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. Their population is estimated at 475,000 people.

thumb|Pokot Settlement in Eastern Karamoja in Uganda

thumb|Karimojong girls in Northeastern Uganda

thumb|Free range cattle grazing in Karamoja North in reference to one of the causes of Cattle Raids

thumb|Sukas from Karamoja on display in Moroto

History

The Karamojong live in the southern part of the region in the north-east of Uganda, occupying an area equivalent to one tenth of the country. According to anthropologists, the Karamojong are part of a group that migrated from present-day Ethiopia around 1600 A.D. and split into two branches, with one branch moving to present day Kenya to form the Kalenjin group and Maasai cluster. The other branch, called Ateker, migrated westwards. Ateker further split into several groups, including Turkana in present-day Kenya, Iteso, Dodoth, Jie, Karamojong, and Kumam in present-day Uganda, also Jiye and Toposa in southern Sudan all of them together now known as the "Teso Cluster" or "Karamojong Cluster".

It is said that the Karamojong were originally known as the Jie. The name Karamojong derived from the phrase "ekar ngimojong", meaning "the old men can walk no farther".

Due to the arid climate of the region, the Karamojong have always practised a sort of pastoral transhumance, where for 3–4 months in a year, they move their livestock to the neighboring districts in search of water and pasture for their animals.

The availability of food and water is always a concern and affects the Karamojong's interaction with other ethnic groups.

Social organization

The dominant feature of Karamojong society is their age system, which is strictly based on generation. As successive generations have an increasing overlap in age, this leads logically to a breakdown of the system, which appears to have occurred after rules were relaxed in the nineteenth century among their close Neighbours, the Jie. However, the Karamojong system is flexible enough to contain a build-up of tension between generations over a cycle of 50 years or so. When this can no longer be resolved peacefully, the breakdown in order leads to a switch in power from the ruling generation to their successors and a new status quo. The next changeover was expected around 2013.

thumb|This is a traditional dance that involves jumping and body shaking performed by the Karimojong people in North Eastern Uganda on functions including weddings, calamity cleansing.

As both a rite of passage into manhood, as well as a requirement for engagement, a young Karamojong man is required to wrestle the woman he desires to marry.thumb|Two Karamojong children (2009)

Conflicts

The Karamojong have been involved in various conflicts centered on the practice of cattle raids.

The Karamojong are in constant conflict with their neighbors in Uganda, South Sudan and Kenya due to frequent cattle raids. This is because cattle are an important element in the negotiations for a bride and young men use the raids as a rite of passage and way of increasing their herds to gain status. In recent years the nature and the outcome of the raids have become increasingly violent with the acquisition of AK47s by the Karamojong.

The Ugandan government has attempted to disarm the Karamojong but they have been reluctant to give up their weapons due to a need to defend themselves against cross-border cattle raids.

The Karamojong have been continually discriminated against in the modern era, first for resisting British colonizers in what is now Uganda, and in the late 20th and 21st centuries for maintaining underdeveloped villages compared to more urban parts of the country. Then-Prime Minister Milton Obote famously said in 1963 "We shall not wait for Karamoja to develop," advocating for the Ugandan government to effectively abandon their fellow countrymen.

See also

  • Acholi
  • Lango
  • Buganda
  • Gisu
  • Teso

References

  • UGPulse.com articles on the Karamojong
  • everyculture.com - Karamojong
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20090507061411/http://www.karamoja.com/]