卡拉莫贾人的牛文化及其变异:理解非洲冲突的一种视角

Cattle Culture of Karamoja and Its Aberrance:A View of Understanding Conflicts of Africa

牧牛的卡拉莫贾人发展出独特的牛文化。牛是卡拉莫贾人的生计来源、财富象征,发挥着一般等价物功能。牛是族内通婚的重要媒介。牛还在卡拉莫贾人与神灵沟通时扮演媒介的角色,牛本身也发展为卡拉莫贾人的文化图腾。在卡拉莫贾人政治生活中,无论是获得权力、行使权力,还是权力过渡与转移,都离不开牛。被英国征服后,尽管牛对卡拉莫贾部落仍至关重要,但牛的文化、政治意义丧失,沦为单纯的商品。以往的牧牛模式开始向掠牛模式转变,成为卡拉莫贾地区族群冲突的内涵与本质所在。

The Karamoja's cattle-centric activities developed a unique cattle culture.In the political life of the Karamoja people,whether it is to obtain power,exercise power,or transfer power,cattle are requisite.It is even regarded as a necessary condition for the political system to functional smoothly.The traditional cattle culture of the Karamoja people changed with the British colonial conquest and the introduction of the market economy.In the new era,although cattle are still important to the tribe,the past cattle grazing model began to shift to the cattle plundering model,which became the connotation of ethnic conflict.The cattle-raiding activities of the Nilote ethnic groups,typical of the Karamoja people,constitute the economic reasons for ethnic conflicts in East Africa and Northeast Africa.This helps to transcend the tribalism paradigm that explains ethnic conflicts.