Essentializing Ugandan Indigenous Cultures in Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s Manchester Happened

Abstract

This paper examines Manchester Happened by Jennifer Nansubuga in the light of postcolonial concepts of essentialism and time. This study is motivated by the observation that relationships between the former colonialists and colonized as represented in contemporary diasporic literature are still characterized by rivalry, racism and ideologies about the backwardness of Africans, Caribbeans and Asians. The creation of the Commonwealth of Nations has not served as a platform to eradicate the inauspicious binary matrices that existed in the days of the British Empire. African migrants in England are unable to effectively integrate themselves in the socio-economic sphere since their ‘Otherness’ remains a consideration for rejection. Oppression and marginalization are therefore presented as traits in Western culture whereas the spirit of community, attachment to cultural values and the desire to foster the ideals of the past characterize Ugandan indigenous attitudes as presented in Manchester Happened. From this problematic stance, the following research questions were derived: How is home constructed in Manchester? What is the significance of making journeys back to the homeland? This study is therefore predicated upon the claim that Ugandans in Manchester exhibit trends of their indigenous culture as they seek to assert their cultural identity in the diaspora and back home in Uganda. Globalization and modernity affect some characters that are enamored by Western attitudes. However, Nansubuga presents Ugandans who embody native customs which they practice daily in Manchester, and besides, they regularly travel to Uganda for other communal rites. In these instances, value is ascribed to native customs and the heritage from their ancestral past.