Bunuel
The Acholi are a traditional agricultural people native to Northern Uganda with culture and traditions that are different from those of the people of Southern Uganda, the Baganda. While the Acholi have always been farmers, the Baganda built up a monarchy and cities over a period of centuries. When the British colonists arrived in Uganda, they chose to utilize the Acholi as a labor force and for lower-ranking military purposes, while they settled their primary colonies in the more familiar political establishment of Southern Uganda. Today, Southern Uganda remains heavily developed and industrialized, while Northern Uganda struggles with regionalized conflicts and has been war-torn for many decades.
The passage suggests which of the following about the Acholi people in Northern Uganda?
(A) The monarchy of the Baganda people in Southern Uganda utilized the Acholi people as a labor force and as soldiers for the military.
(B) The British viewed the lifestyle of the Baganda people as superior to that of the Acholi, due to the Baganda’s development of cities and a monarchy system.
(C) Because the Acholi people have traditionally been farmers, they were unfamiliar with war until the British arrived.
(D)The British are entirely responsible for the wars that continue to plague the Acholi people of Southern Uganda.
(E) The Acholi people welcomed the opportunity to abandon their traditional agricultural lifestyle with the arrival of the British.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Overview: Question provides information about the Acholi people, a tribe in Northern Uganda that is known for its traditional agricultural lifestyle and is very unlike the Baganda people of Southern Uganda. The author of the passage contrasts the Acholi and the Baganda, noting that the Baganda developed cities and a monarchy, but the Acholi have always been farmers. When the British began arriving in Uganda, they focused their colonization among the Baganda and used the Acholi people as servants and as soldiers. The author concludes by mentioning that Southern Uganda today has some stability, with its industrialization, while Northern Uganda still struggles with regional wars. The student is asked to select the answer choice that is implied, from the passage, about the Acholi. Again, it is important to focus on what the passage says specifically and to select an answer choice that has an immediate antecedent in the passage.
The Correct Answer:B The author does not state outright that the British took a superior view of the Baganda over the Acholi. But the author does claim, “When the British colonists arrived in Uganda, they chose to utilize the Acholi as a labor force and for military purposes, while they settled their primary colonies in more familiar political establishment of Southern Uganda.” This suggests that the British were familiar with the social and political organization of Southern Uganda and made the assumption that the Baganda people were superior to the Acholi because they were more developed. The fact that the British chose to use the Acholi only for different forms of service indicates that they did not view their qualities as highly. Answer choice (B) may be inferred from the passage, so it is correct.
The Incorrect Answers:A Although the author of the passage claims that the British used the Acholi as servants and as military fighters, there is not enough information in the passage to indicate that the Baganda did the same. In fact, the author states that the Acholi have traditionally been farmers and thus indicates that they did not take up the different types of service until the British arrived. Answer choice (A) is not clearly implied in the passage, so it is not correct.
C Answer choice (C) is a potentially tricky rewording of statements made in the passage. Yes, the author claims that the Acholi were an agricultural people, and probably continued to be until the British arrived. But there is not enough information in the passage to argue that the author claims the Acholi people to be unfamiliar with war. The fact that the Acholi are still struggling with regional conflicts suggests that there have been regional differences among the Acholi for some time but that these differences were minimized before the Acholi became official soldiers among the British. Answer choice (C) has no clear implication in the passage, so it is not correct.
D As with answer choice (C), answer choice (D) seems to have potential, depending on how the student chooses to read the author’s tone in the passage. There seems to be a hint of disapproval about the British colonization, and it is all too easy to read this as a way of placing blame on the British. But the student should beware of reading too much into this tone, because it is unreliable. The only real implication made about the Acholi people is that the British did not necessarily view them to be as superior as the Baganda because the Acholi were farmers. There is simply not enough information in the passage to argue that the British are entirely responsible for the conditions among the Acholi today. Too much is left out of the passage, including information about how long Uganda has been independent of Britain (or even that it is independent of Britain) and what political events have occurred in recent years. Answer choice (D) is tempting, but it ultimately does not have enough support in the passage, so it must be eliminated.
E The passage does not provide enough information about the response from either the Acholi or the Baganda to the British colonization, so there is clearly not enough information to support the claim that the Acholi welcomed the opportunity to abandon their agricultural lifestyle (or, in converse, to suggest that they despised colonization). Answer choice (E) is incorrect.