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| Titel: |
Orality in the service of Karamojong autonomy: polity and performance |
| Auteur: |
Knighton, Ben |
| Verschenen in: |
Journal of African cultural studies |
| Paginering: | Jaargang 18 (2006) nr. 1 pagina's 137-152 |
| Jaar: |
2006-06-01 |
| Inhoud: |
It has been assumed by Jack Goody and others that literacy facilitates the external penetration and domination of African societies. However the case of the Karamojong in north-east Africa challenges the inevitability of the rise of literacy. Where there is no thirst for literate education, the very features of orality noted by Jack Goody function to maintain traditional politics against predations by state or global economy. The Karamojong age-class system has proven persistent in the face of various attempts to 'develop' Karamoja. The key to the maintenance of the rule of elders is the performance of prayer at the sacrifice of an ox, yet prayer has been relatively little studied in research on orality. Translations of prayers recorded at an initiation ceremony reveal the usual antiphonal litany that makes the sacrifice a consensually determinative event. Policy-making comes about not by public discussion, but in the prayers as the prayer-leaders command the actors, whether animate or to us apparently inanimate, in their world to bless the life and lives of the community, yet not to afflict. Politics then is most intimately related with this religion that so many observers see as marginal. The conclusion is that through a range of subtle ways, orality privileges the power of elders in a way that enables them to direct their people in ways that maximize Karamojong autonomy to a surprising degree in these times of global intervention. |
| Uitgever: |
Routledge |
| Bronbestand: |
Elektronische Wetenschappelijke Tijdschriften |
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