Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/African Lore/Answer Key"

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:''For the Pakistani ethnic group, see [[Khosa]].''
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{{ethnic group|
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{{Infobox Ethnic group
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|group=Acholi
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|group   = Xhosa
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|image = [[Image:Kids3.jpg|250px]]
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|image   = [[Image:Nelson Mandela.jpg]]
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<div style="background-color:#fee8ab">
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|caption  = [[Nelson Mandela]] is a famous Xhosa-speaker.
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<small>Acholi children in an [[internally displaced person|IDP]] camp in [[Kitgum]]
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|poptime  = 7.9 million (2001 estimate)<sup>[[#References|1]]</sup>
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</small>
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|popplace =
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|poptime=800,000
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[[Eastern Cape Province|Eastern Cape]]: 5.4 million<br/>
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|popplace=[[Uganda]]<br>[[Sudan]]<br>
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[[Western Cape Province|Western Cape]]: 1.1 million<br/>
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|rels=[[Christianity]]<br>[[Islam]]<br>
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[[Gauteng Province|Gauteng]]: 0.7 million<br/>
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|langs=[[Acholi language|Acholi]]
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[[Free State Province|Free State]]: 0.25 million<br/>
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|related=[[Luo (family of ethnic groups)|Luo]]
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[[Kwazulu-Natal Province|Kwazulu-Natal]]: 0.22 million<br/>
 
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(2001 estimates<sup>[[#References|1]]</sup>)
 
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|langs   = [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] (many also speak [[Zulu language| Zulu]] [[English language|English]] or [[Afrikaans language|Afrikaans]])
 
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|rels    = [[Animist]], [[Christian]]
 
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|related  = [[Bantu]], [[Nguni]], [[Basotho]], [[Zulu]], [[Khoisan]]
 
 
}}
 
}}
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'''Acholi''' (also '''Acoli''') is an [[ethnic group]] from the districts of [[Gulu District|Gulu]], [[Kitgum District|Kitgum]] and [[Pader District|Pader]] in northern [[Uganda]] (an area commonly referred to as [[Acholiland]]), and [[Magwe County]] in southern [[Sudan]]. The 1991 Uganda census counted 746,796 Acholi; a further 45,000 Acholi live outside of Uganda.<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ach Acholi: A language of Uganda], [[Ethnologue]]</ref>
  
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The '''Xhosa''' ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] {{IPA|[ˈkǁʰoːsa]}}({{audio|Xhosa.ogg|Audio}})) people are peoples of [[Bantu]] origin living in south-east [[South Africa]], and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central-southern parts of the country.
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==Language==
 +
{{main|Acholi language}}
  
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[[isiXhosa|Xhosa-speaking]] peoples are divided into several subgroups with related but distinct heritages. The main subgroups are the Bhaca, Bomvana, Mfengu, Mpondo, Mpondomise, Xesibe, and Thembu [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html]. The name "Xhosa" comes from that of a tribal leader called uXhosa. There is also a theory that the word xhosa may derive from [[Khoi-khoi]] or [[San]] meaning "fierce" or "angry", the [[AmaXhosa]] being the [[fierce people]]. The [[AmaXhosa]] refer to themselves as the '''AmaXhosa''' and to their language as '''[[isiXhosa]]'''.
+
The [[Acholi language]] is a [[Western Nilotic languages|Western Nilotic]] language, classified as [[Luo languages|Luo]], and is [[mutually intelligible]] with [[Lango]] and other Luo languages.
  
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Presently approximately 8 million Xhosa people are distributed across the country, and Xhosa is South Africa's second most common home language, after [[isiZulu|Zulu]], to which Xhosa is closely related.  The pre-1994 [[apartheid]] system of [[bantustan]]s denied Xhosas South African citizenship and attempted to confine them to the nominally self-governing "homelands" of [[Transkei]] and [[Ciskei]], now both a part of the [[Eastern Cape]] Province where most Xhosa remain.  Many Xhosa live in [[Cape Town]] (iKapa in Xhosa), [[East London, South Africa|East London]] (iMonti), and [[Port Elizabeth]] (iBhayi). 
+
The ''[[Song of Lawino]]'', one of the most successful African literary works, was written by [[Okot p'Bitek]] in Acholi, and later translated to [[English language|English]].
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[[As of 2003]] the majority of Xhosa speakers, approximately 5.3 million, live in the Eastern Cape, followed by the [[Western Cape]] (approximately 1 million), [[Gauteng]] (671,045), the [[Free State]] (246,192), [[KwaZulu-Natal]] (219,826), North West (214,461), [[Mpumalanga]] (46,553), the [[Northern Cape]] (51,228), and [[Limpopo]] (14,225) [http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/demographics/census-main.htm].  
 
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
 +
{{see also|Luo}}
 +
The Acholi are a Luo people, who are said to have come to northern Uganda from the area now known as [[Bahr el Ghazal]] in southern [[Sudan]]. Starting in the late [[seventeenth century]], a new sociopolitical order developed among the Luo of northern Uganda, mainly characterized by the formation of chiefdoms headed by ''Rwodi'' (sg. Rwot, 'ruler'). By the mid-[[nineteenth century]], about 60 small chiefdoms existed in eastern Acholiland.<ref>Webster 1970.</ref> During the second half of the nineteenth century [[Arabic language|Arabic]]-speaking traders from the north started to call them ''Shooli'', a term which transformed into 'Acholi'.<ref>According to Atkinson (1994).</ref>
  
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The Xhosa are part of the southern [[Nguni]] migration which slowly moved south from the region around the [[African Great Lakes|Great Lakes]].  Xhosa peoples were well established by the time of the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] arrival in the mid-1600s, and occupied much of eastern South Africa from the Fish River to land inhabited by Zulu-speakers south of the modern city of Durban [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html]. 
+
Their traditional dwelling-places were circular huts with a high peak, furnished with a mud sleeping-platform, jars of grain and a sunk fireplace, with the walls daubed with mud and decorated with geometrical or conventional designs in red, white or grey. They were  skilled hunters, using nets and spears, and kept [[goat]]s, [[sheep]] and [[cattle]]. In war they used spears and long, narrow shields of giraffe or ox hide.
  
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Xhosa society was historically viewed as an open society because of its readiness to learn from, trade and interact with other societies. They interacted with the Khoi and the San, foraging and nomadic herding peoples from whose languages many of the features of the modern Xhosa language, including [[click consonant]]s, were borrowed.
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[[Image:Acholiland,_Uganda.png|thumb|right|257px|Acholiland, Uganda]]
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[[Image:Xhosawoman.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A Xhosa woman]]
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During Uganda's [[History of Uganda|colonial period]], the [[United Kingdom|British]] encouraged political and economic development in the south of the country, in particular among the [[Baganda]]. In contrast, the Acholi and other northern ethnic groups supplied much of the national manual labor and came to comprise a majority of the military, creating what some have called a "military ethnocracy." This reached its height with the [[coup d'état]] of Acholi General [[Tito Okello]], and came to a crashing end with the defeat of  Okello and the Acholi-dominated army by the [[National Resistance Army]] led by now-President [[Yoweri Museveni]].
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The Xhosa and white settlers first encountered one another around [[Somerset East]] in the early 1700s. In the late 1700s [[Afrikaner]] [[trekboer]]s migrating outwards from Cape Town came into conflict with Xhosa pastoralists around the [[Great Fish River]] region of the Eastern Cape. Following [[Cape Frontier Wars|more than 20 years of intermittent conflict]], from 1811 to 1812 the Xhosas were forced east by [[British Empire|British]] colonial forces in the [[Third Frontier War]].  
 
  
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In the years following, many Xhosa-speaking clans were pushed west by expansion of the [[Zulu]]s, as the northern [[Nguni]] put pressure on the southern Nguni as part of the historical process known as the [[mfecane]], or "scattering". Xhosa unity and ability to resist colonial expansion was further weakened by the [[famine]]s and political divisions that followed the [[History of Cape Colony from 1806 to 1870#The Great amaXhosa Famine|cattle-killing movement of 1856]]. Historians now view this movement as a [[Millenialism|millenialist]] response both directly to a lung disease spreading among Xhosa cattle at the time, and less directly to the stress to Xhosa society caused by the continuing loss of their territory and autonomy. At least one historian has also suggested that it can be seen as a rebellion against the upper classes of Xhosa society, which used cattle as a means of consolidating wealth and political power, and which had lost respect as they failed to hold back white expansion.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
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The Acholi are known to the outside world mainly because of the insurgency of the [[Lord's Resistance Army]] (LRA) led by [[Joseph Kony]], an Acholi from Gulu. LRA's activities have been concentrated within [[Acholiland]], and populous Acholi remain [[internally displaced person]]s.
  
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Some historians argue that this early absorption into the wage economy is the ultimate origin of the long history of trade union membership and political leadership among Xhosa people. That history manifests itself today in high degrees of Xhosa representation in the leadership of the [[African National Congress]], South Africa's ruling political party.
+
==Religion==
 +
Most Acholi are [[Protestant]], [[Catholicism|Catholic]] and, in lesser numbers, [[Muslim]]. Nevertheless, the traditional belief in guardian and ancestor spirits remains strong, though it is now often described in [[Christian]] or [[Islam]]ic terms.
  
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==Language==
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== Notable Acholi people ==
 +
* [[Alice Auma]], spirit medium and rebel leader
 +
* [[Betty Bigombe]], former MP and conflict mediator
 +
* [[Joseph Kony]], leader of the rebel [[Lord's Resistance Army]]
 +
* [[Matthew Lukwiya]], physician at the forefront of the 2000 [[Ebola]] outbreak
 +
* [[Janani Luwum]], former Archbishop of the Church of Uganda
 +
* [[Norbert Mao]], Gulu District [[Local Council]] V Chairman
 +
* [[Tito Okello]], [[President of Uganda]] for six months in 1985
 +
* [[Bazilio Olara-Okello]], ''de facto'' Head of State for six months in 1985 and later Chief of Defence Forces
 +
* [[Geoffrey Oryema]], exiled singer
 +
* [[Olara Otunnu]], former [[Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations|United Nations Under-Secretary-General]] and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict
 +
* [[Okot p'Bitek]], poet and author of the ''[[Song of Lawino]]''
 +
* [[Akena p'Ojok]], Former UNLF Vice President, Former UPC Member of Parliament and Minister of Power In Obote II Regime
  
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{{main|Xhosa language}}
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==References==
−
 
+
*Atkinson, Ronald Raymond (1994) ''The roots of ethnicity: the origins of the Acholi of Uganda before 1800''. Kampala: Fountain Publishers. ISBN 9970-02-156-7.
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Xhosa is an [[agglutinative]] [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal language]] of the [[Bantu languages|Bantu family]].  While the Xhosas call their language "isiXhosa," the most common name in English is "Xhosa."  Written Xhosa uses a [[Latin alphabet]]-based system.  Xhosa is spoken by about 18% of the South African population, and has some mutual intelligibility with Zulu.  Many Xhosa speakers, particularly those living in urban areas, also speak Zulu and/or [[Afrikaans]] and/or English.
+
* Dwyer, John Orr (1972) 'The Acholi of Uganda: adjustment to imperialism'. (unpublished thesis) Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International .
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+
* Girling, F.K. (1960) ''The Acholi of Uganda'' (Colonial Office / Colonial research studies vol. 30). London: Her majesty's stationery office.
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Among its features, the Xhosa language famously has fifteen click sounds, originally borrowed from now extinct [[Khoisan]] languages of the region.  Xhosa has three<!-- Yes, really only three! --> basic click consonants: a [[dental click]], written with the letter "c"; an [[Postalveolar click|alveolar click]], written with the letter "q"; and a [[lateral alveolar click|lateral click]], written with the letter "x."  There is also a simple inventory of five vowels (a, e, i, o, u).
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* Webster, J. (1970) 'State formation and fragmentation in Agago, Eastern Acholi', ''Provisional council for the social sciences in East Africa; 1st annual conference'', vol 3., p. 168-197.
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[[Image:Xhosa-children.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Xhosa children at [[Transkei]]]]
 
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==Folklore and religion==
 
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Traditional Xhosa culture includes [[Divination|diviners]] known as [[sangoma]], who serve as herbalists, prophets, and healers for the community. This job is mostly taken by women, who spend five years in apprenticeship.
 
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The Xhosas have a strong oral tradition with many stories of ancestral heroes; according to tradition, the leader from whose name the Xhosa people take their name was the first human on Earth.  Other traditions have it that all Xhosas are descended from one ancestor named Tshawe [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html].
 
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The key figure in the Xhosa oral tradition is the ''imbongi'' (plural: ''iimbongi'') or praise singer. ''Iimbongi'' traditionally live close to the chief’s "great place" (the cultural and political focus of his activity); they accompany the chief on important occasions - the ''imbongi'' Zolani Mkiva preceded [[Nelson Mandela]] at his Presidential inauguration in 1994. Iimbongis' poetry, called ''isibongo'', praises the actions and adventures of chiefs and ancestors [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html].
 
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The supreme being is called uThixo or uQamata. Ancestors act as intermediaries and play a part in the lives of the living; they are honoured in rituals. Dreams play an important role in divination and contact with ancestors.  Traditional religious practice features rituals, initiations, and feasts. Modern rituals typically pertain to matters of illness and psychological well-being.
 
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Christian missionaries established outposts among the Xhosa in the 1820s, and the first [[Bible]] translation was in the mid-1850s, partially done by [[Henry Hare Dugmore]].  Xhosa did not convert in great numbers until the 1900s, but now many are [[Christian]], particularly within the [[African Initiated Church]]es such as the [[Zion Christian Church]].  Some denominations combine Christianity with traditional beliefs.
 
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===Rites of passage===
 
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One traditional ritual that is still regularly practiced is the manhood ritual, a secret rite that marks the transition from boyhood to adulthood.    The initiates (''abakwetha'') live in isolation for up to several weeks, often in the mountains.  They smear white clay on their bodies and observe numerous taboos.  The culmination of the rite is ritual [[circumcision]].
 
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In modern times the practice has caused controversy, with over 300 circumcision- and initiation-related deaths since 1994, and the spread of [[STD|sexually transmitted diseases]] including [[HIV]] via the practice of circumcising initiates  with the same blade [http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n06_04042007.htm].  In March of 2007 a controversial mini-series dealing with Xhosa circumcision and initiation rites debuted on [[SABC]].  Titled ''Umthunzi Wentaba'', the series was taken off the air after complaints by traditional leaders that the rites are secret and not to be revealed to non-initiates and women [http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=125&art_id=vn20070402030110687C620435].
 
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Girls are also initiated into womanhood.  They too are secluded, though for a shorter period.  Female initiates are not [[Female genital cutting|circumcised]] [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html].  
 
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Other rites include the seclusion of mothers for ten days after giving birth, and the burial of the [[afterbirth]] and [[umbilical cord]] near the village.  This is reflected in the traditional greeting ''Inkaba yakho iphi?'', literally "Where is Your Navel?"  The answer "tells someone where you live, what your clan affiliation is, and what your social status is [and] contains a wealth of cultural information.  Most importantly, it determines where you belong" [http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/researchandstudents/news.cfm?story=43671].
 
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==Traditional diet==
 
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The Xhosa settled on mountain slopes of the Amatola and the Winterberg Mountains. Many streams drain into great rivers of this Xhosa territory including the Kei and Fish Rivers. Rich soils and plentiful rainfall make the river basins good for farming and grazing making cattle important and the basis of wealth.  
 
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Traditional foods include [[beef]], [[mutton]], and goat meat, [[sorghum]], [[maize]] and ''umphokoqo'' (dry maize porridge), "umngqusho" made from dried, stamped cord and dried beans), [[milk]] (often [[fermented milk|fermented]], called "[[amasi]]"), pumpkins, beans, and [[vegetables]]. The major mealtimes are breakfast and dinner.
 
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==Arts and crafts==
 
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Traditional crafts include beadwork, weaving, and pottery.
 
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Traditional music features drums, rattles, whistles, flutes, mouth harps, and stringed-instruments and especially group singing accompanied by hand clapping [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html].  There are songs for various ritual occasions; one of the best-known Xhosa songs is a wedding song called ''Qongqongthwane'', performed by [[Miriam Makeba]] as ''Click Song #1''.  Besides Makeba, several modern groups record and perform in Xhosa.
 
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Missionaries introduced the Xhosa to Western choral singing [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html]. [[Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika]], part of the [[National anthem of South Africa]] is a Xhosa hymn written in 1897 by [[Enoch Sontonga]].
 
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The first newspapers, novels, and plays in Xhosa appeared in the nineteenth century [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html], and Xhosa poetry is also gaining renown.
 
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Several films have been shot in the Xhosa language.  [[U-Carmen eKhayelitsha]] is a modern remake of [[Bizet]]'s 1875 opera [[Carmen]]. It is shot entirely in Xhosa, and combines music from the original opera with traditional African music. It takes place in the Cape Town township of [[Khayelitsha]].
 
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==Xhosas in modern society==
 
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Xhosa people currently make up approximately 18% of the South African population.  While there have been many improvements in Xhosa people's lives since the abolition of apartheid, many of the effects of the policy remain. 
 
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There are high rates of poverty among Xhosas; Xhosa people make up some of the poorest of South Africans, but a minority of Xhosas are among the wealthiest [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html].
 
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Under apartheid, adult literacy rates were as low as 30% [http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Xhosa.html], and [[As of 1996|in 1996]] studies estimated the literacy level of first-language Xhosa speakers at approximately 50% [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=xho].  There have been advances in since then, however.  For example, most of the students at the [[University of Fort Hare]] are Xhosa.
 
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Education in primary schools serving Xhosa-speaking communities is in the Xhosa language, but this is replaced by English after the early primary grades. Xhosa is still studied as a subject, however, and it is possible to major in Xhosa at the university level.
 
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Many rural Xhosa now have the choice of migrating to cities in search of employment, whereas under apartheid it was only possible for Xhosa men to seek employment in the mining industry as so-called migrant labourers.
 
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==Xhosas in popular culture==
 
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The [http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Xhosa ''Xhosa''], named for the Xhosa people, is the name of the freighter commanded by [[Kasidy Yates]] in the science fiction television series ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''.
 
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There is also an underground Canadian Rock band by the name of Xhosa fronted by Craig McCue.  In the [[Classic BattleTech]] sci-Fi universe, there is a planetary system named Xhosa, containing the inhabited planet Xhosa VII.
 
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==Notable Xhosa==
 
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* [[Nelson Mandela]], former President of South Africa is a Xhosa-speaking member of the Thembu people.  
 
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* [[Charlize Theron]], South African filmstar is a competent Xhosa-speaker.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
 
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* [[Helen Zille]], Mayor of Cape Town and leader of the opposition in Parliament is a competent Xhosa-speaker.
 
  
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Other famous Xhosa speakers include:
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=== Notes ===
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[[Amampondo]]{{·}} [[Stephen Biko]]{{·}} [[Fats Bookulane]]{{·}} [[Brenda Fassie]]{{·}} [[Ken Gampu]]{{·}} [[Chris Hani]]{{·}} [[General Bantu Holomisa]]{{·}} [[Archibald Campbell Jordan]]{{·}} [[John Kani]]{{·}} [[Winnie Madikizela-Mandela]]{{·}} [[Miriam Makeba]]{{·}} [[Govan Mbeki]]{{·}} [[Thabo Mbeki]]{{·}} [[S.E.K. Mqhayi]]{{·}} [[Victoria Mxenge]]{{·}} [[Bongani Ndodana]]{{·}} [[Bulelani Ngcuka]]{{·}} [[Makhaya Ntini]]{{·}} [[Winston Ntshona]]{{·}}[[Percy Qoboza]]{{·}} [[Walter Sisulu]]{{·}} [[Robert Sobukwe]]{{·}} [[Enoch Sontonga]]{{·}} [[Oliver Tambo]]{{·}} [[Zwelithini Tunyiswa]]{{·}} [[Desmond Tutu]]{{·}} [[Ashley Buti]]{{·}} [[St John Page Yako]]{{·}} Dr. George Clark{{Fact|date=March 2007}}
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<!-- This article uses [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]]. Please use this format when adding references to material in the article. External links added directly to this section will be swiftly deleted without notice. -->
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<div class="references-small">
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==See also==
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<references/>
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+
</div>
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*[[Partners Across The Ocean]]
 
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*[[South African Translators' Association]]
 
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==References==
 
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* [http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/demographics/census-main.htm Results of the 2001 South African census]
 
−
::Note that the figure mentioned on this page is based upon the number of people speaking [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] as their home language, which may be greater or less than the total number of people claiming Xhosa descent. In addition, several million people in the Johannesburg-Soweto region speak Xhosa or [[Zulu]] as a second or third language. For a majority of these, the two languages become difficult to distinguish (unsurprising given the extreme closeness of their linguistic relationship).  
 
−
* Reader, J., 1997. ''[[Africa]]: A Biography of the Continent'', Vintage Books, [[New York]], NY, United States of America.
 
−
* Kaschula, Russell ''[[The Heritage Library of African People]]:  Xhosa,'' New York:  The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 1997.Xhosa's are hot and vry lekke.
 
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
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{{interwiki|code=xh}}
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*[http://www.acholinet.com/ Acholinet.com]Acholi People website with News, Forums, market Place, Downloads etc
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* [http://www.rhi.org.za/index.php?ref=articles&do=rd&artid=5 Xhosa History and Society]
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*[http://www.rupiny.co.ug Rupiny], a newspaper in [[Acholi language|Acholi]] and [[Lango]] ([[Luo languages|Luo]])
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* [http://www.statssa.gov.za/census2001/digiAtlas/index.html 2001 Digital Census Atlas]
+
*[http://www.language-museum.com/a/acholi.php Acholi sample at Language-Museum.com]
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* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/xft/ Xhosa Folklore] - a collection of Xhosa folklore collected in 1886.
+
*[http://www.ugandacan.org/ Uganda Conflict Action Network] working for peace in northern Uganda
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* [http://www.google.com/intl/xh/ Xhosa Google] - Google interface in Xhosa
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*[http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ Invisible Acholi Children Global Night Commute]
  
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<br/>{{Ethnic groups in South Africa}}
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[[Category:Ethnic groups in Uganda]]
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<!--Categories-->
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[[Category:Ethnic groups in Sudan]]
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[[Category:Xhosa| ]]
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[[Category:Nilotic peoples]]
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[[Category:Ethnic groups in South Africa]]
 
  
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<!--Other languages-->
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[[de:Acholi (Volk)]]
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[[br:Xhosa (pobl)]]
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[[es:Acholi]]
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[[ca:Xoses]]
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[[it:Acholi]]
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[[da:Xhosa-folket]]
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[[nds:Acholi]]
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[[de:Xhosa (Volk)]]
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[[pt:Acholis]]
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[[es:Xhosa]]
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[[ru:Ачоли]]
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[[sh:Ačoli]]
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[[sv:Acholi]]
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[[fi:Xhosat]]
 

Revision as of 17:51, 8 July 2007

{{{name}}}

[[Image:Kids3.jpg

Acholi children in an IDP camp in Kitgum |thumb|300px|{{{image caption}}}]]







Acholi (also Acoli) is an ethnic group from the districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader in northern Uganda (an area commonly referred to as Acholiland), and Magwe County in southern Sudan. The 1991 Uganda census counted 746,796 Acholi; a further 45,000 Acholi live outside of Uganda.&

Language

Template:Main

The Acholi language is a Western Nilotic language, classified as Luo, and is mutually intelligible with Lango and other Luo languages.

The Song of Lawino, one of the most successful African literary works, was written by Okot p'Bitek in Acholi, and later translated to English.

History

Template:See also The Acholi are a Luo people, who are said to have come to northern Uganda from the area now known as Bahr el Ghazal in southern Sudan. Starting in the late seventeenth century, a new sociopolitical order developed among the Luo of northern Uganda, mainly characterized by the formation of chiefdoms headed by Rwodi (sg. Rwot, 'ruler'). By the mid-nineteenth century, about 60 small chiefdoms existed in eastern Acholiland.& During the second half of the nineteenth century Arabic-speaking traders from the north started to call them Shooli, a term which transformed into 'Acholi'.&

Their traditional dwelling-places were circular huts with a high peak, furnished with a mud sleeping-platform, jars of grain and a sunk fireplace, with the walls daubed with mud and decorated with geometrical or conventional designs in red, white or grey. They were skilled hunters, using nets and spears, and kept goats, sheep and cattle. In war they used spears and long, narrow shields of giraffe or ox hide.

Acholiland, Uganda

During Uganda's colonial period, the British encouraged political and economic development in the south of the country, in particular among the Baganda. In contrast, the Acholi and other northern ethnic groups supplied much of the national manual labor and came to comprise a majority of the military, creating what some have called a "military ethnocracy." This reached its height with the coup d'état of Acholi General Tito Okello, and came to a crashing end with the defeat of Okello and the Acholi-dominated army by the National Resistance Army led by now-President Yoweri Museveni.

The Acholi are known to the outside world mainly because of the insurgency of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony, an Acholi from Gulu. LRA's activities have been concentrated within Acholiland, and populous Acholi remain internally displaced persons.

Religion

Most Acholi are Protestant, Catholic and, in lesser numbers, Muslim. Nevertheless, the traditional belief in guardian and ancestor spirits remains strong, though it is now often described in Christian or Islamic terms.

Notable Acholi people

References

  • Atkinson, Ronald Raymond (1994) The roots of ethnicity: the origins of the Acholi of Uganda before 1800. Kampala: Fountain Publishers. ISBN 9970-02-156-7.
  • Dwyer, John Orr (1972) 'The Acholi of Uganda: adjustment to imperialism'. (unpublished thesis) Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International .
  • Girling, F.K. (1960) The Acholi of Uganda (Colonial Office / Colonial research studies vol. 30). London: Her majesty's stationery office.
  • Webster, J. (1970) 'State formation and fragmentation in Agago, Eastern Acholi', Provisional council for the social sciences in East Africa; 1st annual conference, vol 3., p. 168-197.

Notes

  1. ↑ Acholi: A language of Uganda, Ethnologue
  2. ↑ Webster 1970.
  3. ↑ According to Atkinson (1994).

External links

de:Acholi (Volk) es:Acholi it:Acholi nds:Acholi pt:Acholis ru:Ачоли sh:Ačoli sv:Acholi

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