Visualizing the traditional dances of Ajosi and Akogo of Iteso-Eastern Uganda

Abstract

This study investigated the cultural heritage, purpose, and significance of Ajosi and Akogo traditional dances among the Iteso people of Eastern Uganda, using practice-based visual research to document endangered performance traditions. Employing qualitative ethnographic and arts-based methodologies, the research included fieldwork across six Teso sub-region districts and studio-based artistic production. Data were collected through participant observation at major cultural events (2023 Akogo Festival, 2024 MDD Festival, Atekere Reunion Festival), semi-structured interviews with 32 participants (elders, cultural leaders, dancers), and visual documentation. Findings revealed that Ajosi serves as a royal dance linked to traditional authority and communal solidarity, while Akogo is performed for courtship. Both dances encode complex cultural knowledge through movement and symbolic adornments (beadwork, animal hides, ostrich feathers, bells), functioning as "embodied archives" that transmit Iteso identity across generations. However, colonial disruption, religious transformation, and modernization threaten their continuity, with knowledge concentrated among aging specialists and declining youth engagement. Methodologically, the study employed artistic media such as charcoal sketching, digital painting, and ink drawing as analytical tools to capture dimensions inaccessible through text or photography, including kinetic energy and spatial choreography. The artworks serve as ethnographic documentation, cultural preservation, and contemporary reinterpretation, aligning with UNESCO's focus on safeguarding intangible heritage while engaging younger generations. The research contributes to visual anthropology (showing artistic production as a knowledge-generating methodology), performance studies (documenting African dance’s ritual and social functions), and practice-based research (establishing visual art as both method and outcome). Recommendations target cultural institutions, educational bodies, artists, government policy, and further research into digital preservation technologies.