Karo people (East Africa)

Karo is a group of Nilotic tribes, belonging to the Eastern Nilotic languages, that straddles the Nile in the Republic of South Sudan and is predominately found in Central Equatoria State, and as far South as Uganda and South-West as Congo. Karo comprises Nyangwara, Bari, Pojulu, Kuku (or BaKuku in Uganda), Mundari and Kakwa. In South Sudan, they have erroneously been referred to as “Bari-speaking” which is a misnomer because Bari is the name of a distinct tribe within Karo (as stated above). Furthermore, this term is not representative of the other Karo found in both Uganda and Congo of which there is a substantial population.

The mischaracterization arose and was perpetuated by one C. G. Seligman, during British colonial rule in Sudan, whose likely first point of contact with the Karo was with the Bari before discovering the other tribes within this group (Seligman & Seligman, 1932). Instead of rectifying his mistake, C. G. Seligman propagated this misinformation by christening these tribes “Bari-speaking” according to his erroneous ethnology with the result that this distortion acquired a life of its own and has persisted ever since.

This is, therefore, an attempt to rectify historical inaccuracies made during colonial era. Karo is a term that was advocated by those of Dr. Luka Monoja, a South Sudanese politician and intellectual, to describe the “Bari speaking” group. Karo share the same culture and tradition in addition to the language – Kutuk (meaning mother tongue). Karo means relative which is all-encompassing of the tribes within Karo because it expresses this degree of relatedness and underscores the commonality of Bari, Pojulu, Mundari, Nyangwara, Kakwa and Kuku tribes.

Reference

• Seligman, C. G., and Seligman, B. Z., ‘Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan.’ George Routledge & Sons Ltd., London, 1932.
• Collins, Robert O., ‘Land beyond the Rivers, the Southern Sudan, 1898–1918.’ Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1971.
• Regib Yunis, ‘Notes on the Kuku and other minor tribes inhabiting Kajo-Keji District, Mongalla province.’ SNR VII (1) 1936 pp 1– 41.