Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

A mass circumcision is marketed to tourists in a remote area of Uganda. Some are angrily objecting

News

A mass circumcision is marketed to tourists in a remote area of Uganda. Some are angrily objecting
News

News

A mass circumcision is marketed to tourists in a remote area of Uganda. Some are angrily objecting

2024-08-11 21:33 Last Updated At:21:40

NEAR MOUNT ELGON, Uganda (AP) — The dancers shook their hips to the beat of drummers who led the way, anticipating the start of mass circumcision among the Bamasaaba people of Uganda’s mountainous east.

Yet the frolicking in the streets belied a dispute brewing behind the scenes as some locals questioned their king over the very public presentation of Imbalu, the ritualized circumcision of thousands of boys every other year in this remote community near Uganda’s border with Kenya.

More Images
Jude Mike Mudoma_Umukuuka iii, right, and King Fiti Torgbi Amenya V, Paramount Chief of the Alfapo Traditional Area, left, from Ghana, attend the launch of the circumcision season, known as Imbalu, in Mbale Village, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Jude Mike Mudoma_Umukuuka iii, right, and King Fiti Torgbi Amenya V, Paramount Chief of the Alfapo Traditional Area, left, from Ghana, attend the launch of the circumcision season, known as Imbalu, in Mbale Village, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

A young man walks through villagers prior to his circumcision ritual at Kamu Village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

A young man walks through villagers prior to his circumcision ritual at Kamu Village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young boys perform prior to the launch of the circumcision season, known as Imbalu, at Kamu Village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young boys perform prior to the launch of the circumcision season, known as Imbalu, at Kamu Village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young men, eat a meal prior to their traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young men, eat a meal prior to their traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young men are prepared for they traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young men are prepared for they traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young boys, on left, are surrounded by elders during their traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young boys, on left, are surrounded by elders during their traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi walks through villages prior to his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi walks through villages prior to his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Traditional circumcision knives are prepared by a surgeon a day before the launch of a ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Traditional circumcision knives are prepared by a surgeon a day before the launch of a ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Could it be turned into a carnival, put on for the gaze of foreigners? Or should it remain a sacred ceremony in which families quietly prepare their sons to face the knife with courage?

The king, known as the Umukuuka, had his way ahead of the Aug. 3 ceremonial inauguration at a park in the town of Mbale, arguing for a traditional festival that also looked attractive to visitors. The organizers of Imbalu received over $120,000 in financial support from the Ugandan government and a corporate sponsor.

In an interview with the AP, the Umukuuka asserted that organizing a modern Imbalu was challenging and defended his decision to market the ritual as a tourist event in line with Uganda’s national development plan.

“Everything is changing as the population expands. People may not manage to follow the cultural processes,” he said, citing the economic hardship and commercialization he said were diluting the communal aspect of Imbalu. “But we are fighting through the clan system that (Imbalu) remains intact.”

But the Ugandan government’s intervention has raised eyebrows among many Bamasaaba and underscored angst over the most important ceremony for this ethnic group of four million Ugandans. Some who spoke to the AP said they felt the Umukuuka, in his first year in office, was trivializing Imbalu by exposing it to outside interests.

“Our leadership is being hijacked by” national political leaders, said Wasukira Mashate, an elder who is a custodian of Bamasaaba cultural property, charging that the Umukuuka was missing the counsel of clan leaders with real spiritual authority.

“I don’t think they are having any role” in Imbalu, he said, speaking of clan leaders. “It was for our own benefit culturally, but now it is becoming a national event because the government of Uganda has captured it.”

At the ceremonial inauguration, an angry crowd gathered outside the totemic shrine of the clan that historically has launched Imbalu by cutting the first candidates. Clan members pointed to the young mixed-breed bull tethered to the grass as offensive, saying only a local breed would suffice as an appropriate sacrifice to the gods.

“This cow is exotic. We are Bamasaaba, and he brought us a white animal,” said Kareem Masaba, speaking of the Umukuuka. “He has insulted us. His predecessors used to come into the shrine and participate in the rituals, but this man will not come here. He is disrespecting us.”

The dispute over the sacrificial animal delayed the inauguration into the late afternoon as anger grew among men wielding machetes, sharp sticks and other crude weapons. The Umukuuka, seated not far away in a tent among dignitaries from elsewhere in Africa, did not budge. Clan members retaliated by refusing to present the first group of initiates before the Umukuuka, a former forestry officer whose real name is Jude Mudoma.

The mass circumcisions will last until the end of 2024.

The tribal initiation of boys into adulthood has long been controversial in African countries such as South Africa, where incidents of botched, deadly circumcisions among Xhosa-speaking people have inspired campaigns for safe clinical circumcision. Among the Bamasaaba, whose cutting method is just as violent, there have been no calls to end the practice. The strongest adherents see Imbalu as more important than ever amid widespread infant circumcision in hospital settings. They say those boys who are not initiated in the tribal way risk suffering lifelong social delinquency.

Tribal circumcision is performed by a traditional surgeon wielding a knife usually fashioned from melted nails. Bamasaaba hundreds of kilometers away in the Ugandan capital of Kampala are known to hunt down Imbalu dodgers they then cut by force. The bodies of uncircumcised men can be violated before burial.

Circumcision “helps us to be strong,” said Peter Gusolo, a traditional surgeon, gesticulating to express his people’s purported sex prowess. Those who resist circumcision will be cut “even if (they) are dying,” he said. “We circumcise you at night. We bury you in the morning.”

He added, “We cannot bury you in the land of the Bamasaaba without (being circumcised). No, no, no. It is in the constitution of the culture of the Bamasaaba. ... It is a curse if you bury into the land people who are not circumcised.”

Gusolo, whose family lives in a house on the side of a hill planted with arabica coffee plants, spent days isolating himself in a cave and postponing intimacy with his wife so that he could be possessed by the spirit of Imbalu. Even though men like Gusolo wield certificates issued by local health authorities to prove their skill, the title is hereditary. The surgeons say they cannot afford to be flippant with their work because the wounds they inflict will not heal if they are not spiritually strong.

The first candidate for initiation this year was a teenager whose face had been smeared with mud and the dregs of homemade beer. He spread his legs and unblinkingly stared at the sky while a swarm of frenzied people around him pushed and shoved, demanding courage. The surgeon, applying no anesthetic, took hold of the boy and skinned him with a swift movement of his hands. A member of the boy’s family, aiming to protect the boy from the threat of witchcraft, collected the skin and took it home.

Emmanuel Watundu, the father of a 17-year-old boy who was among the first to be cut, said he stood by Imbalu, describing it as the life-changing event his son asked for. But he criticized what he saw as a carnival atmosphere by “peer groups (who) normally behave differently than we used to.”

Outside Watundu's house, where a crowd had gathered, drunken people of all ages danced wildly, and one woman briefly exposed her breasts. A politician seeking a seat in the national assembly had a procession marching in the dirt road. Boys fondled girls and swung legs at them.

Watundu said the street dancers he saw were “from different areas” and that most people attending Imbalu came “to do business.” He said of the Ugandan government’s involvement that it had “given some bad picture” about the Umukuuka’s role as the chief organizer of Imbalu.

Wilson Watira, who chaired the Imbalu organizing committee, defended the government’s role as a supporter of Bamasaaba tradition. The exuberant street processions left people feeling joyful, he said.

“When it comes to performance of culture, of culture itself … it remains culture. We only want to show the world that even when we are performing this culture, it can also attract other people,” he said.

In the past, people thought the ritual was barbaric and brutal, Watira said.

“It’s the reason why we said, ‘No, we are not barbaric. We can make this thing very attractive, and you will enjoy it.'”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Jude Mike Mudoma_Umukuuka iii, right, and King Fiti Torgbi Amenya V, Paramount Chief of the Alfapo Traditional Area, left, from Ghana, attend the launch of the circumcision season, known as Imbalu, in Mbale Village, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Jude Mike Mudoma_Umukuuka iii, right, and King Fiti Torgbi Amenya V, Paramount Chief of the Alfapo Traditional Area, left, from Ghana, attend the launch of the circumcision season, known as Imbalu, in Mbale Village, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

A young man walks through villagers prior to his circumcision ritual at Kamu Village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

A young man walks through villagers prior to his circumcision ritual at Kamu Village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young boys perform prior to the launch of the circumcision season, known as Imbalu, at Kamu Village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young boys perform prior to the launch of the circumcision season, known as Imbalu, at Kamu Village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young men, eat a meal prior to their traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young men, eat a meal prior to their traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young men are prepared for they traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young men are prepared for they traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young boys, on left, are surrounded by elders during their traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Young boys, on left, are surrounded by elders during their traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi walks through villages prior to his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi walks through villages prior to his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Daniel Wabuyi reacts during his traditional circumcision ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Traditional circumcision knives are prepared by a surgeon a day before the launch of a ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Traditional circumcision knives are prepared by a surgeon a day before the launch of a ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Next Article

The Gulf of Whatnow? Mapmakers grapple with Trump's geographic renaming plans

2025-01-23 15:31 Last Updated At:15:40

What's in a name change, after all?

The water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba will be critical to shipping lanes and vacationers whether it’s called the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been for four centuries, or the Gulf of America, as President Donald Trump ordered this week. North America’s highest mountain peak will still loom above Alaska whether it’s called Mt. Denali, as ordered by former President Barack Obama in 2015, or changed back to Mt. McKinley as Trump also decreed.

But Trump's territorial assertions, in line with his “America First” worldview, sparked a round of rethinking by mapmakers and teachers, snark on social media and sarcasm by at least one other world leader. And though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put the Trumpian “Gulf of America” on an official document and some other gulf-adjacent states were considering doing the same, it was not clear how many others would follow Trump's lead.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that if Trump went ahead with the renaming, her country would rename North America “Mexican America.” On Tuesday, she toned it down: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”

Map lines are inherently political. After all, they're representations of the places that are important to human beings — and those priorities can be delicate and contentious, even more so in a globalized world.

There’s no agreed-upon scheme to name boundaries and features across the Earth.

“Denali” is the mountain's preferred name for Alaska Natives, while “McKinley" is a tribute to President William McKinley, designated in the late 19th century by a gold prospector. China sees Taiwan as its own territory, and the countries surrounding what the United States calls the South China Sea have multiple names for the same body of water.

The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps. Many Arab countries don’t recognize Israel and instead call it Palestine. And in many official releases, Israel calls the occupied West Bank by its biblical name, “Judea and Samaria.”

Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.

Trump's executive order — titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” — concludes thusly: “It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes. The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.”

But what to call the gulf with the 3,700-mile coastline?

“It is, I suppose, an internationally recognized sea, but (to be honest), a situation like this has never come up before so I need to confirm the appropriate convention,” said Peter Bellerby, who said he was talking over the issue with the cartographers at his London company, Bellerby & Co. Globemakers. “If, for instance, he wanted to change the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean, we would probably just ignore it."

As of Wednesday night, map applications for Google and Apple still called the mountain and the gulf by their old names. Spokespersons for those platforms did not immediately respond to emailed questions.

A spokesperson for National Geographic, one of the most prominent map makers in the U.S., said this week that the company does not comment on individual cases and referred questions to a statement on its web site, which reads in part that it "strives to be apolitical, to consult multiple authoritative sources, and to make independent decisions based on extensive research.” National Geographic also has a policy of including explanatory notes for place names in dispute, citing as an example a body of water between Japan and the Korean peninsula, referred to as the Sea of Japan by the Japanese and the East Sea by Koreans.

In discussion on social media, one thread noted that the Sears Tower in Chicago was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009, though it's still commonly known by its original moniker. Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, renamed its Market Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard and then switched back to Market Street several years later — with loud complaints both times. In 2017, New York's Tappan Zee Bridge was renamed for the late Gov. Mario Cuomo to great controversy. The new name appears on maps, but “no one calls it that,” noted another user.

“Are we going to start teaching this as the name of the body of water?” asked one Reddit poster on Tuesday.

“I guess you can tell students that SOME PEOPLE want to rename this body of water the Gulf of America, but everyone else in the world calls it the Gulf of Mexico,” came one answer. “Cover all your bases — they know the reality-based name, but also the wannabe name as well.”

Wrote another user: “I'll call it the Gulf of America when I'm forced to call the Tappan Zee the Mario Cuomo Bridge, which is to say never.”

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Peter Bellerby, the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, holds a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

FILE - Peter Bellerby, the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, holds a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

FILE - A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, on Sunday, June 13, 2021, with Denali in the background. Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent, is located about 60 miles northwest of Talkeetna. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

FILE - A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, on Sunday, June 13, 2021, with Denali in the background. Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent, is located about 60 miles northwest of Talkeetna. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

FILE - The water in the Gulf of Mexico appears bluer than usual off of East Beach, Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Galveston, Texas. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

FILE - The water in the Gulf of Mexico appears bluer than usual off of East Beach, Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Galveston, Texas. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

Recommended Articles
Hot · Posts