The center of this project is the Luo Union, a socio-cultural organization founded amongst pockets of migrant workers in towns across East Africa. Riwruok e Teko (Unity is Strength) has been the mantra of the organization, for all of its nearly 60 year official existence. From its precarious beginnings in the colonial urban centers of the 1920s, to its official demise in 1980, Union members sought to forge and govern a common cultural identity among a diverse Dholuo-speaking population originating from western Kenya. In contemporary East Africa, the image and popular memory of the Luo Union induces little social debate on the components and control of Luo identity, but more commonly invokes tributes to the famous soccer clubs sponsored by the organization. Seeking for memory of the Luo Union as a cultural organization, "tribalist" claims emerge in recollections of the association, dismissing its role as a breeding ground for ethnic politics. Yet examining the history of this organization, one begins to see beyond soccer legends and regional politics which allow a historian of East Africa to study the overall genesis of Luo ethnicity throughout the 20^th century.

Evidence from archives in Kenya, Uganda and the U.K. are integrated with interviews from various regions of East Africa to support this thesis. Field work was conducted for the all of 2004, supported by a Fulbright Hays fellowship. 2004 was an important year to examine the history of this association. A resurgence of the association emerged that year as the Luo Council of Elders. The current activities of this new association mirror the agenda of the defunct Luo Union which is commonly perceived as the older association re-born. Existing events were often remembered through comparisons with the past, situating this topic as not only an important historical study but one relevant to contemporary East Africa.