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The Karamoja District of Uganda

A Pastoral People under Colonial Rule

Bibliographic Data

ID8979422
AuthorsJames Barber (0000-0002-3629-0711, corresponding author), J P Barber
Year1962
Volume3
Issue1
Pages111-124
Publication date1962-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853700002760
OpenAlexW2004875204
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited1

Uganda is a green and fertile country; a land of dense forests, banana gardens, and elephant grass; but there is, in the north-east corner, bordering Kenya and the Sudan, a district which for many months of the year is brown and dry. This is Karamoja. Karamoja forms a barrier between the abundance of Uganda and the sparseness of the desert and semidesert, which sweep from the Horn of Africa, across the north of Kenya, to the escarpment of the Rift Valley, which is the eastern boundary of Karamoja itself. The District, which is one and a half times the size of Wales but with a population of only 172,000, consists of wide, thorn scrub covered plains broken by large volcanic mountain masses. Across the plains the tribes of Karamoja, the Dodoth, the Jie, the Karamojong, and the Suk, herd their cattle. Cattle are the basis of their life and their culture. It is for their cattle that during the dry season they wander over the great plains in search of water and grass. It is for their cattle, to defend their pasture, and to increase the herds, that the tribes fight and steal from each other. Like many of Africa's cattle tribes they have not taken to westernization. They present for Uganda the problem, common to many African states, of a proud pastoral people who do not fit into the new Africa of nationalism, constitutional changes and subtle voting arrangements

Archaeology · Dry season · Escarpment · Geography · Livestock · Pastoralism · Population · Rift valley · Socioeconomics · Animal Diversity and Health Studies · Demography · Forestry · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology

  • Nomadic Pastoralism

    R M A Van Zwanenberg, Anne King•Economic History of Kenya and…•1975

  • Changes in pastoralist commons management and their implications in Karamoja (Uganda)

    Open Access•Stanislav Shmelev, Zuzana Filipová•Journal of Political Ecology•2017

  • The value of pastoralism and mining

    Open Access•Marianne Bach Mosebo•The Extractive Industries and…•2017

  • The Failing Aid Complex in Uganda’s Northeast

    Open Access•Matteo Caravani•European Journal of Development…•2024

  • Sorghum as a Gift of Self

    Open Access•Mustafa Kemal Mirzeler•History in Africa•2009

  • Cattle Marketing and Pastoral Conservatism

    Michael D Quam•African Studies Review•1978

  • State Capacity and Elite Enrichment in Uganda's Northeastern Periphery

    Open Access•Karol Czuba•Africa Spectrum•2024

  • Mechanisms of securitisation and counter-securitisation on the Uganda-Kenya border

    Open Access•Patta Scott-Villiers•Conflict Security and Development•2025

  • Resilient patriarchy

    Open Access•Julian Hopwood, Holly Porter et al.•Disasters•2018

  • Oral Tradition of Origin as a Remembered Memory and a Repeated Event

    Mustafa Kemal Mirzeler•Ethnohistory•2004

  • De-pastoralisation' in Uganda's Northeast

    Matteo Caravani•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2019

Unique citing works11
Citations per year0,22
Citation span1975 - 2025 (51)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 11

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