Who Are the Kuku People

1. Who Are the Kuku People By Dr. Scopas Poggo Henry Lejukole, PhD PowerPoint and Presentation by: 2013 KCNA Conference May 25 - 26, Kansas City, Missouriwww.kkcna.org

2. Literature on Kuku People • El Yuzbashi Negib Yunis, MD (Kajo-Keji Civil Hospital, 1922-23). • Article: “Notes on the Kuku and Other Minor Tribes”; Sudan Notes and Records, (Yunis, 1924). • Major C. H. Stigand (former governor of Mongalla Province – later named Equatoria). • Book: “Equatoria: The Lado Enclave (Stigand, 1923/1968) www.kkcna.org

3. …Literature • Professor M. M. Ninan (University of Juba) • Article: “Comparative Study of the Kuku Culture and the Hebrew Culture” (Ninan, 1987). • Daniel Wani Tomilyan (Kuku Catholic Priest) • Monograph entitled: The Kuku Cultural Phenomena (Tomilyan, 1999). • Rev. Dr Oliver M. Duku (Kuku medical doctor and Pastor, Episcopal Church of Sudan) • Book entitled: History of the Church in Kajo-Keji (Duku, 2001).

4. …Literature • Southern Sudanese intellectual group affiliated with SPLM • Research on ethnicity in the Southern Region of Sudan, “House of Nationalities,” Nairobi, n.d., 53-57 • Dr. Scopas S. Poggo (Prof. Ohio State University) • Partial research on the History and Culture of the Kuku People. A more in-depth inv

5. Who are the Kuku • Kuku people are one of sixty ethnic groups in Southern Sudan. • Belong to a large cultural and linguistic group called the Eastern Nilotes. • Taposa, Didinga, Boya, Latuko, Lakoya, Lopit, Lokorong, Bari, Kakwa, Nyangwara, Pojulu, Mandari, Kuku, Turkana, Maasai, Iteso, and the Akarimojong. (Shillington, 1995, 120-121; Matti, 1980, 6).

6. Migration • In second decade of the 14th century A.D., the Eastern Nilotes (originally Taposa, Bari and Latuko) began a wave of migration from ancient Meroe, eastwards to present day Eritrea. • Turned south, and trekked through the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia (Igga, Wani, 2004). • These migrants had acquired domestic animals such as cattle and goats as far back as 500 A.D., and they also practiced agriculture (Hodnebo; 1997, 87). It is probable that these migrants may have brought the knowledge of iron working with them from their original homeland of Meroe.

7. Migration

8. …Migration • Migrants continued their southward push, and ultimately reached the western part of Lake Turkana (ibid.). • The Toposa and related peoples like the Didinga and Boya, moved into the southern-most part of Eastern Equatoria, and remained in this region. • Meanwhile, other groups such as the Bari (and related peoples) and the Latuko (and related peoples) trekked northward where upon their arrival at the Lopit mountains near Torit and split into two groups.

9. …Migration • The Latuko deemed the Lopit mountains and surrounding country most strategic for defense purposes, and they subsequently established their permanent homeland there (present Eastern Equatoria State). • The Bari and related peoples such as the Nyangwara, Pojulu, Mandari, Kakwa, and Kuku moved further north in hopes of reaching the White Nile (Igga, Wani, 2004). • As the Bari speakers journeyed northward, they encountered the well-established settlements of a Western Nilotic people called Lwo at a place known as Tekidi on the East Bank of the Nile.

10. Migration

11. …Migration • The Kuku were the second group of Bari speakers that invaded Tekidi, but like the Pojulu, Nyangwara, and Bari before them, they failed to dislodge the Lwo. • They ultimately crossed the White Nile, and arrived at the Sokare escarpment (a range of mountains that stretch north, south, and west on the West Bank of the river) covering parts of the Bari, Madi, and Kuku territories. (Poggo, Scopas, “personal observation”).

12. …Migration • The Kuku people crossed the Nile and entered Kajo-Keji as invaders. They came in small waves, sometimes displacing or absorbing the previous inhabitants of the country, the Moru-Madi group. • First Kuku invaders were the Kinyi’ba and Kande’ba clans which displaced the Madi people, the original owners of the land. They laid claim to the most fertile and productive land. • Called themselves monye kak (landlords), known as the people who ate their food with salt (Hodnebo, 93; Duku, Lobunek, n.d. 1).

13. …Migration • Final wave of Kuku migrants in Kajo-Keji was that of the Kasurak clan. • This group owned cattle, and also brought with them the institution of rain-making. • Did not lay claim to any land, and were therefore not labeled as monye kak or landlords. • Their new home was established at Kikiji Hill several miles west of the Sokare escarpment. • The rest of the rain-making clans in Kuku society received their “rain powers” from this group (ibid.).

14. Nature of Kuku • Comprised of more than one hundred clans whose backgrounds can be traced to the various immigrant groups in the Kukuland (Tomilyan, 1999, 3). • The Kuku borrowed some of the marriage rituals, traditional dances, and songs from the Madi people along the east and west banks of the Nile. • Kuku language carries a large Bari vocabulary.

15. Nature of Kuku • The institution of rain-making and the nature of independent chieftaincies among the Kuku people were borrowed directly from the Bari. • Each chieftaincy, headed by a rain-maker, covered a large territory (Jale, 2002/60; Tete, 2002/55). • The people in each chieftaincy carried out their political, economic, and social activities independent of the other chieftaincies. • There were occasional raids or skirmishes between neighboring villages or chieftaincies, which lasted for only a short time (Mulukwat, 2003/60).

16. Nature of Kuku • In the event that the entire Kukuland was threatened by powerful foreign armies such as the Bari, Madi, Lugbara and the Acholi (ethnic groups of Uganda), all the Kuku chieftaincies would unite together to fight and defeat such an enemy. • In ancient times, the Bari, Madi, Lugbara, and Acholi warriors invaded the Kuku homeland, but they were defeated by the Kuku armies. • The waves of invasion resulted in the capture of prisoners of war. • Thus, the names such as Gamba, Alia, Nagamba, Lonyuru, and many others are not indigenous names (testament to the Lugbara-Kuku wars )

17. Implements & Agriculture • Before the advent of the knowledge of iron working in the Kukuland in ancient times, the Kuku peasants used pointed sticks fashioned from branches of a tree called payat. • Used for cultivation, hunting, and fishing, it also served as an offensive weapon. • The gardens of the Kuku people were small in size, which meant that food production was minimal.

18. Implements & Agriculture • The food they produced, and the wild vegetables and fruits that they collected, helped sustain their livelihood. • The Kuku population continued to grow steadily over time, and small groups of families moved further away from their original settlements in search of more fertile land. • Hence, the Kuku word kukutoro, which literally means “keep on moving.” The name Kuku was derived from that word (Taban/Y, 2002/67; Modi, 2002/57).

19. Implements & Agriculture • Most Kuku families settled in places that were in close proximity to streams or rivers. • Some large rivers like the Nile, Kigwo, Ki’bo, Nyawa, and Kaya, and a few other seasonal streams may have provided fish that supplemented their diet (Wani-Buluk; 2002/69). • In 1797, Jagira and his wife Keji discovered the art of iron smelting in Nyepu area of Kajo-Keji. • Iron revolutionized agriculture, warfare, hunting, fishing, and marriage. The Kuku blacksmiths made iron tools such as hoes, wukit (v-shaped tool), knives, spears, arrows, etc.

20. Implements & Agriculture • Thus, the Kuku people were able to cultivate large acres of land, produce a variety of food crops, and engage in fishing and hunting. • Spears and arrows became important offensive weapons for the Kuku armies. • The blacksmith tools also became an integral part of the Kuku bride-wealth during marriage ceremonies.

21. Integration with neighbors • The inter-mixing of the various Bari, Madi, Pojulu, Kuku, and Kakwa clans, and Lugbara families and individuals, resulted in the formation of a unique cultural and linguistic group of people that constitutes the present day Kuku society.

22. War, Displacement & Refuge • On August 18, 1955, the soldiers of the Equatoria Corp organized the Torit Mutiny against the Sudan government. • Because of the fear of persecution, hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese sought refuge in the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and elsewhere.

23. War, Displacement & Refuge • As the war intensified, many Kuku people migrated to, and settled in the West Nile and Buganda regions of Uganda in the late 1950’s.

24. War and Displacement • Many other Kuku people, fled Kajo-Keji and found sanctuary in Madi District of the West Nile region. • Others subsequently relocated to the Buganda region in Central Uganda (Wani-Buluk, Jan. 1985/52). • Others settled in Gulu and other areas of Northern Uganda. End