The Yakan Cult and Lugbara Response to Colonial Rule

Abstract

Summary In 1919, certain groups of the Lugbara tribe attempted a violent rising against the British colonial government in West Nile District, Uganda. It soon became apparent that the rising was closely associated with a spirit-possession cult known as Yakan or the Allah water cult, which, over a number of years, had established a considerable following among the Lugbara. The Yakan cult can be regarded as a factor in Lugbara response to a series of alien invasions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; but while violent resistance was a recurring theme in the cult's history, the internal development of Yakan both in terms of its ideology and its organization came to present the Lugbara with an alternative to their traditional system of religious organization and beliefs and at the same time presented them with a means of coming to terms with, and even of exploiting, the colonial situation. That certain sections of the cult membership exploded into violent resistance to the British in 1919 was due to the difficulties experienced by the cult leaders in maintaining a satisfactory balance between the conflicting role-expectations of local and colonial actors rather than the result of sustained and violent resistance to the new rulers of the district.