ABSTRACT
Yet the division between the tribal politics of the two north ern countries and the lesser emphasis on tribalism in Tanzania does not exactly follow the frontiers. In Tanzania more tribal feeling is apparent in the north of the country. Might this have something to do with the ‘Nilotic’ and, even more, the ‘NiloHamitic’ thrust from the north which means that the Bantu line dips down almost to central Tanzania? Recent political phraseology in Uganda, stressing a dichotomy between ‘Bantu’ and ‘Nilotic’, might suggest the validity of such an idea; but
one needs to look deeper. In Uganda, ‘the Bantu5 find it diffi cult to maintain a solid front-there has long been rivalry between, for example, Buganda and Bunyoro-while in Kenya the ‘Nilo-Hamitic5 Masai have provided cultural patterns which have been adopted by their Bantu neighbours. The linguists5 categories, ‘Bantu5, ‘Nilo-Hamitic5, and ‘Nilotic5, are not concepts which arise naturally among the people them selves. In so far as the expressions ‘Bantu5 and ‘Nilotic5 are being used today, they are the weapons of political warfare only because the politicians and the newsmen have made them so.
