Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T02:26:29.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Alur-ization of Aidan Southall – Contested Ethnonymic Traditions in North-Western Uganda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2018

Adrian J. Browne
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This article concerns some of the personal commitments and relationships that compelled British anthropologist Aidan Southall to write his seminal essay titled “The Illusion of Tribe” (1970). It analyzes the contested ethnic movement that Southall’s doctoral work on the Alur obscured, the reasons for this act of concealment, and the ways these experiences shaped the ideas he later advanced.

Résumé:

Cet article se penche sur certains des engagements personnels et des relations qui ont contraint l’anthropologue britannique Aidan Southall à écrire son essai fondateur intitulé “The Illusion of Tribe” (1970). Il analyse comment et pourquoi le travail doctoral de Southall a dissimulé un mouvement ethnique contesté des Alur et explique comment cette expérience a façonné les idées qu’il a avancées plus tard.

Type
Institutional Life in Uganda
Information
History in Africa , Volume 45 , June 2018 , pp. 221 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akenda-Ondoga, Valentine J., “Some Economic Aspects of Cotton Production in Jonam County,” BSc dissertation, Makerere University (Kampala, 1971).Google Scholar
Anonymous, “Wadelai,” Mengo Notes 3–2 (1902), 14.Google Scholar
Anonymous, “Argus Diary,” Uganda Argus, 3 February 1961.Google Scholar
Apecu, Alex, “The Pre-Colonial History of Jonam Chiefdoms,” BA dissertation, Makerere University (Kampala, 1972).Google Scholar
Baker, Samuel, The Albert N’yanza, Volume 2 (London: Macmillan, 1866).Google Scholar
Baker, Samuel, Ismailia (London: Macmillan, 1874).Google Scholar
Bundy, Emory, “West Nile,” in: Barkan, Joel (ed.), Uganda District Government and Politics, 1947–1967 (Madison WI: University of Wisconsin African Studies Program, 1977), 352–377.Google Scholar
Burton, John W., “An Interview with Aidan Southall,” Current Anthropology 33–1 (1992), 67–83.Google Scholar
Chippindall, William H., “Journey beyond the Cataracts of the Upper Nile Towards the Albert Nyanza,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London 20–1 (1875), 67–69.Google Scholar
Colonial Office, Colonial Research 1949–50 (London: HMSO, 1950).Google Scholar
Crazzolara, Joseph P., The Lwoo, Volume 2 (Verona: Instituto Missioni Africane, 1951).Google Scholar
De Marchi, Ercole, “Rose e spine,” La Nigrizia 8 (1925), 114.Google Scholar
Driberg, Jack H., The Lango (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1923), 9–31.Google Scholar
Edel, May, “African Tribalism: Some Reflections on Uganda,” Political Science Quarterly 80–3 (1965), 357–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasha, Emin, Emin Pasha in Central Africa: Being a Collection of his Letters and Journals (London: G. Philip & Son 1888).Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, Edward E., The Nuer (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940).Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, Edward E., “Nilotic Studies,” Africa – The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 80–1/2 (1950), 1–6.Google Scholar
Firth, Raymond, “Whose Frame of Reference? One Anthropologist’s Experience,” Anthropological Forum 4–2 (1977), 145–167.Google Scholar
Gessi, Romolo, Seven Years in the Soudan (London: S. Low, Marston & Co, 1892).Google Scholar
Girling, Frank K., The Acholi of Uganda (London: HMSO, 1960).Google Scholar
Goldthorpe, John E., “Tribal and Ethnic Groups,” in: Atlas of Uganda (Kampala: Department of Lands and Surveys, 1962).Google Scholar
King, Anne, “A History of West Nile District, Uganda,” PhD dissertation, University of Sussex (Sussex, 1971).Google Scholar
Kitara, N., “Letter to the Editor,” Uganda Argus, 11 June 1962.Google Scholar
Lynch, Gabrielle, “What’s in a Name? The Politics of Naming Ethnic Groups in Kenya’s Cherangany Hills,” Journal of Eastern Africa Studies 10–1 (2016), 208–227.Google Scholar
McConnell, R.E., “Notes on the Lugwari Tribe of Central Africa,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 55 (1925), 439–467.Google Scholar
Mills, David, “How Not to Be a ‘Government House Pet:’ Audrey Richards and the East African Institute for Social Research,” in: Ntarangwi, Mwenda, Mills, David and Babiker, Mustafa (eds.), African Anthropologies (London: Zed Books, 2006), 76–98.Google Scholar
Moses, Michael, “A History of Wadelai,” Uganda Journal 17–1 (1953), 78–80.Google Scholar
Obbo, Christine, “Aidan Southall: A Tribute and Partial Memoir,” Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 10–2 (2009) (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/270959).Google Scholar
Ochieng, William, The First Word: Essays on Kenya History (Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1975).Google Scholar
Ogot, Bethwell A., History of the Southern Luo (Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1967).Google Scholar
Okotp’Bitek, Religion of the Central Luo (Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1971).Google Scholar
Okumu, J.P. and Unega, P.L., “Letter to the Editor,” Dwon Lwak, 26 September 1967.Google Scholar
Onegi p’Minga, Nicholas, “Behind the Hidden Curtain of Karamoja” (c.2010, unpublished manuscript).Google Scholar
Opyeniniya, Aloysius, “Letter to the Editor,” Uganda Argus, 9 January 1964.Google Scholar
Owiny, Ugo A.L., “Letter to the Editor,” Uganda Argus, 31 October 1959.Google Scholar
Parkin, David J., “Social Structure and Social Change in a Tribally Heterogeneous East African City Ward,” PhD dissertation, University of London (London, 1965).Google Scholar
Parkin, David J., “Eastern Africa: The View from the Office and the Voice from the Field,” in: Fardon, Richard (ed.), Localizing Strategies: Regional Traditions of Ethnographic Writing (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1990), 182–203.Google Scholar
Parkin, David J., “Introduction,” in: Southall, Aidan W., Alur Society: A Study in Processes and Types of Domination (Münster: Lit Verlag, 2004 [1956]), xi-xxvii.Google Scholar
Pels, Peter, “The Construction of Ethnographic Occasions in Late Colonial Uluguru,” History and Anthropology 8 (1994), 321–351.Google Scholar
Pels, Peter, “Global ‘Experts’ and ‘African’ Minds: Tanganyika Anthropology as Public and Secret Service, 1925–61,” Africa – Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 17–4 (2011), 788–810.Google Scholar
Plotnicov, Leonard, “Letter from Nigeria: Humbling the Ethnographer,” in: de Soto, Hermine G. (ed.), Culture and Contradiction (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992), 455–465.Google Scholar
Posnett, Richard, The Scent of Eucalyptus: A Journal of Colonial and Foreign Service (London: The Radcliffe Press, 2001).Google Scholar
Ringe, Peter C., A Simple Alur Grammar and Alur-English-Alur Vocabularies (Nairobi: Eagle Press, 1948).Google Scholar
Schumaker, Lyn, Africanizing Anthropology: Fieldwork, Networks, and the Making of Cultural Knowledge in Central Africa (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2001).Google Scholar
Sharpe, Barrie, “Ethnography as a Regional System: Mental Maps and the Myth of States and Tribes in Northern Nigeria,” Critique of Anthropology 6–3 (1986), 33–65.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “The Alur,” paper presented at the First Annual Conference of the East African Institute of Social Research, Kampala, 17–23 December 1950.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Alur Society: A Study in Processes and Types of Domination,” PhD dissertation, London School of Economics (London, 1952).Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Alur Migrants,” in: Richards, Audrey I. (ed.), Economic Development and Tribal Change (Cambridge: Heffer, 1954), 141–160.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Homicide and Suicide Among the Alur,” in: Bohannan, Paul (ed.), African Homicide and Suicide (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960), 214–229.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Micropolitics in Uganda: Traditional and Modern Politics,” paper presented at the East African Institute of Social Research Conference (Kampala, 1963).Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “The Concept of Elites and their Formation in Uganda,” in: Lloyd, Peter C. (ed.), The New Elites of Tropical Africa (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), 342–363.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Rank and Stratification among the Alur and other Nilotic Peoples,” in: Tuden, Arthur and Plotnicov, Leonard (eds.), Social Stratification in Africa (New York: The Free Press, 1970), 31–46.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Ethnic Incorporation among the Alur,” in: Cohen, Ronald and Middleton, John (eds.), From Tribe to Nation in Africa: Studies in Incorporation Processes (Scranton PA: Chandler, 1970), 71–92.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “The Illusion of Tribe,” Journal of Asian and African Studies 5–1/2 (1970), 28–50.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Cross-Cultural Meanings and Multilingualism,” in: Whiteley, Wilfred H. (ed.), Language Use and Social Change: Problems of Multilingualism with Special Reference to Eastern Africa (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), 376–396.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Ideology and Group Composition in Madagascar,” American Anthropologist 73–1 (1971), 144–164.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Nuer and Dinka Are People: Ecology, Ethnicity and Logical Possibility,” Man 11–4 (1976), 463–491.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “The Current State of National Integration in Uganda,” in: Smock, David R. and Bentsi-Enchill, Kwamena (eds.), The Search for National Integration in Africa (London: Collier Macmillan, 1976), 307–331.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Partitioned Alur,” in: Asiwaju, Anthony I. (ed.), Partitioned Africans: Ethnic Relations across Africa’s International Boundaries 1884–1984 (London: Hurst and Company, 1985), 87–103.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “The Ethnic Heart of Anthropology,” Cahiers d’Études Africaines 100 (1985), 567–572.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Power, Sanctity, and Symbolism in the Political Economy of the Nilotes,” in: Arens, William and Karp, Ivan (eds.), Creativity of Power (Washington, 1989), 183–222.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., “Gann’s Struggle,” Issue: A Journal of Opinion 18–2 (1990), 49–50.Google Scholar
Southall, Aidan W., Alur Society: A Study in Processes and Types of Domination (Münster: Lit Verlag, 2004 [1956]).Google Scholar
Stigand, Chauncy Hugh, Equatoria (London: Constable & Co., 1923).Google Scholar
Uganda Government Printer, Official Report of the Proceedings of the National Assembly: First Session–Fourth Meeting Tuesday, 26th March 1963 (Entebbe: Uganda Government Printer, 1963).Google Scholar
Van Binsbergen, Wim, “From Tribe to Ethnicity in Western Zambia: The Unit of Study as an Ideological Problem,” in: Binsbergen, Wim van and Geschiere, Peter (eds.), Old Modes of Production and Capitalist Encroachment (Abingdon/Oxford: Routledge, 1985), 181–234.Google Scholar