ABSTRACT
Traditional Karamojong religion, in its dominant form, is implicit in the way leading males assemble to decide military, jural, political, social and economic affairs to the extent that none of these can be adequately understood without attending to their deeply religious nature. East African pastoral societies are ordered primarily by agesystems (Baxter and Almagor 1978; Beaton 1952; Bernardi 1952;1985; Clark 1950; Gullliver 1953c; LeVine and Sangree 1962; Kurimoto and Simonse 1998; Peristiany 1951; Tornay 1980b; Wolf 1980). Though these may lack clear military and other functions, they do offer the vision of constituting an identifiable culture by instituting a social means to unity (Fleming 1965; Prins 1970; Stewart 1972;1977). Thus the assemblies of nomadic pastoralists are so likely to be crucial to understanding how they cohere that they must be researched in detail. Enough is already known of age-systems to see them not only conferring social status, but also defining time. The Karamojong understanding of time is not chronological, but event-oriented. The memorable political events are the promotions and initiations of age-classes. What the literature may not appreciate fully enough is the political import of what can be easily overlooked as quaint, vestigious ritual in a changing world.
