Post-colonial Uganda Research Articles

Exploring connections: Reflections on mother-tongue education in postcolonial Uganda

Mother-tongue (MT) education in Uganda, like in many other countries, is a highly contentious subject. A plethora of problems plague MT education and all are similar to those mentioned in more than six decades of research and evaluations on the topic from numerous countries across the world. Based on fieldwork conducted in four primary schools in the Rakai district of Uganda, this paper attempts to demystify and critically theorise practices and ideologies of language in education. This study is inflected by the theoretical work of Tollefson (1991), particularly his challenging remark that “language is built into the economic and social structure of society so deeply that its fundamental importance seems only natural. […] For this reason, language policies are often seen as expressions of natural, common-sense assumptions about language in society” (Tollefson 1991:2). This paper therefore sets out to surpass the mere cataloguing of problems bedevilling MT education in Uganda by proposing an account of their possible genesis. Through an examination of dysfunctional state and government structures, the role of linguistic ideology as well as the distribution of symbolic and material wealth, it is herein argued that there should be a shift from the structural-functional model, where policies are considered bodies of discourse that should, or that fail to, be implemented. It is proposed rather that the education system mirrors a wider societal concern in which colonial legacies are miserably reproduced in postcolonial Ugandan structures.Okwekaliriza Obukwatane: Okwefumiitiriza ku Kusomesereza mu nnimi enzaaliranwa mu Uganda eyeefugaOkufaananako ne mu nsi endala, ensonga y’okusomesereza mu nnimi ennansi mu Uganda ewakanirwako. Ebizibu nkumu ebifumbekedde mu kusomesereza mu nnimi ennansi era nga bifaanaganira ddala n’ebyo abanoonyereza bye bazzenga banokolayo ku nsonga eno mu nsi ez’enjawulo mu nsi yonna. Ebyogerwako wano byesigamiziddwa ku kunoonyereza okwakolebwa mu masomero ga nnakasooka ana (4) mu distrikiti y’e Rakai mu Uganda. Olupapula luno lugezaako okwekkaanya n’okwekaliriza, mu ngeri ekolokota, endowooza n’ebikolebwa mu kusomesereza mu nnimi ennansi. Nga nsinziira ku ndowooza ya James Tollefson (1992:2) naddala ku kirowoozo kye ekisoomooza nti “olulimi luzimbirwa ku ntereeza y’ebyenfuna mu kitundu era nga lwesoggera ddala wala kutuuka ku kuba nti omugaso gw’olulimi omukulu gulabibwa nga ekijjanabutonde. N’olw’ensonga eyo, enkola z’eby’ennimi zitera okulabibwa ng’ebintu bye tutwala nti bijjanabutonde era ebikolebwa n’amagezi amazaale ku nsonga z’okusalawo ku lulimi mu kitundu.” Awo nno olupapula luno lugezaako okusukka ku kunokola obunokozi ebizibu ebiri mu kusomesereza mu nnimi ennansi mu Uganda. Bwe kityo nno olupapula luno lwoleka ensibuko y’ebizibu bino. Nga twekaliriza entereeza ya gavumenti erabika okuba nga tetambula bulungi wamu n’endowooza eyeesigamiziddwa ku lulimi n’engeri y’okutuuka ku ngabana y’ebyo ebirabibwako eby’obugagga, kiwakanwako wano nti wasaana okubaawo okwebembula ku kutunuulira obutunuulizi enkola z’eby’ennimi ng’ekintu ekirina okwogerwako, ekirina okutuukirizibwa oba ekirina okulema okutuukirizibwa. Wabula, kiteesebwa wano nti omuyungiro gw’eby’enjigiriza ebeera ndabirwamu ya kitundu omweyolekera, mu ngeri ey’ennaku, ebisigalira by’obufuzi bw’amatwale mu ntereeza ya gavumenti ya Uganda eyeefuga.

Investigating "mass hysteria" in early postcolonial Uganda: Benjamin H. Kagwa, East african psychiatry, and the Gisu.

In the early 1960s, medical officers and administrators began to receive reports of what was being described as "mass madness" and "mass hysteria" in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and Uganda. Each epidemic reportedly affected between three hundred and six hundred people and, coming in the wake of independence from colonial rule, caused considerable concern. One of the practitioners sent to investigate was Benjamin H. Kagwa, a Ugandan-born psychiatrist whose report represents the first investigation by an African psychiatrist in East Africa. This article uses Kagwa's investigation to explore some of the difficulties facing East Africa's first generation of psychiatrists as they took over responsibility for psychiatry. During this period, psychiatrists worked in an intellectual climate that was both attempting to deal with the legacy of colonial racism, and which placed faith in African psychiatrists to reveal more culturally sensitive insights into African psychopathology. The epidemics were the first major challenge for psychiatrists such as Kagwa precisely because they appeared to confirm what colonial psychiatrists had been warning for years-that westernization would eventually result in mass mental instability. As this article argues, however, Kagwa was never fully able to free himself from the practices and assumptions that had pervaded his discipline under colonial rule. His analysis of the epidemics as a "mental conflict" fit into a much longer tradition of psychiatry in East Africa, and stood starkly against the explanations of the local community.

Sport in Postcolonial Uganda

This article examines the structure of sport in postcolonial Uganda in the context of being a developing country in East Africa. The intention is to provide a wealth of empirical, concrete data that are often missing from many theoretical polemics on the politics of sport and to link the empirical data to political theory. In the context of this article, it is suggested that Uganda is best understood through a neopluralist analysis of the state.

BRYAN WOOLESTON LANGLANDS: UGANDAN GEOGRAPHY AND THE GOSPELS OF ST. LANGLANDS, 1953–1976

This paper traces the life and accomplishments of the late Professor Bryan W. Langlands and his unparalleled contributions in both the academic and administration arenas in colonial and post-colonial Uganda. Professor Langlands was one of the early founders of The East African Geographical Review. His untiring efforts in the evolution of the field of Geography and Urban and Regional Planning in Uganda were truly remarkable. As we resurrect The East African Geographical Review, this paper is a tribute and celebration of the contributions this remarkable scholar made in the advancement of Ugandan Geography.