The Vitality of Karamojong Religion: Dying Tradition or Living Faith (review)

Africa has fascinated many Western scholars for many centuries, some of whom have brought their Euro-centric prejudices and invented Africa with presumably static traditions. Others have tried to emancipate Africa, and Ben Knighton belongs to the latter group. In this book, Knighton reconstructs an emphatic portrait of Karamojong cosmology after living among them from January 1984 to April 1986, as well as three visits at later dates. During that time he interviewed Karamojong as well as missionaries and colonial personnel who lived and worked among the Karamojong. The book is divided into nine chapters.

In chapter 1, Knighton introduces the Karamojong and their territory in the Northeast corner of Uganda, bordering the Sudan and Kenya. At the time of writing, the author estimated the population of Karamojong as 350,000 divided into nine tribal groups. On the outset, the author declares his priority to focus on Karamojong’s enduring traditional religion with as few Western presuppositions as possible, and I believe he stayed true to his intentions. Knighton is aware of the manner in which Africa is constantly invented by the West and therefore he treads carefully. In fact, he warns against the prejudices and the representations by Western scholars who appropriate the African narrative to their own ends. Although recognizing the two major trends of Western invention and appropriation with regard to their ambiguity, he also engages some of the noted socio-cultural scholars such as Evans-Pritchard, Godfrey Lienhardt, and E. O. James who went beyond their research data to interpret African Religions. Knighton concludes the chapter by showing how the sacred infuses the life-world and that it is within the sacred that Karamojong see their history. Like V. Y. Mudimbe, Knighton locates the logic of religion on the existence of traditions because traditions are owned and valued by those who maintain them.

Chapter 2 explains the place of Karamojong in relation to other East African Societies. Their migration patterns and linguistic development dating back 7000 years are carefully categorized as Cushites, Eastern Sudanic, Nilo-Saharan, Nilotes, and Eastern Nilotes. The author appropriates several scholars, such as Christopher Ehret, G. W. B. Huntingford, and Neville Dyson-Hudson, for their prehistory sketch of human presence in karamoja. Evidently, the use of pottery, cultivation of millet, and linguistic construction gives access to cultural practices and linguistic terms and concepts that were passed down to the modern descendents (42). Furthermore, the intermixing and complexity of racial and ethnic absorption of cultures have been dominant. It is therefore within the context of the stated ancient history around the Nile that the author places the Karamojong. Once again, the appearance of religion in the narrative demonstrates what the author calls “a continuum” in which God is mysteriously at work (49).

Chapter 3 introduces the arrival of the British administrators and the missionaries. Their presence, however, was limited to a few centers and the author attributes this to the hostile climate prevalent in what he calls “pastoralist belt.” The dominant colonizers, however, were the Eastern Nilotes who expanded from the North and were either absorbed or driven into the margins of the hills (57). Since religion defines the focus of the book, the author concentrates on Christian missions and its prolonged efforts to Christianize the Karamojong. After several attempts, the missionaries were granted permission to extend its activities in karamoja. Conversion for the early Christians required both metamorphosis and a decisive rejection of traditional customs (69). Furthermore, the mission fascililated the opening of schools to train workers to support colonial government as well as to train the badly needed indigenous catechists and teachers.

Despite such efforts, the Karamojong opted to resist both the foreign government and the Church by deliberately ignoring their gestures and demands, which of course could not be imposed without their consent (76). Obviously the remarkable tenacity with which the Karamojong have adhered to their traditional values has enabled them to survive on their own terms. The author points out further...