Since the late 1970s, cattle raiding with automatic weapons has escalated among nomadic herding societies in northern East Africa. We examine the impact of AK-47 raiding on the adaptability of Karimojong agropastoralists in northern Uganda. Most notably, raiding is linked to a loss of population resilience in Karamoja, measured in increased mortality of young children and of adult males in their prime reproductive years and decreased female fertility. AK-47 raiding has acted both directly and indirectly as a Darwinian stressor in this population, compromising long-standing adaptive strategies and intensifying selection pressure. We briefly discuss similar effects of recently altered patterns of raiding among related Turkana pastoralists in Kenya. We then consider the process by which this traditional cultural institution was modified in the interests of preserving cultural identity. We conclude nonetheless that cattle raiding with automatic weapons constitutes singularly maladaptive cultural behavior in contemporary pastoralist societies. Indeed, it represents the single greatest threat to their biobehavioral resilience and ultimately may have profound evolutionary costs in terms of pastoralists' survival. I. We are indebted to the Karimojong women who spoke with eloquence and honesty of the deaths of so many of their parents, husbands, siblings, and children during the terrible closing decades of the 20th century. Their stories were united by stark themes of violence that overshadowed all other considerations, compelling us SANDRA GRAY is

Between 2006 and 2010, thousands of Karimojong women and children moved to Kampala in an attempt to escape misery and violence at home. In 2007 the Ugandan government began to evict these people from the capital and resettle them back in Karamoja. This paper is based on data from a ten-month ethnographic project with Karimojong mothers living in the Kisenyi slum of Kampala and residents within Napak and Moroto districts, to illuminate migrants' experiences with the resettlement campaign. I address three major fl aws with the campaign: ignorance of living conditions and violence in Karamoja; the overall dehumanizing impact on the Karimojong; and inadequate programme design, resources and infrastructure.

This study examines the pattern of growth, underlying growth velocity and nutritional status in a sample of thirty breastfeeding Karimojong children, aged from birth to three years. A mixed-longitudinal structure was adopted for the study, which was carried out between August and December, 2004, in two communities in Moroto District, Uganda. Monthly anthropometric and health examinations were administered to mothers and children during this interval. Children in the study were small at birth but grew relatively rapidly for their first six months. Thereafter they experienced falling off of growth in weight, length, and head circumference. Loss of growth velocity and deterioration in nutritional status after six months was a result of physiologic stress arising from high parasite loads, introduction of inappropriate weaning foods, and psychosocial stress associated with patterns of maternal behavior. Environmental and maternal effects on child growth were exacerbated by widespread armed violence and related subsistence change in these communities. Growth of these children reflects loss of growth plasticity resulting from worsening environmental and social conditions in Moroto in 2004.

In this article we examine results of a mixed-longitudinal study of child and adolescent growth among agropastoral Karimojong children in Moroto District, northeast Uganda. During a 5-month period from August to December, 2004, longitudinal data were collected for a mixed sample of 104 Karimojong children, aged from birth to 18 years. During a previous study in 1998-1999,we had measured 26 of these children who then ranged in Age between 3 months and 7 years. Most of the children were small and thin relative to accepted growth standards, and prevalence of stunting and wasting in childhood was high. In the period from the end of childhood through adolescence, however, Karimojong girls showed marked variability in annual growth, with some attaining a large adult size relative to what we predicted based on their poor childhood growth. Developmental, evolutionary, and environmental determinants are considered. We conclude that growth of these children reflects exposure to environmental insults that vary unpredictably within relatively short intervals. Variability in the magnitude and timing of these insults among children from different birth-cohorts is probably sufficient to account for so-called "shifting" of growth percentiles in childhood and adolescence in this mixed sample.

This article examines changes in dietary strategies among Karimojong agropastoralists in northeast Uganda. We recorded food selection, procurement, processing, and consumption in twenty-eight female-headed Karimojong households during a four-month period in 2004. Plant foods comprised the bulk of the diet, whereas less than 12 percent of dietary intake came from the herds. Milk contributed no more than 5 percent of total dietary energy. These findings present a striking contrast with ethnographic reports of the Karimojong and related Turkana pastoralists in the mid-to late twentieth century. We argue that dietary change, particularly the lack of milk and butterfat in most households, is symptomatic of a weakened pastoralist sector-a consequence of the convergence of multiple external and internal stressors. We conclude that the disruption of the pastoralist system, the lack of sustainable alternatives, and the growing dependency on agriculture have set the Karimojong on a trajectory toward permanent impoverishment, compromising human adaptability and population resilience. [African pastoralists, livelihood change, dietary strategies]RESUMEN Este trabajo examina los cambios en estrategias dietéticas entre los agro-pastoralistas karimojong en Uganda nororiental. Registramos la selección de alimentos, obtención, procesamiento y consumo en 28 hogares karimojong con mujeres como cabeza de familias durante un período de cuatro meses en 2004. Los alimentos plantas comprendieron la mayoría de la dieta, mientras que menos del 12 por ciento del consumo dietético provino de los rebaños. La leche contribuyó a no más del cinco por ciento de la energía dietética. Estos hallazgos presentan un sorprendente contraste con reportes etnográficos de los karimojong y los relacionados pastoralistas Turkanas de mediados a fines del siglo veinte. Argumentamos que el cambio dietético, particularmente la falta de leche y grasa de leche en la mayoría de los hogares, es sintomático de un sector pastoril debilitado-una consecuencia de la convergencia de múltiples factores de estrés externos e internos. Concluimos que la disrupción del sistema pastoril, la falta de alternativas sostenibles, y la dependencia creciente en la agricultura han sentado a los karimojong en una trayectoria hacia un permanente empobrecimiento, comprometiendo la adaptabilidad humana y la resiliencia de la población. [pastoralistas africanos, cambio de subsistencia, estrategias dietéticas] For Rada: Kape robo. HUMAN ADAPTABILITY IN KARAMOJASince the mid-1990s, we have been engaged in a study of human adaptability in the Karamoja subregion of northeast Uganda (Figure 1). We have worked mostly among the Karimojong, who, like most societies in the area, are