The Logo people or Logoa (plural) are an ethnic group of Nilotic origin who live predominantly in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as parts of western Uganda and southern South Sudan.
Globally, this group totals 553,500 in 3 countries (Peoplegroups.org, 2024)
Included among the Logo are the following tribes of the Central Sudatlic linguistic stock, who are closely akin to the Lugware, Balendu, Madi, and Moru:
There are believed to be more than 200,000 people who identify as ethnically Logo of whom most live in the Congo's Faradje Territory, a remote region in Haut-Uélé Province, where they form the ethnic majority. Logo people also live in Watsa and Aba, both also in Haut-Uélé, and in Yei in South Sudan.
The ethnic group is traditionally associated with the Logo language, known as Logoti, from the Nilo-Saharan family. The language has an estimated 210,000 speakers. A further 100,000 speak the related dialect known as Ogambi. Logoti is similar in derivation to the Nilotic Kaliko, Bari and Lugbara languages spoken in the same region. The word logo means "human being" in the local language.
Historically, the Logoa were less powerful than the important Mangbetu and Azande ethnic groups in the same region. Originating in the Sudan, the Logoa were progressively pushed southwards into their current territories around Faradje by rival ethnic groups and especially expanding Azande influence in the 19th century. Their remote location within the Congo meant that they were however able to avoid becoming subject peoples.
The Logoa are divided into a number of tribal units and do not form a single polity. According to anthropologist Jan Vansina, the territory occupied by the Logoa and the Avukaya ethnic group forms a distinct geographic unit.
Primarily agricultural, without fertilization. The staple crop is -sorghum, but maize, sweet potatoes, eleusine, and sesame also are important. Bananas are rare and unimportant. Other crops include beans, gourds, lupine, peppers, and tobacco. The chief domestic animals are goats, chickens, dogs, some sheep (at least among the Kaliko), and a few donkeys and mules obtained from ivory traders. Among the northern Logo there are a few cattle owned only by chiefs. Eggs and the milk and flesh of goats and sheep are taboo to women. Milk is used only by the men. Hunting is important, and trade is fairly important.
Sex Division of Labor. Men hunt and milk. Both sexes work in the fields.
Social Stratification. Apparently slavery is absent; the Logo marry female captives but usually release male captives when peace is made. A source reports important class distinctions between commoners and hobles, the latter including the sibmates of chiefs and the husbands of the female sibmates of chiefs. Another source reports for a Kaliko a dependent class of "strangers" consisting of men who through poverty have attached themselves as clients to wealthy men of other communities.
Family. Compounds are reported.
Settlement Pattern. The Logo live in neighborhoods of scattered homesteads, which only rarely have enclosures. The huts have cylindrical walls about 4 feet high; in the west the walls are made of clay mixed with straw; in the east they are made of wattle and daub; the roofs are conical and thatched with straw.
Community Organization. The Kaliko are reported to have organized age-grades, with members of the age-grade of elders enjoying special privileges and immunities. The Logo do not practice circumcision.
Local Government. For the Kaliko there is only mention of chiefs, who meet with elders. Among the Logo the subchiefs of villages are said to be recruited from the privileged class.
State.The Logo today have several paramount chiefs with considerable power. However, of 33 Logo chiefs, 14 govern fewer than 20 adult males; 8, from 21 to 100; 7, from 101 to 200; 2, from 200 to 300; 1 about 500; and 1 about 1,300. The Kaliko are specifically reported to lack special rainmakers
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