Trees and anthills: songs of Karimojong women's groups

Authors

  • Ken A. Gourlay Makerere University, Kampala

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v4i4.1686

Keywords:

Women, Karamojong, Women singers -- Uganda, Karamojong (African people)

Abstract

Karamoja District of north-eastern Uganda is a semi-arid plateau between 3,000 and 4,000 feet high. Most of its 9,230 square miles is covered with sparse savannah grassland or stunted acacia shrubs. Beside the dry, sandy river beds grow larger trees of the acacia family. Except for the areas of no-man's land between rival groups, the entire region suffers from over-grazing by cattle. In the settled areas even the largest trees have been hacked and hewn for firewood. For half the year the sun scorches the unprotected earth into the harness of concrete. When the rains come water flows quickly away before the soil can absorb it, and the rivers fill up in flash floods that sweep away even the tallest trees.

References

Beidelman, T. O. 1966: The Ox and Nuer Sacrifice: some Freudian hypotheses. M an (NS), 1:453-457.

Dyson-Hudson, N. 1966: Karimojong Politics. Oxford. Clarendon Press.

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1956: Nuer Religion. Oxford University Press.

Gulliver, P. H. 1955: The Family Herds (2nd impress. 1966). London. Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Kolinski, M. 1961: The Classification of Tonal Structures. Studies in Ethnomusicology. Yol. 1: 38-76.

Folkways Records and Service Corporation Inc., New York.

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Published

1970-08-05

How to Cite

Gourlay, Ken A. 1970. “Trees and Anthills: Songs of Karimojong women’s Groups”. African Music : Journal of the International Library of African Music 4 (4):114-21. https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v4i4.1686.