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

Can indigenous cosmological models survive the impact of modern civilizations? This question, posed in response to evolutionist models, forms the gist of discussion in Knighton's book. Evolutionist models have propagated assumptions that traditional African cosmologies will lose their functions in modern society. Knighton's book is a significant addition to literature that shatters Eurocentric theories that have attempted to consign African religious beliefs and practices to a premodern sphere. Knighton illustrates how dynamic and enduring African religious lifestyles are, using Karamojong religion as a case in point.

Drawing from his experience living and working with the Karamojong people, Knighton utilizes oral accounts and indigenous language to underscore how the Karamojong have resisted foreign ideologies by holding onto their indigenous religion. His thesis is embedded in the statement that "Traditions do exist in Africa as elsewhere. . . . Despite the colonial experiment, or new attractions . . . there are always some that persist almost to the point of perversity. . . . Traditions . . . emerge or die primarily through collective choice" (pp. 1–3). Knighton utilizes an ethnographic approach to penetrate the layers that comprise the Karamojong cosmology in order to interrogate factors that define them, factors that include their indigenous religion.

Knighton's book is a significant attempt in explaining the "Karamoja problem"—which, usually defined by the proliferation of guns and rustling and categorized as banditry, has defied governments' efforts to resolve. The failure of numerous attempts at resolution through disarmament programs is a clear indicator of a misinformed strategy. Writing about social matrices that inform this problem, Dr. Nene Mburu explains how disarmament strategies that ignore the significance of ethno-military identity of the Karamojong and the agro-pastoral neighbors are bound to be unsuccessful (p. 2). The Vitality of Karamojong Religion: Dying Tradition or Living Faith? contributes a significant dimension to the understanding of ethnofactors that define the Karamojong people and their perceived "problem." It is a perfect illustration of the importance of understanding any community on its own terms.

Knighton begins his book by highlighting challenges Western cultures and religions continue to face in attempting to circumscribe the other. He illustrates how Western-based ideologies that separate the sacred from the profane are inconsistent with Karamojong perception of the world. Like most Africans, the Karamojong encounter with Western ideologies has led to appropriation, adaptation, and rejection of what did not fit their worldview (p. 6).

In chapter two, Knighton denounces claims that indigenous societies are without history just because their history is undocumented. He demonstrates how the Karamojong possess a long, complex history, which changes in tandem with social events. This history, which has always revolved around cultural values, especially livestock, continues to define Karamojong perception. An interrogation of the role of political agents in fueling the perceived "Karamojong problem" would have enriched a description of this history.

Focusing on how the traditional Karamojong religion remains central to local realities, chapter three illustrates how Western ideologies have yielded superficial transformation of these realities. Though Christianity is not considered harmful, it is perceived as being "under the social control of . . . uncomprehending aliens who do not share in a pastoralist livelihood" (p. 75). It is unclear whether this stance reflects resistance to Christianity as a foreign religion or a claim of inappropriateness. The Karamojong desire to remain independent is embedded in their history of resistance to external realities, as Knighton explains.

To illustrate further the place of religion in society, Knighton interrogates Karamojong social units to illustrate how ritual invokes the spiritual and the social and how notions of power and hierarchy find legitimacy in religious values. This chapter illustrates how important it is to examine the role of religion in social conflict. As Knighton explains, religion contributes significantly to the invention and integration of the culture of guns in Karamojong worldviews.

Shifting focus on the influence of spirituality on political matters, Knighton in chapters five to eight discusses how leadership is divinely sanctioned. Political decisions are considered sacred and salvific. While ritual mediates the matrix...