered severe depopulation and dislocation in the
violence
of the 1970s and 1980s.
By about the thirteenth century A.D., Lwo-speaking
peoples
migrated from territory now in Sudan into Uganda and
Kenya. They
were probably pastoralists, organized in segmentary
patrilineages
rather than highly centralized societies, but with some
positions
of ritual or political authority. They encountered
horticultural
Bantu-speakers, organized under the authority of
territorial
chiefs. The newcomers probably claimed to be able to
control
rain, fertility, and supernatural forces through ritual
and
sacrifice, and they may have established positions of
privilege
for themselves based on their spiritual expertise. Some
historians believe the Langi represent the descendants of
fifteenth-century dissenters from Karamojong society to
the east.
Both societies are organized into localized
patrilineages and
further grouped into clans, which are dispersed throughout
the
territory. Clan members claim descent from a common
ancestor, but
they are seldom able to recount the nature of their
relationship
to the clan founder. Acholi lineages are ranked according
to
their proximity to a royal lineage, and the head of this
lineage
is recognized as a king, although his power is
substantially less
than that of monarchs in the south.
Acholi and Langi societies rely on millet cultivation
and
animal husbandry for subsistence. In some areas, people
also
cultivate corn, eleusine, peanuts, sesame seed, sweet
potatoes,
and cassava. Both Langi and Acholi generally assign
agricultural
tasks either to men or women; in many cases men are
responsible
for cattle while women work in the fields. (In some
villages,
only adult men may milk cows.) An Acholi or Langi man may
marry
more than one wife, but he may not marry within his
lineage or
that of his mother. A woman normally leaves her own family
to
live in her husband's homestead, which may include his
brothers
and their families. Each wife has a separate house and
hearth for
cooking.
Data as of December 1990
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