Yakan movement

Yakan, also known as the Yakani, Yakanye, Yakaŋ, the Yakan water cult, or Allah Water, was a religious movement that was active in Uganda among the Lugbara people, starting in 1890. The group was suppressed by the British Protectorate due to allegations they had a conspiracy against colonial rule. They are popularly remembered as a colonial resistance group.

Background

The time period of 1890-1919 was difficult for the Lugbara people, with several raids from other groups and epidemics occurring.^[1]^[2]

Beliefs

The group was an anti-colonial alternative medicine congregation, centered around distributing "water of Yakan", infused with a psychedelic daffodil plant locally known as Kamiojo.^[3]^[4] The drug is known to cause hallucinations, as well as feelings of elation and frenzy when taken in large amounts.^[5] Writer George Ivan Smith described it as the "LSD of Central Africa".^[3]^[5] The group members would perform their rites around a planted pole, called dini (a term used more broadly to refer to religion in Lugbara).^[4]

The group has also been described as primarily wishing for independence, with Jack Driberg saying the medical aspect was secondary to the desire for revolution among the members.^[6]

History

The group first appeared in 1890.^[7] The administration of the Protectorate of Uganda first encountered the Yakan group in 1919, in the West Nile District.^[8] The group was associated with a man named Rembe, who was most active in spreading the group in Lugbaraland from 1914 to 1920.^[4]

The movement was repressed by British colonial authorities who judged it as a "coordinated conspiracy" and challenge against their rule. The British viewed the Yakan as being a source of the resistance to forced labor, sending troops with machine guns in to disrupt the "rebellion". They also deported 15 chiefs (who were first appointed by colonial forces), before deporting eight more the next year; the evidence for doing this was disputed, and the Attorney General of the Protectorate of Uganda eventually concluded that there was no evidence of anything beyond the fact that "'Allah Water' appears to be a particularly intoxicating drink". However, the Attorney General was overruled and they were deported anyway.^[6]

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's mother, Aate, was a member of the group. The Yakan movement was later described as having an effect on Amin's preferred types of torture techniques.^[9] The Amin family instead claimed that "the Yakanye Order" was an African secret society that used magic to start and win wars.^[10]

The group has been remembered as a colonial resistance group.^[11]

References

^ Smith 1980, p. 25
^ Middleton 1963, p. 83
^ ^a ^b Leopold 2021, p. 37
^ ^a ^b ^c Dalfovo 2001, p. 32
^ ^a ^b Smith 1980, p. 41
^ ^a ^b Leopold 2021, p. 44
^ Middleton 1971, p. 179
^ Allen 1991, p. 379
^ Leopold 2021, p. 36
^ Leopold 2021, p. 39
^ Leopold 2021, p. 40

Sources

Allen, Tim (July 1991). "Understanding Alice: Uganda's Holy Spirit Movement in Context". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 61 (3): 370–399. doi:10.2307/1160031. ISSN 0001-9720. JSTOR 1160031.
Dalfovo, Albert Titus (2001). "Religion among the Lugbara. The Triadic Source of Its Meaning". Anthropos. 96 (1): 29–40. ISSN 0257-9774. JSTOR 40465451.
Leopold, Mark (2021). Idi Amin: The Story of Africa's Icon of Evil. New Haven (Conn.): Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-15439-9.
Middleton, John (1963). "The Yakan or Allah Water Cult Among the Lugbara". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 93 (1): 80–108. doi:10.2307/2844335. ISSN 0307-3114. JSTOR 2844335.
Middleton, John (1971). "The Translation of Culture". Prophets and Rainmakers: The Agents of Social Change among the Lugbara. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315013282-8/prophets-rainmakers-john-middleton. ISBN 978-1-315-01328-2.
Smith, George I. (1980). Ghosts of Kampala. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-77721-2.