kuku and Hebrew culture

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY of THE KUKU CULTURE and THE HEBREW CULTURE: M.M.NINAN _________________________________________________________________________________ The following paper by Dr. Poggo traces the history of the Kuku people from the 14th century onwards. Who Are the Kuku People? By Dr. Scopas S. Poggo This paper will give an overview of who the Kuku people are and how they came to occupy their present homeland called Kajo-Keji. The history and culture of the Kuku people is rich, yet only sketchy accounts recorded by British colonial officials and missionaries exist in journals, diaries, and a few paragraphs and chapters in books. In general, the literature on the Kuku people is so sparse that only a few examples are worth mentioning. El Yuzbashi Negib Yunis, MD, a Northern Sudanese medical doctor who worked in Kajo- Keji Civil Hospital in 1922-23 wrote an article entitled “Notes on the Kuku and Other Minor Tribes” that was published in Sudan Notes and Records, (Yunis, 1924). Meanwhile, Major C. H. Stigand, a former governor of Mongalla Province (later named Equatoria) in the Southern Sudan in the second decade of the twentieth century, wrote a book entitled, Equatoria: The Lado Enclave (Stigand, 1923/1968) in which he devoted a few chapters on related peoples, the Bari, Kuku, and Kakwa. Professor M. M. Ninan of the University of Juba in the Southern Sudan wrote an article entitled “Comparative Study of the Kuku Culture and the Hebrew Culture” (Ninan, 1987). Daniel Wani Tomilyan, a Kuku Catholic Priest, published a monograph entitled The Kuku Cultural Phenomena (Tomilyan, 1999). Finally, Reverend Doctor Oliver M. Duku, a Kuku medical doctor who became a pastor for the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, published a book entitled, History of the Church in Kajo-Keji (Duku, 2001). According to a Southern Sudanese intellectual group affiliated with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement that conducted research on ethnicity in the Southern region, the Kuku people are one of the sixty ethnic groups (“House of Nationalities,” Nairobi, n.d., 53- 57). The author of this paper (Dr. Scopas S. Poggo) has done partial research on the History and Culture of the Kuku People. A more in-depth investigation of this subject will be continued in the coming year. 48
A COMPARATIVE STUDY of THE KUKU CULTURE and THE HEBREW CULTURE: M.M.NINAN _________________________________________________________________________________ The Kuku people belong to a large cultural and linguistic group called the Eastern Nilotes. This group includes the 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). Oral tradition suggests that in the second decade of the 14th century A.D., the Eastern Nilotes, who were originally composed of the Taposa, Bari and Latuko, began a wave of migration from ancient Meroe, and journeyed eastwards where they consequently reached present day Eritrea. From there, they 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. Over time, these migrants continued their southward push, and ultimately reached the western part of Lake Turkana (ibid.). The Taposa and related peoples like the Didinga and Boya, moved into the southern-most part of Eastern Equatoria, and remained in this region. They continued with their pastoral lifestyle to this day. 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, split into two groups. The Latuko deemed the Lopit mountains and the 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. The Lwo people (whose original homeland was in the Bahr al-Ghazal region), belong to the Western Nilotic group in Southern Sudan. They had migrated southward, crossed the White Nile, and journeyed eastward where they established their state structures at Tekidi in the period 1193-1274 A.D. The power of the Lwo people was derived from its hierarchical structure: the king at the top had both secular and spiritual authority. He was assisted by a council of elders that advised him on various political, economic, and social matters. The Bwola was a type of dance performed by commoners, which over time, “converted to a Special Royal Dance.” This was a symbol of power and prestige for the Lwo “king.” (Matti, 1980, 11). 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. In recognition of the power and prestige of the Lwo people at Tekidi, the Kuku made no more attempts to assault and possibly defeat them. Rather, they followed the route that their predecessors had taken (ibid.). They ultimately crossed the White Nile, and arrived at the 49
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