A01=Ben Knighton
African traditional religion
Author_Ben Knighton
beloved
Beloved Ox
Bride Wealth
Bulrush Millet
Category=JBSL11
Category=JHM
Category=QRRN
cattle
Cattle Corral
Colonial Administration
colonial impact indigenous faiths
corral
Eastern Nilotes
elders
elgon
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Ere Families
ethnography Karamoja
generation
Generation Set System
global governance
Good Life
Great Famine
Grey Bull
grove
Humpless Cattle
Karamojong culture
Lake Turkana
Married Woman
military autonomy
mount
Mount Elgon
Nilo Saharan Languages
oral tradition anthropology
Past Tense
pastoralist societies
Promotion Ceremony
religious autonomy Africa
resilience of indigenous belief systems
sacramental representation
sacred
Sacred Grove
senior
Senior Elder
Southern Nilotes
Traditional Birth Attendants
Uganda People's Defence Force
Western Nilotes
Western perspectivism
Younger Men
Product details
- ISBN 9780754603832
- Weight: 680g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 19 Jul 2005
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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How long can a traditional religion survive the impact of world religions, state hegemony, and globalization? The ’Karamoja problem’ is one that has perplexed colonial and independent governments alike. Now Karamojong notoriety for armed cattle raiding has attracted the attention of the UN and USAID since the proliferation of small arms in the pastoralist belt across Africa from Sudan to stateless Somalia is deemed a threat to world security. The consequences are ethnocidal, but what makes African peoples stand out against state and global governance? The traditional African religion of the Karamojong, despite the multiple external influences of the twentieth century and earlier, has remained at the heart of their culture as it has changed through time. Drawing on oral accounts and the language itself, as well as his extensive experience of living and working in the region, Knighton avoids Western perspectivism to highlight the successful reassertion of African beliefs and values over repeated attempts by interventionists to replace or subvert them. Knighton argues that the religious aspect of Karamojong culture, with its persistent faith dimension, is one of the key factors that have enabled them to maintain their amazing degree of religious, political, and military autonomy in the postmodern world. Using historical and anthropological approaches, the real continuities within the culture and the reasons for mysterious vitality of Karamojong religion are explored.
Ben Knighton is Dean of the Research Programme, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, UK.
