LUO

also called Kavirondo, people living in the flat country near Lake Victoria in western Kenya and northern Uganda. They constitute the third largest ethnic group in Kenya (about 11 percent), after the Kikuyu, with whom they shared major political power in the first years after Kenya achieved independence, and the Luhya. The Luo speak an Eastern Sudanic language of the Chari-Nile branch of the Nilo-Saharan family. Luo are settled agriculturists who also keep many cattle. They are found throughout East Africa as agricultural labourers and tenant farmers and as urban workers. Traditionally, each Luo group is an autonomous political unit, controlled by a dominant clan or lineage. This segmentary lineage structure, associated with territorial units, is not organized around a particular office; there is no chief. The segmentary system itself is the basis of organization and cooperation. The Luo traditionally believed in a supreme creator, whom they called Nyasi (Nyasaye), and had a strong ancestor cult. Today most Luo are Christians.