Reconfiguring the Omweso Board Game Performing Narratives of Buganda Material Culture

Rose Namubiru Kirumira

y artwork titled Nakulabye, which is 4 (Wernharm 2002). On the surface, the game is a simple and an an- meters long and weighs 440 pounds, cient form of daily entertainment (Trowell and Wachsman 1953). is an intimidating sculptural replica of However, Omweso consistently appears as a location for power the Omweso game board (Fig. 1). The and spirituality in the history of the Baganda: it can be a form of wooden sculpture, twenty times larger divination and may be associated with spirit possession, a ceremo- than an average Omweso game board, nial game as part of a king’s coronation rites, and its play has been, includes four cane stools to sit on during play. Its composition is at times, a prerogative of the royal court. These locations have de- derivedM from a human face, and it has thirty-two pits (8 x 4) in the veloped as restrictive spaces,3 rife with taboos and gendered nar- configuration of a mancala board. This sculpture was inspired by ratives. For example, in Buganda’s material culture, women are my engagement with a group of men that I visited in July 2016 in restricted in numerous spaces: the playing of mujaguzo (the royal Nakulabye, a town in an urban area of Kampala City, Uganda. drums of Buganda); the brewing of mwenge bigere, also known as At the Nakulabye Omweso Club, a shop veranda in Nakulabye tonto (a local banana beer); the process of making olubugo (a tradi- Town, these men play Omweso and chat against the backdrop of tional bark-cloth); and the making and, indeed, playing of Omweso a small television that mostly screens British Premiere Leagues. (Nakazibwe 2005, Kabiito 2010, Nanyonga–Tamusuza 2014). Observing their exchanges, which seem to be informed by moves As a sculptor—a particularly masculinist subdiscipline of the on the Omweso board and reveal strong, clearly gendered power visual arts in Uganda—I have been actively engaged with cul- dynamics, I became curious about the performative place of tural artifacts that speak to different historical narratives and their Omweso as a cultural artifact of the Baganda people.1 In this ar- contexts within Uganda’s societies.4 My first encounter with the ticle I posit that, despite centuries of cultural diffusion and relo- Omweso board was in 2010, when my husband inherited a board cation, Omweso continuously narrates and constantly contends from his father, Aloysius Kasujja (1927–2009). Although I had wit- a gendered functional space within the fluid cultural history, nessed men playing Omweso, this situation was unique because memories, and perspectives of the Baganda. I examine the idea the cultural taboo of obuko prevented me from handling that that the unusual ethos of Omweso, as a primary (re)source, has particular board—in Buganda, there are restrictions on a woman contributed to ongoing creative representations and personal ar- and her father-in-law in terms of touching, physical proximity to tistic visualizations. each other, or the handling of personal possessions (see Nyanzi, Omweso2 (Fig. 2) is a Luganda word for a type of mancala Nassimbwa, Kayizzi, and Kabanda 2008). My father-in-law’s board game (Brauholtz 1932) played among the Baganda and Omweso board (Fig. 3) piqued my interest and caused me to ques- several other ethnic groups in Uganda and other parts of Africa tion how I, as a culturally situated female artist, might speak to and about indigenous artistic expressions that are shaped by specific Rose Kirumira Namubiru is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Indus- gendered perspectives. 5 trial and Fine Art Makerere University specializing in ceramics and Baganda are a patriarchal society that places emphasis on the sculpture. She a is a widely recognized and exhibited female sculptor in sanctity of masculinity, denying women access to any intellec- Uganda. Her major artistic research interests are reconfiguring cultural tually or spiritually beneficial object or practice, such as playing artifacts of the Baganda. She has practical experience in initiating and Omweso. However, the do’s and don’ts that governed (and may still organizing national and international artists workshops and residencies govern) Baganda women’s social life reveal subtle contradictions, in Africa. [email protected] denying power to women yet, in some instances, surprisingly al- locating it to them (Bantebya-Kyomuhendo and McIntosh 2006,

52 african arts SUMMER 2019 VOL. 52, NO. 2 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021

kirumira.indd 52 2/20/2019 12:23:09 PM 1 Kirumira Rose Namubiru Nakulabye (2016) Wood, 400 cm x 150 cm x 30 cm Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2017)

(below, l–r) 2 Omweso Baganda Wood, 24 cm x 18 cm Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2016)

3 Omweso board that belonged to my late father-in-law, who passed away in 2009. It is now kept by my husband as a family heirloom. Wood and counters, 28 cm x 22 cm Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2016)

Tamale 2006). I first experienced these gender-restricted spaces include a winning move known as akakyala (referencing female when I was not allowed to touch my father-in law’s Omweso board. passivity) and a counter, known as empiki buteba, that is used for Then, conversations with men in the Nakulabye Omweso Club es- divination sessions and contains lubaale or spirits. (Since empiki tablished specifically that women in Buganda are not allowed to buteba in the Omweso game is rare, difficult, and embarrassing to play Omweso. Nonetheless, in the course of my research I found obtain, medicine men usually ask for it as a price for a divination people in three locations whose experiences challenge this restric- session.)8 The three locations—Nakayima, Nakku-Namusoke, and tion and became significant in shaping my perception of the role the Nakulabye Omweso Club—are central to this article in terms of Omweso as an artifact and a game in the gendered spiritual and of holding and assigning meaning to the object (Kabiito 2010: cultural history of Buganda. 53–62; Brenner, Vorster and Wintjes 2016). They are significant The historical narrative of Omweso was informed by my almost in containing and unpacking subtle performative nuances in the chance discovery of a miniature Omweso board in a diorama at personal creative reconfiguration of the Omweso board and game. the Uganda National Museum6 showing the priestess Nakayima, whose divination practices have transcended time and space and OMWESO AS BOARD, GAME, AND are part of contemporary indigenous culture in Buganda (Ballarin, GENDERED SPACE Kiriama, and Pennacini 2013).7 Second was a visit to Nakku In 2016, I created another sculpture, titled Akakyala (Fig. 4), Namusoke, a mukondo (descendant wife) and muzaana (royal that engages with Ganda narratives surrounding Omweso. In servant) to Kabaka Ssuna II (1836–1856), who showed me the this work, I used a mannequin9 to create the figure of a young Omweso board that belonged to him. In both locations, Omweso woman sitting on a stool. She is dressed in black and adorned with silently intertwines with practices of kubandwa or spiritual posses- a trendy, brilliant red necklace and red shoes. Placed in front of sion (Pennacini 2009). Third was the Nakulabye Omweso Club, an her is a bench with four oversized Omweso-like pits containing archetype of masculine cultural idealization whose members per- both black and red counters (Fig. 5). Three of the pits are made of petuate narratives from Buganda’s patriarchal past that persist in barbed wire, while the fourth is covered with brightly colored, pat- the present, asserting that women are not allowed to play Omweso. terned cloth.10 The figure bends forward, as if ready to play on the They also describe okwesa (“playing Omweso”) with metaphors that four-pit board and engage an imaginary player. The attitude and presentation of the sculpture is provocative, exhibiting the young woman’s confidence in playing a forbidden game on a tangibly lim- iting barbed wire board. Akakyala confronts the Baganda narrative

VOL. 52, NO. 2 SUMMER 2019 african arts 53 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021 |

kirumira.indd 53 2/20/2019 12:23:10 PM 4 Kirumira Rose Namubiru Akakyala (2016) Mixed media, 155 cm x 120 cm x 120 cm Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2016)

5 Kirumira Rose Namubiru, Omweso-like pits, detail of Figure 5 Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2016)

that “women are not allowed to play Omweso.”11 It is through this [The game] is played on a board, made usually of wood but some- narrative that I present Omweso: the game board and how it is times marked out on the ground or cut in the rock, with seeds or played as an object with power relations and gendered narratives small stones called men. Each player has thirty-two men in his two rows of holes, with which he tries to capture his opponent’s men.15 in Buganda (Kiguli 2001; Tamale 2006). At first glance, the Omweso board presents itself as a simple tra- The counters are referred to as “men” for reasons grounded in the ditional object utilized for sport and entertainment. It is carved gendered tenets of the Baganda, where individual roles, although inter- from a flat piece of wood with round or square pits or cups.12 changeable, are associated with situations or objects of power (Kiguli Omweso has thirty-two pits (amasa in Luganda) arranged in front 2001: 6, Nannyoga-Tamusuza 2009: 368).16 Therefore, if women were of each player in territories of sixteen pits: eight lengthwise and allowed to play Omweso they would be figuratively controlling men. four deep.13 The game requires sixty-four counters or black seeds Among the Baganda, gendered power relations are reflected in taboos known as empiki, from the omuyiki tree (Mesoneurum welwits- around many competitive situations, such as going to and winning chianum).14 This board type is sold in many tourist craft villages a war, sexual performance, and playing Omweso. Tamale (2006: 22) around Kampala. The performative function of playing Omweso notes that playing Omweso in ekisaakaate—spaces set aside in family (Fig. 6) is called okwesa or kwesa. According to Nsimbi (1968: 2), compounds or the King’s palace to instruct young individuals on the Omweso might be one of the oldest pastimes in Uganda, and as roles they are going to play in the social system17—can be a metaphor a cultural practice, it is still commonly played by men young and for contests or sex, illustrated in the Baganda saying Omukazi okuk- old. They assemble at kiosk verandas in small towns or at home- wata mu mweso nga abasajja bagenze okutabaala kyaletanga ekisirani steads of many rural and semiurban communities and play board (“A woman who plays the game of Omweso when men have gone to games while holding a wide range of conversations. Omweso as war brings about misfortune”), where playing Omweso is both a gen- it is played in Buganda is a highly mathematical and competitive dered taboo and a metaphor for sex. If men were killed or unable to reentrant game, where all seeds remain in play, and the winner bring home wealth during a war, this misfortune was ascribed to a plays captured seeds on his side of the board. Rules and procedures require the player to comprehend patterns of arranging counters, making moves, and capturing an opponent’s counters, leading to a calculated win (Nsimbi 1968, Weinharm 2002). In the traditional setting, two players squat or sit cross-legged facing each other, placing the board between them (Fig. 7). Yet its simple format disguises the Omweso game’s importance as an interactive, highly competitive performance of power rela- tions and gendered narratives. For example, the most important element of Omweso is to accumulate the most counters, and the player who does so is deemed the most powerful. As a gendered game, Omweso counters are referred to as “men”—thus framed as masculine—while the pits on the board are perceived to be femi- nine. I encountered this gendered aspect at the Uganda Museum, where the label for an Omweso artifact from Bunyoro (Fig. 8) in Western Uganda reads:

54 african arts SUMMER 2019 VOL. 52, NO. 2 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021

kirumira.indd 54 2/20/2019 12:23:10 PM 6 Detail of hand playing on Nakulabye (2016) Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru loser, saying, “twesa n’abakazi abasajja bagenda kutabaala” (“we are playing with women, the men went to war”). My sculpture 7 Nakulabye Omweso Club members playing Akakyala consciously confronts these narratives by presenting a Omweso during a tournament at the Let’s Talk About Omweso exhibition at Makerere University self-confident woman playing on a challenging Omweso board. Art Gallery in 2016. Ugandan academic, feminist, and human rights activist Sylvia Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru Tamale says that there is a significant relationship between gender and power in the game, to the point that the game is viewed as being sexually provocative (2006: 21).19 The space in which Omweso is played is clearly gendered with words and phrases that have mul- woman having played Omweso. Or if a man was not sexually success- tiple meanings, allowing men to engage in sexually uninhibited ful, he might suggest that the woman played Omweso, intimating that conversation. I also learned at the Let’s Talk About Omweso sym- 18 she tampered with her sexuality. posium and through interviews at the Nakulabye Omweso Club Omweso is also an instrument of power and a measure of a that restrictions on women playing Omweso can only be lifted by candidate’s suitability for kingship. A ceremonial Omweso board a royal decree. Despite my attempts, I have failed to find evidence known as buteba (Fig. 9), made of only one cup or dip, is found for how and when this restriction was imposed. There are many at Njayuya in Wakiso District, Uganda. This one-pit board carved reasons why women are not allowed to play Omweso, and given its on a rock is used during a coronation rite where the kabaka (king) cultural, social, and political significance, it is not surprising that plays Omweso with his katikiro (prime minister) (Ray 1991:86). On it has, for the past century, maintained crucial gendered narratives the eve of his coronation, the ssabataka (head of the royal clans), within Buganda’s historical landscape (Marias and Wintjes 2016). who is a prince and the heir apparent, plays on the coronation board with an empiki buteba (winning counter), which medicine men in Buganda consider significant in determining the outcome OMWESO PERFORMING HISTORICAL AND of a divination session.. During this rite, a winning move—okute- POLITICAL LINEAGES IN BUGANDA The existence of mancala board games in Uganda and other buka (“to go back”)—is used to enable the king to win. This is to parts of Africa points to its widespread function, distribution, and demonstrate his superior political power, knowledge, and strategic adaptation by groups of people who may have learned the game thinking over that of his male subjects (Nsimbi 1968: 5). Driberg through cultural diffusion (Brice 1954, Culin 1971, Binsbergen (1927) indeed attests to how the valued qualities, including intel- 1997). For example, mancala boards of similar design and playing lectual prowess, attached to mancala games lead to local prestige patterns exist among the Banyarwanda, Banyoro, and Baganda, and social status. Among the Acholi in northern Uganda, such who are a Bantu-speaking group in Central Africa. Binsbergen games decide between rival candidates for succession to a chief- (1997), citing well-known game historians Murray (1952: 158–59) tainship (Driberg 1927: 169). and Bikić and Vuković (2016: 183), notes that mancala board games The terms used in conversations around and during Omweso are ancient, first attested in the Kitab al-Aghani (Book of Songs) by to indicate important moves describe the players’ relationships the Arab author Abu’l Faradj (897–967). This situates their origin and positions. There are undertones and intonations for game in the second half of the first millennium ce at the latest. They are moves, such as each player’s losses and achievements. For in- still widespread in many parts of Africa, having descended from stance, when a player wins by capturing counters on both ends the royal tombs of Ur in Mesopotamia and the pharaonic tombs of the board in one turn, it is known as emitwe ebiri, a “double of Egypt, filtering down to Sudan along trading and migratory head win.” Okutema akakyala refers to capturing seeds from the routes, giving birth to numerous variations in sub-Saharan Africa opponent in two separate moves before they have made any move. (Binsbergen 1997). The most common mancala games are bao Akakyala here connotes the passive character of a woman and is a in Tanzania and Kenya; oware among the Ashanti in Ghana, and metaphor for a quick win. Therefore, when two people are playing moruba (or maruba) among the Pedi, in South Africa (Robbins and one presents a weak stand or easily loses the game, okutema 1982).20 There are, however, missing links in its occurrence in akakyala comes into play and the winner is able to jest about the

VOL. 52, NO. 2 SUMMER 2019 african arts 55 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021 |

kirumira.indd 55 2/20/2019 12:23:11 PM Buganda as a functional object and as a critical agent of its lin- eage, except for similarities to nsumbi in Zaire (Fig. 10), isingiro in Rwanda, and bare in Ethiopia (Fernald 1978, Wernham 2002: 5, de Voogt 2001). The account that follows is thus based not on any particular antique artifact but on the concept of the Omweso game as it lived through Uganda’s colonial and civil wars (1900–1986) to become part of Buganda’s contemporary material culture. Omweso is not found in Buganda exclusively, as the Baganda— such as members of the Nakulabye Omweso Club21—would like to believe. Mancala board games occur in many parts of Uganda under various names: soro among the Madi and Alur, olusoro among the Banyoro, and ekyesho among the Banyankole.22 Mancala board games such as choro among the Dodoth of Karamoja in northeastern Uganda and pereauni among the Didinga of southern Sudan (Driberg 1927) are still played. There are variations in the specific gaming procedures or codes found in groups with other social structures—mostly chieftaincies—but many share rules and taboos that are observed in the neighboring Baganda culture, which is a monarchy. The oldest Omweso board in Buganda could be the minia- ture board displayed in the Uganda Museum, which houses the diorama of Nakayima, a priestess of Mubende Hill. Nakayima is said to have descended from the Bachwezi, a migratory group who formed a Bunyoro-Kitara dynasty (ca. 1350–1890) in western Uganda.23 Schiller (1990: 456) says that, as the Buganda kingdom emerged out of the Bachwezi’s political demise, they could have acquired the culture of playing Omweso from the Bachwezi in Bunyoro (Beattie 1964).24 The importance of Omweso among the Baganda has been at- 8 Mweso board tested over centuries by Western explorers and missionaries. Banyoro Wood, 24 cm x 18 cm Young Buganda herdsmen dug small holes in the ground (or rock) The board appears in the Anthropological section of the Uganda Museum, and collected seeds or pebbles to play games to pass time (Nsimbi under “Recreation Activities” Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru 1968, Zaslavsky 1999, Namono 2010). Articles and notes about Omweso in the Uganda Journal25 (Lanning 1956a, 1956b; Wayland 9 Buteba, Kiganda royal functional Omweso board Early 14th century 1931, 1936, 1938) mention sets of mancala-like engravings found Photo source: Wavamunno 2004 at the bank of Muzizi River, Toro Kingdom, in western Uganda. There are also prehistoric rock engravings similar to an Omweso 10 Nsumbi board Zaire board (Namono 2010: 50) found at Nsongeza and Namunyonyi Wood, 30 cm x 54 cm Hill in central Uganda (Wayland 1938, Pearce and Posnansky Gift in the collection of Kirumira Rose Namubiru Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru 1963, Chaplin 1974: 24, White and Nkurunziza 1971: 175). At Sanzi in eastern central Uganda (Fig. 11) a rock shows clear engravings of multiple Omweso 4 x 8 boards carbon dated to the late first millennium (Namono 2010: 42, 53; Reid 2003: 40–43). These boards attest to the functional importance of Omweso in precolonial communities. Lanning (1956a) says that the spiritual survival of those communities was anchored in the belief that balubaale (gods) carved Omweso boards on rocks there—some are over 400 years old, others recently carved by herdsmen. They have been used over the decades for cultural rituals and polit- ical ceremonies (Lanning 1956a). The designation of Omweso as a royal artifact is found in Buganda’s precolonial political history. For example, the kabakas

56 african arts SUMMER 2019 VOL. 52, NO. 2 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021

kirumira.indd 56 2/20/2019 12:23:11 PM 11 Rock-cut Omweso boards at Sanzi, Eastern Central Uganda Photo source: Namono 2010: 53

12 Robert Pickering Ashe showed various objects collected by a colonialist traveler, including an Omweso board (marked 15). Source: Ashe 1895: 58–59

Ssuna II (1836–1856) and Mutesa I (1856–1884)26 owned Omweso boards that functioned as spiritual instruments, symbols of political power, and royal regalia. They played Omweso for entertainment in the lubiri (royal palace) with important ministers and chiefs, and sometimes with their sisters, whose social rank was equal to the king (Nsimbi 1968, Musisi 1991). Men had played Omweso at the royal court even before the reign of Kabaka Ssuna II, but the influx of Arabs, white missionaries, and colonialists during that time changed the dynamic of Omweso from a game played in the king’s private quarters to a “traditional pastime and sport” among the commoner Baganda. Its role as an object representing spirituality and authority again shifted when Uganda became a British Protectorate under Kabaka Mutesa I. From this point on- wards, Omweso was detached and alienated from its traditional functions, becoming a marker of the superseded past in colonial journals (Ashe 1895: 58–59) (Fig. 12). Colonial and Western re- ligious ideologies insistently positioned Omweso as either a tool of witchcraft and sorcery or a pastime that promoted idleness, an economically nonproductive traditional village activity. According to Nsimbi (1968), the need for labor to work in the new economy of cash crops such as coffee and cotton, introduced in Uganda in 1904, left no time for playing Omweso. In the mid-nineteenth cen- tury, Omweso continuously struggled, degenerating into a recre- ational activity and then regenerating as representation of political interest. The migration of labor from traditional villages into towns or the new kibuga reversed the regal use of Omweso to benefit new cultural-political ideologies and ideas of Africanness (Nsimbi 1968: 7, Musisi 1999: 178, Tumusiime 2017: 64–65). The political events following Uganda’s independence from British rule in 1962 again realigned Omweso from an ideologi- cal focal point to a passive cultural activity. For example, in 1966, Apollo Milton Obote (1925–2005) declared himself president of Uganda and abolished traditional kingships, including Buganda’s monarchy, alienating the place of indigenous cultural institutions (Young 1966: 8, Kakande 2017: 51). Obote’s government further destroyed social practices, art forms, and cultural activities that had been either banned or discouraged by colonialists. During this period, Omweso fell victim to new policies of political control, as the Baganda convened underground for political propaganda about ethnic federalism. Then the dictator Idi Amin Dada (ca. 1925– 2003) took political power in 1971. He maintained Obote’s status quo of dysfunctional traditional political institutions (First 1971: 132; Oloka-Onyango 1997: 175–76). However, Idi Amin patron- ized and developed sports to distract the public from his reign of terror, and thus recreations—including Omweso—which had been spaces for conversation about life and politics, became instruments of subversive political activity (Nsimbi 1968: 7). In 1986, after a gruesome civil war (1980–1986), a National Resistance Movement (NRM) took power in Uganda, and in 1993 the current president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, restored traditional institutions and reinstated the precolonial kingdoms as cultural institutions with

VOL. 52, NO. 2 SUMMER 2019 african arts 57 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021 |

kirumira.indd 57 2/20/2019 12:23:13 PM 13 Nakayima diorama Uganda Museum Section E18 “Clothing, Ceremonial Dress Nakaima [sic] Priestess of Mubende Hill” Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2017)

14 Miniature Omweso object (labeled 1) which is among the objects placed in the Uganda Museum’s Nakaima diorama Bachwezi/Baganda Wood, 3 cm x 6 cm x 0.3 cm Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2017)

described by the Baganda as kataketake, a coveted coppery color, and she has the elongated facial features common to the Bachwezi. The display case holds other objects such as spears, shields, pipes, skins, a ntimbo drum, and, significantly, a collection of miniature fetish objects and amulets (Lanning 1967, 1966). The objects were excavated and collected in the 1950s from an archaeological site no political governing significance. This seemingly manipulative on Mubende Hill, western Uganda (Pennacini 2013: 24, Lanning political gesture opened a debate among the Baganda about in- 1953: 182, Robertshaw 2002).29 Among those fetish objects and 27 digenous culture known as ebyaffe, or “our things” (Kiguli 2001: amulets is a miniature Omweso board (Fig. 14). This object raises 28 198). Omweso was reinstated to the public political domain and a questions: Why is it in this diorama? What is its function in the reserve of Baganda enthusiasts who, through spaces of instruction regalia of worship among the Bachwezi and what is its later signif- like ekisaakaate, restore Buganda’s traditional values to the younger icance among the Baganda? generation. It is against that fluid historical backdrop that Omweso The miniature Omweso object is made out of wood, and its pro- has silently but firmly continued performing narratives still critical portions (4 cm x 6 cm) and appearance are those of a standard 4 to the survival of Buganda. Art historian Ruth Simbao examined x 8, thirty-two-dip Omweso board. Previous studies have shown the crowns of ChiBemba-speaking Lunda-Kazembe as objects that how miniatures are used not for the actual purpose of the origi- reflect styles of regalia but also, most significantly here, as materi- nal piece, but for certain religious functions (Nichols 1997: 813; als in performance that establish the identity of the Lunda crown Binsbergen 1997). In some cases, they form part of royal regalia or and of “Lunda-hood” (Simbao 2006: 27). Similarly, cultural sites, masquerades. Examples of such boards are found in the oracle bas- activities, and objects such as those found at Nakayima’s shrine kets containing small objects that are used by diviners among the on Mubende Hill, mukondo at Wamala Royal Tombs, and the inhabitants of Southern Central Africa (Binsbergen 1997), along Nakulabye Omweso Club have taken center stage as the Baganda with miniature 2 x 6-pit mancala boards (Delachaux (1946: 70). proclaim and preserve their culture. In essence, the size of the Omweso board and its placement in this diorama suggest that it was intended to be used not for recreation 30 OMWESO PERFORMING NARRATIVES OF but for spiritual power. WOMEN WITH(OUT) POWER IN BUGANDA I began searching for answers about the miniature Omweso In the Uganda Museum is a diorama of Nakayima, wife of object at Nakayima’s shrine under a huge tree at Mubende Hill.31 the fourteenth century Bachwesi king, Ndahura. The figure rep- According to Ballarin, Kiriama, and Pennacini (2013: 5) the power resents a mystical woman seated on a stool mounted on a throne dynamic created by Nakayima in this space can be appreciated of animal skins (Fig. 13). She is garbed in bark cloth and a beaded only by analyzing the divination practices surrounding the natu- headdress and holds a staff in her right hand. Her skin is the hue ral phenomenon of this enormous tree.32 The priestess Nakayima

58 african arts SUMMER 2019 VOL. 52, NO. 2 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021

kirumira.indd 58 2/20/2019 12:23:13 PM possesses three identities: a museum artifact, a person associated told me they had never seen a board at the shrine. The caretaker35 at with the tree, and a mukongozi (mediator or carrier of Nakayima’s Mubende Hill said that the board at the museum might have been spirit).33 These provide occasions for conversations about Baganda an instrument of divination and spirit possession as used by lubaale spiritualities and women’s agency. (male deities), such as a Ganda high priest named Jjaja Muwanga. First, Nakayima the female spiritual figure, presented in the con- The assumption, therefore, is that the miniature Omweso is not text of the Uganda Museum, contributed to the artistic predica- Nakayima’s prerogative as a woman, but as a princess and Chwezi ments I encountered while investigating Omweso as a divination demigoddess. Secondly, I found a community of tourists and be- object. My sculpture Buteba (2015) (Fig. 15) is a small wood and lievers visiting Mubende Hill to worship beside the tree, known by copper piece with stone counters that was inspired by Baganda the locals as Nakayima’s Tree (Fig. 16). They believe that the tree divination practices,34 where Omweso is used by fortunetellers and possesses the spirit (emandwa) of Nakayima, which turs it into a medicine men (Lugira 2009). The taboo on women (other than shrine for Buganda’s cultural worship.36 There is a woman at the royal princesses) playing Omweso creates an ambiguous and in- shrine called Nalubega Restetuuta (b. 1931) (Fig. 17), who claims triguing narrative out of the juxtaposition of a divination object to be an intermediary and the current omukongozi (“carrier of the with Nakayima’s figure in the museum. There is no evidence that spirit”) of Nakayima (Pennacini 2013:30). Nalubega continues the Nakayima or her descendants played Omweso; her descendants legacy passed on by mediums of Nakayima who have worked under this tree. As Nakayima’s medium she says, “nze Nakayima” (“I am Nakayima”). According to Bell (1991: xi, 1993), mythology can be 15 Kirumira Rose Namubiru Buteba Royal Counter (2015) a basis for understanding the situation being dealt with today of an Wood, copper, and stone counters, 21 cm x 42 cm eternal woman who, through her descendants, still seeks solutions Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2015) to problems that have followed her down the ages. Sadly, due to the 16 The Nakayima Tree at Mubende Hill has several legacy of gendered cultural restrictions, Nalubega does not know chambers, each dedicated to a lubaale (spirit). Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2017) how to play Omweso. Of Nakayima’s three personas—artifact, tree, and omukongozi—only the diorama at the Uganda Museum has a physical association to the Omweso board. To conceptualize the disconnect seen between Nakayima and

VOL. 52, NO. 2 SUMMER 2019 african arts 59 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021 |

kirumira.indd 59 2/20/2019 12:23:14 PM 17 Nalubega Restetuta, the omukongozi of contemporary Buganda. Nakayima’s spirit, seated in her chambers under In June 2017, I visited Nnaku Namusoke (b. 1981) (Fig. 18a–b), the Nakayima tree. Her chamber is specifically dedicated to Nakayima. who belongs to the Ffumbe (civet cat) totem, one of the clans of Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru (2017) Buganda, and lives at the palace and tombs of Kabaka Ssuna II, also known as amasiro, at Wamala, Wamunyenye, approximately 12.5 km out of Kampala. She is a hereditary mukondo (wife of a king) and also a hereditary muzaana (royal servant to a king), the king in question being Kabaka Ssuna II. Her great grandmother, she says, was the favorite among the king’s 148 wives (Rosco 1965, Summers 2017).37 She said that the spirit of Kabaka Ssuna pos- sesses (kubandwa) any of her descendants in her lineage—includ- ing herself—to continuously become heirs of mukondo and com- Omweso in her other facets, one needs to comprehend the im- mands them to care for his palace and tombs. plications of her roles in all spaces and how those roles speak to Nnaku Namusoke showed me an Omweso board in her custody the cultural space of the Baganda. Omweso only manifests in gen- that is approximately 160 years old and belonged to Ssuna II (Fig. dered locations that have a history of spirituality and in public, 19). This is a spiritually functional object through which gendered male-dominated spaces of power. Since women in Buganda were complexities and contradictions are performed. Nnaku Namusoke not allowed to play Omweso unless they were related to the king, is a powerful and enigmatic female figure, given that she is the con- the implication of its presence in one of Nakayima’s spaces could temporary wife to a dead king. In our first interaction, she—just only point towards her social status as princess and wife to King like Nalubega Restetuuta at Nakayima Tree—introduced herself Ndahura. In addition, Nakayima was considered a medium and with, “Nze mukondo, mukyala wa Kabaka Ssuna owokubiri” (“I later a spirit, so her divination practices gave her high rank in the am Mukondo, wife to Kabaka Ssuna II”). In Buganda, mukondo 38 Baganda political hierarchy (Kiguli 2001: 23). is the title given to a woman who manages the king’s wardrobe and only relates to her place at the royal palace. Her positions and roles in the royal palace reveal gendered continuities in con- OMWESO IN THE ROYAL GENDERED temporary public space. CULTURAL SPACES OF BUGANDA The life and role of a mukondo and how her life manifests along- The evolution of Omweso within the cultural practices of side the game of Omweso is indeed a revelation. Despite the taboo, Buganda is not restricted to a single function or significance. It Nnaku Namusoke plays Omweso on the antique Omweso board was first a divination object, then an instrument of kings’ political that belonged to Kabaka Ssuna II. As already mentioned, the only power and a gendered recreational artifact. Like Nakayima, there women allowed to play Omweso were abambejja (royal prin- are other women who embody notions of spirituality and power, cesses), who are, significantly, masculinized, given the title ssebo transcending time and space by being part of indigenous culture in

60 african arts SUMMER 2019 VOL. 52, NO. 2 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021

kirumira.indd 60 2/20/2019 12:23:15 PM 18a–b Nnaku Namusoke, the mukondo descen- dant wife of Kabaka Ssuna II (1836–1856) and current muzaana (royal servant) at Wamala Tombs. She is play- ing Omweso at the entrance to Kabaka Ssuna’s palace. Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru

19 Close-up of Kabaka Ssuna II’s Omweso board Wood, seed counters, and playing sticks; 30 cm x 36 cm Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru

(“sir”) (Schiller 1990: 455, Musisi 1991; Kiguli 2001; Nanyonga- Buganda’s culture are said to be conserved in persons who con- Tamusuza 2009). Nnaku Namusoke told me that Kabaka Ssuna II tinue to represent their ancestors. Nnaku Namusoke confirmed loved to play Omweso with his favorite princes, chiefs, and some- that occasionally, when the emandwa (spirit) of Kabaka Ssuna II times sisters, but not with his wives, who are bakopi (common- possesses her, she plays Omweso on his board. For entertainment ers) (Nsimbi 1968). Therefore, Nakku Namusoke, as mukondo and she plays any other board available. This situation is controversial not of royal blood, would only play Omweso because she lived because Nnaku, a female, becomes masculinized when she is pos- at the palace and only due to her association with the royal prin- sessed by the emandwa of Kabaka Ssuna. Nnaku’s title confronts cesses. Yet why is this woman, who did not hold any power at the the hierarchical culture of the Baganda. As the descendant of her royal palace, the custodian of Kabaka Ssuna’s Omweso board? In great-grandmother, she continues her role of asserting and brand- Buganda, holding objects of cultural significance such as spears, ing the idea and existence of women’s statuses and roles in Buganda drums, and Omweso is related to masculinity, while the roles and politics (Kiguli 2001: 154–61). But on the other hand, she is not statuses of women, like mukondo, are domestic and relate only to only the gatekeeper of Omweso at Wamala Tombs, but also pos- femininity. The paradox of her situation is in the spiritual, social, sesses the reality of the domestic space of women in Buganda. As and material culture in Buganda. When you visit Wamala Tombs, mukondo and a muzaana at Wamala Tombs, she claims the spirit you are taken to Nnaku Namusoke, who continuously represents of Kabaka Ssuna II and guides us into this complex phenomenon, and self-affirms herself by narrating the traditions surrounding satisfying the spiritual and social functions of the Baganda. her status in this patriarchal space (Pennacini 2009, Ranger 1992). It would be inaccurate to suggest that women in Buganda Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (quoted in Pennacini 2009: 16) never play Omweso. Taboos in traditional culture are sometimes says that the spirits and the bloodlines of the previous women in overlooked in unusual circumstances, as when a player, such as

VOL. 52, NO. 2 SUMMER 2019 african arts 61 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021 |

kirumira.indd 61 2/20/2019 12:23:16 PM a princess, needed an opponent for her recreation. In order to BUGANDA’S NARRATIVES CHAMPIONING confirm that I had no access to the royal board, I asked Nnaku OMWESO IN CONTEMPORARY SPACE Namusoke if she would allow me play it. She said that ordinarily, On the several occasions I had conversations with the men in if the king was at court, it would be taboo. However, if she or a Nakulabye Omweso Club (Fig. 20), they told me about the func- princess were without companion, anybody (including me) would tions, characteristics, and structures of Omweso and its play. be summoned and could play. This way, many servants at court Although I considered their conversations controversial, to them learned how to play Omweso, spreading the activity to ordinary they were normal, and they asserted with great confidence that homesteads where some women played and overcame cultural re- women in Buganda’s culture were categorically not allowed to strictions. Such persistent continuities have resulted in absconding play Omweso. The reasons they gave were varied and seemed to from tradition (Tamale 2006: 30). However, women who played involve upholding masculine prestige, relegating domestic respon- Omweso were negatively looked upon as kyakulassajja (being like sibilities to women (Tumusiime 2012), and protecting the men’s men), and are referred to as abewaggula (rebellious and culturally Omweso playing space and its sexual undercurrents.39 This is in nonconforming women). The stories of Nakayima and Nnaku conflict with the two culturally significant Omweso objects in the Namusoke point toward gendered power struggles in Buganda’s possession of women that I have just discussed. Nonetheless, the culture. They are both women with[out] power because, even Nakulabye Omweso Club champions the cause of women playing though both use Omweso as a conduit for kubandwa or spiritual Omweso. Some men in the club support young girls participat- practices and one plays for entertainment, their stories are camou- ing in district and national Omweso leagues, campaigning to lift flaged by the circumstance of a gendered Omweso board. any gendered impediments. Even so, there are no women players in the Nakulabye Omweso Club, throwing the legitimacy of their campaign into question. I interviewed Hudson Kyagaba, a young man who is a club member and navigates the historically gendered cultural continuities about Omweso in contemporary space. He is the kafulu40 or current world champion of Omweso in Uganda. His mother is a princess who was a descendant of the omuzaana (royal servant) at Kasubi Tombs, 2 km from Kampala. Kyagaba had access to Omweso because of his lineage’s connection to the royal court. He proposed several reasons why women in Buganda were not allowed to play Omweso. First, if they played, they would not have time for domestic duties. Second, Omweso is a highly intellectual game that women cannot understand. And third, the sitting position assumed while playing Omweso is not feminine and if women played Omweso they would be like men. This con- firms that it is the socialization process, which relegates genders to either the private or public domain, that determines who may play the game, when it is played, and whether its benefits accrue to either men or women. Men at Nakulabye would commonly play Omweso after a day’s work, while the women go home to carry out evening household chores. Driburg says that, during games of

20 Nakulabye Omweso Club at bikka or cultural tournament in Bulange, the Royal Palace of Buganda (2017). This event takes place each year to exhibit various activities in the culture of the Baganda. Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru

21 Kirumira Rose Namubiru Omweso 1 (2014) Metal and wood, 160 cm x 48 cm x 10cm (2016) Photo: Kirumira Rose Namubiru

62 african arts SUMMER 2019 VOL. 52, NO. 2 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021

kirumira.indd 62 2/20/2019 12:23:17 PM choro and pereauni among the Langi and Didinga, men played for engagement and relationships between players may be considered diversion after defeat in battle or private loss, but women rarely masculine. For example, in Buganda, for a woman to spread or played (Driberg 1927: 170). Secondly, among the Langi and Acholi expose her limbs in public was frowned up as vulgar and unfemi- in Northern Uganda, stakes were part of most games. Though they nine. There was the fear that playing with a woman exposed men were hypothetical, Driburg says that it was not unusual to propose to sexual excitement, so that the man on the other side of the board a cow or even a girl as a stake, and prestige and status were quanti- could not concentrate on the game. Another important point to fied in terms of how many girls or cows one won. Although this sit- remember is that Omweso brought many people together under uation is not seen today, there is still the connotation that a woman conditions that fostered familiarity. Husbands feared that if their is a prize, not a participant, in playing such games. wives and daughters were to mix freely with men, their morality The domestic narratives surrounding Omweso informed my would be adversely affected. sculpture Nakulabye. The sculpture weaves stories around and In contemporary Buganda, the space of playing Omweso has within the Omweso game and the young women who do not play not changed and cultural restrictions, especially against women mentally abstract games such as chess, or Omweso.41 The issues playing, have not been lifted. Omweso has become even more that arose in the story of the Nakulabye Omweso Club point to- inaccessible as young girls or women have taken on more duties wards several factors. Omweso represents continuity in the histo- to contribute to the family income. Caregiving, such as providing ries and culture of the Baganda, such as upholding masculine pres- food, looking after children, cleaning the home, and any other ac- tige because it promotes competitiveness and strategic thinking. tivities associated with domestic space, is still women’s domain. The game reinforces the patriarchal notion that women belong to The Baganda narrative says that, “Omweso guleetara omukazi the domestic space—which is tacitly assumed to lack a need for obunaffu” (“Omweso encourages laziness for a woman”). Nsimbi those skills—and conversations surrounding Omweso, while en- (1956: 31) suggests that women customarily had less leisure time tertaining, are gendered and sexually suggestive. The presence of than men and simply could not find time to play Omweso. My Omweso in the spiritual dynamic of the Baganda is another force sculpture Omweso 1 (Fig. 21) is carved out of wood with cups or for continuity. In addition, the Baganda patriarchal system reserves dips encased in copper and aluminum. This work recycles copper multiple benefits, such as intellectual development (especially in and aluminum cooking pots, which are feminized contemporary STEM education), for men (Mukama, Tanzarn, and Bantebya- domestic materials here performing the functions of self-reflec- Kyomuhendo 2004: 337; de Haas and Ewout 2016). tion and self-realization. Although this work is patronized by the Bell (1979: 121–22) says that, for most board games, if a woman Nakulabye Omweso Club, it does not appease the cultural and became a stronger player, men avoided playing to avoid the rid- spiritual responsibilities still prevalent among the Baganda. The icule of being defeated by a woman. In Buganda, only recently, lack of transparency in the game, the subtle undertones involved, and for more strategy-based games such as chess or football, have and the gendered societal disadvantage still challenge my situation girls been encouraged to participate competitively. The format as an artist in the space of indigenous culture. of some games is another space of contention, because physical

Notes Buganda. I investigated the function and aesthetic value objects during a divination session among the Banyoro I first presented this research at the Publishing and of the ngoma, a drum among the Baganda. During my and the Baganda. Nakku Namusoke at Wamala Tombs Research of the South: Positioning Africa (PROSPA) research, I visited the Kasubi Tombs, where a significant claims that the Omweso at Wamala is connected to annual publishing workshop that took place in Kampala, collection of the royal drums were kept, but I could Ndahura, who was Nakayima’s husband and the god of Uganda (July 4–8, 2017). The workshop was organized by not approach the drums because I was a woman. It was smallpox the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research program in here that I first encountered gendered restrictions about 8 Hudson Kyagaba, interview with author. collaboration with Makerere University. I also spent four cultural artifacts. Later, I presented artworks inspired 9 I used a mannequin, not a personally made model, months at the Arts of Africa and Global Souths program by traditional objects from different parts of Uganda as for this sculpture to attract viewers at the exhibition, who in the Fine Art Department at Rhodes University in “repositories” of form, technology, and function at the were mostly from Nakulabye Town. Mannequins are South Africa. As a Fellow of the Residency for Artists and Archive—Tradition and Artistic Expression exhibition found in many rural and urban shops in Uganda and are Writers (RAW) program at Rhodes (September–December held at the Institute of Heritage Conservation and Res- common in Nakulabye Town. They are placed in shop 2017) I had access to the enormous body of literature toration (IHCR), Makerere University Gallery, Kampala, verandas to attract attention to the clothes for sale that that I engaged with for this article. I am grateful to Ruth Uganda, in 2014. The Let’s Talk About Omweso exhibi- hang on them. The men I interviewed do not pay much Simbao, her research team, and Carol Thompson at tion and seminar was held at the IHCR in 2016. The two attention to these mannequins, but they are conscious of Rhodes University for providing me with feedback on my events sparked off discussions between the public and the fashion styles displayed. work, and Stephen Fọlárànmí for participating in editing scholars that prompted me to carry out a biographical 10 The fabric used for the fourth bowl in this sculpture the draft of this article. My gratitude also goes to Hudson review of Omweso. is referred to as ekitengi or kitenge, commonly called Kyagaba the kafulu (expert) of Omweso in Uganda, 5 Buganda has a patriarchal social system where “African fabric” in Uganda. These fabrics are mostly Nakku Namusoke (Omuzaana) at Wamala tombs in family is traced through the male lineage, including imported from Congo, Ghana, and Nigeria and are Kampala, and the Nakulabye Omweso Club, all who roles, succession rites, and ownership of family property. widely used in Kampala for new trends in Uganda’s guided me through the process of reclaiming the life of However, for the monarchy, succession is through the fashion culture. In the sculpture, this fabric connects the Omweso as a cultural artifact of Buganda. female lineage to ensure rotation of kingship though the woman’s trendy Africanness and the Baganda’s continu- 1 Buganda is the country, Baganda the people, Lu- fifty-two clans of Buganda (Kiguli 2001: 3). ous association with brightly colored, imported fabrics ganda the language, and Ganda the ethnic group (Kiguli 6 Uganda Museum, Anthropological Section E18, (Pollnac 1975: 90, Nyanzi 2014: 61) 2001: 1). “Clothing, Nakaima—Priestess of Mubende Hill.” 11 In 2014, when I first encountered the Nakulabye 2 Omweso as an object is emphasized because of 7 The miniature Omweso board is part of the original Omweso Club in Nakulabye, there were no women in its significance as a concept among the Baganda. In divination regalia excavated from Mubende Hill by the group who played this game. Hudson Kyagaba, my this paper, it becomes a subject of importance beyond the colonialists in 1956 and deposited at the Uganda informant, is still willing to help me find evidence to an object type, warranting capitalization (Marais and Museum. Both Nakayima’s shrine at Mubende Hill (fif- establish why women in Buganda were not allowed to Wintjes 2016). teenth century) and Nakayima’s diorama at the Uganda play Omweso. 3 Kiguli (2001: xiv) uses Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptual museum are still central as spaces of divination prac- 12 Omweso, like other wooden crafts in Buganda, is analysis of space: how being a woman or man is placed tices, despite critical interventions such as Christianity still carved using chisels. Other variants such as bao, the to assert different roles and meaning in space, which and colonialism in Buganda and Uganda. Interviews Tanzanian mancala, have been made out of materials such aptly fits the use of space in this article. with Nalubega, Nakayima’s medium at Mubende Hill, as plastics, metal, or clay (Mwanzia Kyule 2016: 94). The 4 In 1986, I presented a research report as a require- and Abiti Adebo, the Principle of Services at the Uganda Omweso board has not yet been mass produced, and there- ment in partial fulfillment for the Bachelor of Arts Museum, reveal that devotees still worship at both fore it is still an authentic local craft. (Fine Art) degree, The Significance of Drum Forms in sites. Omweso is still used to describe an assemblage of 13 There are other configurations; for instance, oware

VOL. 52, NO. 2 SUMMER 2019 african arts 63 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021 |

kirumira.indd 63 2/20/2019 12:23:17 PM from Ghana has sixteen pits (2 x 8). in the fire that gutted the Kasubi Royal Tombs, a world professional” or someone who is supposedly very good 14 Empiki is both singular and plural. The word “seeds” heritage site, in March 2010. A video of this cata- in relation to others at whatever activity they engage in. has double reference, to the organic seeds used to play, strophic event can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/ 41 The making of this sculpture coincided with the but also to small playing stones, because playing Omweso watch?v=7h_sp8p8jEI. screening of the Hollywood movie Queen of Katwe by sometimes is referred to as okusiga (“to sow”). 27 Kiguli (2001), examining the traditional Buganda Mira Nair. The movie depicts the life of a young Ugan- 15 Uganda Museum caption in Anthropology Section institution after independence, explores ebyaffe as a dan girl living in a slum who learns how to play chess E27 under the title “Recreation Activities of Uganda.” concept of power. These are a set of ideas and customs, and becomes a candidate master on the international 16 The counters of the Omweso board game being material, political, or social concepts considered relevant platform. The spaces of Omweso and chess are similar called “men” resonates with other board game formats for the survival of the institution of Buganda. The Baganda’s in the way that young women are disadvantageously around the world. Playing pieces or counters are called access to any form of their material culture strengthens the positioned. “men,” kings, pages, horsemen, and only in some cases legitimacy of their monarchy and identity (Kiguli 2001: xii, referred to as queens. For example, the counters in Men’s 5, 196–99; Oloka Onyango 1997). References Morris (variants using three, six, nine, or twelve) are 28 A number of scholars reference public and private Ashe, Robert Pickering. 1895. Chronicles of Uganda. called “men.” Roberts, Malcolm, and Bush (1959: 600) domains in reference to gender dynamics in the cultural New York: A.D.F Randolph. note that games of strategy simulate complex social development of Uganda. Oloka Onyango (1997) systems such that pieces called “men” capture, kill, loot, explains the implications of the political concept of the Bantebya-Kyomuhendo, Grace, and Marjorie K. or defend, a format used in Omweso. Kiguli (2001: Baganda to the reinstatement of the kingdoms in the McIntosh. 2006. Women, Work and Domestic Virtue in 6) furthermore explains that, among the Baganda, public domain of Uganda in 1993, while Tamale (2006) Uganda, 1900–2003. Kampala: Fountain. individual gendered roles may shift to satisfy social or contextualizes the public and private domains from the political responsibilities in order to emphasize positions viewpoint of sexuality in Bagandan culture. Although Ballarin, Marie Pierre, Herman Kiriama, and Cecilia or situations of power. For example, royal princesses in Tumusiime (2012) specifically interrogates the idea Pennacini. 2013. “Sacred Natural Sites and Cultural Buganda are assigned masculineness and referred to of gender, she also references other aspects, including Heritage in East Africa.” Uganda Journal 53 : 1–234. as ssebo (“sir”), and furthermore that, although women the social (Matembe 2002), economic (Bantebya and in Buganda could not be heads of social systems, the McIntosh 2006) and political domains. Beattie, John. 1964. “Divination in Bunyoro, Uganda.” royal princesses could rule in place of the king when he 29 Excavator E.C. Lanning (1953, 1966, 1967) found Sociologus 14 (1): 44–62. went to war, taking on masculine responsibilities and archaeological remains that point to Mubende Hill therefore allowed to play Omweso. being a ritual center in the Bachwezi period. Dunbar Bell, Robert Charles. 1979. Board and Table Games from 17 Ekisaakaate has been initiated by the Nabagereka (1965: 25) gives probable dates for the arrival and depar- Many Civilizations. Vol. 1. New York: Dover. (the queen of Buganda) as a space where children ture of the Bachwezi in western Uganda. Bell, Robert E. 1993. Women of Classical Mythology: A Bi- and young adults can stay and be taught etiquette and 30 In August 2016, I found a group of people at the other social skills. In January 2019, I was invited to Uganda Museum who, I was told by the guide, come to ographical Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press. introduce Omweso as a social skill in ekisaakaate by the the museum to worship and bring gifts in reverence of Bikić, Vesna, and Jasna Vuković. 2016. “Board Games Nabagereka. Nakayima. Reconsidered: Mancala in the Balkans.” Issues in Ethnol- 18 Tamale (2006: 21–22) suggests that, through games, 31 Nakayima’s ethnic origin is contentious. She is the Baganda developed communication conduits about believed to have descended from either the Bachwezi, ogy and Anthropology 5 (1): 183–209. sexuality by using metaphors and symbols loaded with a Muhima [Nkole], or the Baganda. There has been Binsbergen, Wim van. 1997. Board-games and meanings only understood by adults. longstanding contention about the area of Mubende Divination in Global Cultural History: A Theoretical, 19 Tamale traces connections between sexuality found in the “lost counties” of Buganda where the Comparative, and Historical Perspective on Mankala and and other aspects of Baganda life, including Omweso. Bachwezi set up kingdoms. The Baganda try to reclaim Sexuality comes into play because it is a power game, these counties as part of their land. These counties are Geomancy in Africa and Asia. http://history.chess.free.fr/ and Tamale gives an example of ssengas (maternal aunts) Buwekula, Buyaga, and Bugangaizi where, in 1965, a papers/van%20Binsbergen%201997.pdf using sexually suggestive terminology derived from local referendum was held to decide whether they could Braunholtz, Hermann Justus. 1932. “Game of Mweso in Omweso “such as okutebuka, nosinzira empiki n’ozizako be part of Buganda (Green 2008). emmabega, meaning to hesitate during the game (sex) 32 This is a giant forest tree (Pterygota mildbraeedi) Uganda.” Man 31: 121–24. and move backwards, and Omweso gw’omuddirijjano believed to be approximately 400 years old. Today it Brenner, Joni, Stacey Vorster, and Justine Wintjes. 2016. meaning playing back-to-back games (sex), all of which is visited by locals and traditionalists from all areas of Lifescapes: Objects and Their Worlds. Johannesburg: Wits have sexual undertones” (2006: 22) Okwesa or kwesa, Buganda to worship and ask for favors from Nakayima. Art Museum. meaning “to play Omweso,” is a term also used to denote 33 I will take Pennacini’s (2013: 30) interpretation of strategic manipulation such as sexual encounters. omukongozi based on her extensive research on Baganda Brice, W.C. 1954. A History of Board-games Other than 20 Binsbergen claims diffusion “demonstrates how spiritualities. Chess. Oxford: Clarendon Press. practices and meanings attached to artifacts are not rig- 34 Lugira (1970: 114) shows a motto-like illustration idly confined within local or regional ethnic, linguistic, of divination practices used in Bugandan households Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. 2003. “It’s a Material World: and political boundaries.” The concept of Omweso and to give advice. It shows a woman who has gone for help History, Artefacts, and Anthropology.” Annual Review of its cousins transverses different cultures on the African to a diviner, who has as his tools a piece of cloth with Anthropology 32 (1): 205–23. continent and is still, he adds, “attached to the objects divination paraphernalia. The Baganda call this set of that function as material foci of their meanings and divination objects Omweso. Chaplin, James Harvey. 1974. “The Prehistoric Rock Art practices” (Binsbergen 1997: 1). 35 Nagandya-Kijambu, the caretaker at the Nakayima of the Lake Victoria Region.” AZANIA: Journal of the 21 Personal conversations with members of Nakulabye Tree in Mubende Hill, represents the administrative seat British Institute in Eastern Africa 9 (1): 1–50. Omweso Club, among who are Hudson Kyagaba, Musa of Mubende Town Council, since the site was declared Tamale (club chairman), Khalid Musajjalumbwa (who a tourist site by the Ugandan government. https://www. Chaplin, Jason H. 1956. “A Note on Mancala Games in is more than ninety years old), and Dirisa Wasswa. All youtube.com/watch?v=-xjaoaW65w4. Northern Rhodesia.” Man 192–93, 168–70. maintain that they, due to their varying backgrounds, 36 At the shrine, Catholic worshipers subscribe to the have wide knowledge of the culture, history, types, game idea that Nakayima sometimes appears in the form of Claessen, Henri J.M. 1987. “Kings, Chiefs, and Officials: role, and significance of Omweso, because some of their the Christian Virgin Mary, both of whom they believe The Political Organization of Dahomey and Buganda families have Omweso heirlooms that date to the reign can interceded for their problems. Nakayima also acted Compared.” Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial of Kabaka Ssuna. as a medicine woman, providing a cure for smallpox, Law 19 (25–26): 203–41. 22 Nsimbi (1968) provides a detailed account of Omwe- sometimes referred to as Ndahura’s disease. so’s history, importance, procedures, and rules, although 37 Before the coming of the missionaries, Buganda Culin, S. 1971. “Mancala, the National Game of Africa.” with a bias towards its position among the Baganda. He marriage was polygamous, with continuity through In M. Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith (eds.),The lists eighteen other Ugandan ethnic groups who play, as succession. If a wife died, her relatives provided another Study of Games, pp. 597–606. New York: Wiley. Origi- well as the name each allocates to the game. kin to replace her. Kings in Buganda had access to many nally published 1894. 23 See also video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ wives as gifts and spoils of war. The wives at the palace V5cNHwKqGGI. were given special duties depending on their skills De Haas, Michiel, and Ewout Frankema. 2016. Tracing 24 Although Dunbar does not give archaeological (Claessen 1987, Kaggwa 1934, Rosco 1911). the Uneven Diffusion of Missionary Education in Colo- evidence, his historical account lists a “distinctive 38 Among the Yoruba, especially in Oyo, there is a nial Uganda: European Influences, African Realities, and variation of the board game as played in Uganda and woman with the title iya kere “who takes care of the the Pitfalls of Church Record Data. No. 25/2016. African Rwanda among the skills and knowledge the Bachwezi king’s crown and ensures or religious rites on such Economic History Network. left behind in western Uganda” (1965: 24. crowns are performed” (Nzimiro 1979: 346). The iya 25 The Uganda Journal has been published since 1934 kere was a palace official with a lot of power. In contrast, de Voogt, Alex. 2001. “Mancala: Games that Count.” by the Uganda Society, an open association for those in- the muzaana was of a low rank in the king’s harem and a Expedition-Philadelphia 43 (1): 38–46. terested in all aspects and sectors of Uganda. Its central domestic servant. objective is to publish information that would add to the 39 Conversations with men at the Nakulabye Omweso Delachaux, Théodore. 1946. “Méthodes et instruments knowledge of Uganda and to record for posterity that Club, June 2016. Many of their responses were based on de divination en angola.” Acta Tropica 3: 41–72; 138–47 which, in the course of time, might be lost, and it has knowledge that had been handed down in conversations also become the society’s forum for broader intellectual about cultural practices with other men in their families Driberg, J.H. 1927. “The Game of Choro or Pereauni.” exchanges and debate about Uganda. Its emphasis is to or social circles. Nsimbi (1968) confirms some of their Man 27: 186–89. maintain a strong organic linkage with the larger Ugan- reasons for how the game was played and why women Dunbar, Archibald Ranulph. 1965. A History of Bun- dan public in all its diversity (https://www.ajol.info/) were not allowed to play. 26 Kabaka Mutesa I’s royal Omweso board was lost 40 Kafulu is a Luganda slang word for “expert/ yoro-Kitara. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

64 african arts SUMMER 2019 VOL. 52, NO. 2 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021

kirumira.indd 64 2/20/2019 12:23:17 PM Fernald, Russell D. 1978. “A Comparison of Four Vari- in Culture and Society 16 (4): 757–86. ern Kenya and Uganda.” AZANIA: Journal of the British ations of Mancala Found in Central Africa.” Anthropos Institute in Eastern Africa 17 (1): 163–65. Nakazibwe, Venny M. 2005. Bark-Cloth of the Baganda 73 (1): 205–14. People of Southern Uganda: A Record of Continuity and Robertshaw, Peter. 2002. “The Ancient Earthworks of First, Ruth. 1971. “Uganda: The Latest Coup d’etat in Change from the Late Eighteenth Century to the Early Western Uganda: Capital Sites of a Cwezi Empire?” Africa.” The World Today 27 (3): 131–38. Twenty-First Century. PhD diss., Middlesex University. Uganda Journal 48: 17–32. Green, Elliott D. 2008. “Understanding the Limits to Namono, Catherine. 2010. Surrogate Surfaces: A Con- Roscoe, John. 1965. The Baganda: An Account of Their Ethnic Change: Lessons from Uganda’s ‘Lost Counties’.” textual Interpretive Approach to the Rock Art of Uganda. Native Customs and Beliefs. London: Macmillan.. Perspectives on Politics 6 (3): 473–85. PhD diss., Wits University. URI: http://hdl.handle. Roscoe, John. 1911. The Baganda. New York: Mac- net/10539/8242 Ranger, O. Terence. 1992. “The Invention of Tradition millan. in Colonial Africa.” In Eric Hobsbawm and O. Terence Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia. 2009. “Female-Men, Schiller, Laurence D. 1990. “The Royal Women of Bu- Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition, pp. 331–47. Male-Women, and Others: Constructing and Negotiat- ganda.” International Journal of African Historical Studies New York: Cambridge University Press. ing Gender among the Baganda of Uganda.” Journal of 23 (3): 455–73. Eastern African Studies 3 (2): 367–80. Kabiito, Richard. 2010. Meaning-making in Visual Shackell, RS. 1934. “Mweso: The Board Game.” Uganda Culture: The Case of Integrating Ganda Indigenous Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia Antonia. 2014. Baaki- Journal 2 (1): 14–26. Knowledge with Contemporary Art Practice in Uganda. simba: Gender in the Music and Dance of the Baganda PhD diss., Aalto University, Aalto-yliopisto. People of Uganda. London: Routledge. Simbao, Ruth Kerkham. 2006. “A Crown on the Move.” African Arts 39 (3): 26. Kaggwa, Apollo. 1934. The Customs of the Baganda. Vol. Nichols, Bill. 1997. “Dislocating Ethnographic Film: In 22. New York: Columbia University Press. and Out of Africa and Issues of Cultural Representa- Summers, Carol. 2017. “All the Kabaka’s Wives: Marital tion.” American Anthropologist 99 (4): 810–24. Claims in Buganda’s 1953–5 Kabaka Crisis.” Journal of Kakande, Angelo. 2017. “Reimag[in]ing the Village as African History 58 (1): 107–27. a Portrait of a Nation-State in Uganda.” African Arts 50 Nsimbi, Michael B. 1968. Omweso, a Game People Play (2): 46–57. in Uganda. Vol. 6. Los Angeles: UCLA African Studies Tamale, Sylvia. 2006. “Eroticism, Sensuality and Center. ‘Women’s Secrets’ among the Baganda.” IDS Bulletin 37 Kiguli, Juliet. 2001. Gender, Ebyaffe, and Power Relations (5): 89–97. in the Buganda Kingdom: A Study of Cultural Revivalism. Nsimbi, Michael B. 1956. “Village Life and Customs in PhD diss., Universitat zu Koln. Uganda.” Uganda Journal 20: 27–36. Townshend, Philip. 1979. “Mankala in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Distributional Analysis.” AZANIA: Kyule, Mwanzia. 2016. “The Bao: A Board Game in Af- Nyanzi, Stella, Justine Nassimbwa, Vincent Kayizzi, Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa 14 (1): rica’s Antiquity.” In Conservation of Natural and Cultural and Strivan Kabanda. 2008. “African Sex Is Dangerous!’ 109–38. Heritage in Kenya, pp. 93–107. London: UCL Press. Renegotiating ‘Ritual Sex’ in Contemporary Masaka District.” Africa 78 (4): 518–39. Trowell, M., and K. P. Wachsmann. 1953. Tribal Crafts of Lanning, E.C. 1967. “The Surviving Regalia of the Uganda. London: Oxford University Press. Nakaima, Mubende.” Uganda Journal 31: 210. Nyanzi, Stella. 2014. “Queering Queer Africa.” In Re- claiming Afrikan: Queer Perspectives on Sexual and Gen- Tumusiime, Amanda. 2017. “Alex Baine’s Women’s Lanning, E.C. 1966. “Excavations at Mubende Hill.” der Identities, pp. 61–66. South Africa: Modjaji Books. Emancipation in Uganda: A Visual Archive of the Histo- Uganda Journal 30: 153–63. ry of a New Generation of Women in Uganda.” African Nzimiro, Ikenna. 1979. “Feudalism in Nigeria.” In Lanning, E.C. 1956a. “Rock-cut Mweso Boards.” Uganda Arts 50 (2): 58–67. Stanley Diamond (ed.), Toward a Marxist Anthropology: Journal 20: 1. Problems and Prospects, pp. 337–63. New York: Mouton. Tumusiime, Amanda Evassy. 2012. Art and Gender: Lanning, E.C. 1956b. “Rock-markings in Uganda.” The Imag[in]ing the New Woman in Contemporary Ugandan Oloka‐Onyango, Joe. 1997. “The Question of Buganda South African Archaeological Bulletin 11 (44): 102–103. Art, vol. 1. PhD thesis, University of Witwatersrand. in Contemporary Ugandan Politics.” Journal of Contem- Lanning, E.C. 1953. “Some Vessels and Beakers from porary African Studies 15 (2): 173–89. Wayland, E.J. 1931. Summary of Progress of the Geologi- Mubende Hill, Uganda.” Man 53 (12): 181–82. cal Survey of Uganda for the Years 1919 to 1929. Entebbe: Pearce, Susannah, and Merrick Posnansky. 1963. “The Government Printer. Lugira, Alois Muzzanganda. 1970. Ganda Art. Kampala: Re-excavation of Nsongezi Rock-shelter, Ankole.” Ugan- Osasa Publications. da Journal 27 (1): 85–94. Wayland, E. 1936. “Notes on the Board Game Known as ‘Mweso’ in Uganda.” Uganda Journal 4: 84–89. Lugira, Aloysius Muzzanganda. 2009. African Tradition- Pennacini, Cecilia. 2013. “Mubende Hill: Preserving al Religion. London: Chelsea House. and Transforming Heritage in a Ugandan Sacred Site.” Wayland, E.J. 1938. “Note on a Prehistoric ‘Inscription’ Uganda Journal 53: 14–36. in Ankole and Uganda.” Uganda Journal 5 (2): 252. Marais, Ivonne, and Justine Wintjes. 2016. “Who Is That Girl?” In Lifescapes: Six Object Biographies, p. 17. Pennacini, Cecilia. 2009. “Religious Mobility and Body Wernham, Brian. 2002. Omweso: The Royal Manca- Johannesburg: Wits Art Museum. Language in Kubandwa Possession Cults.” Journal of la Game of Uganda: A General Overview of Current Eastern African Studies 3 (2): 333–49. Research. Barcelona: EUTSES Pere Tarrés, Universitat Mukama, Ruth, Nite Tanzarn, and Grace Bantebya-Kyo- Ramon Llull. muhendo. 2004. Gendered Worlds: Gains and Challeng- Pollnac, Richard B. 1975. “Intra‐cultural Variability es: Proceedings of the 8th International Interdisciplinary in the Structure of the Subjective Colour Lexicon in White, R., and J. Nkurunziza. 1971. “Some Petroglyphs Congress on Women, Kampala, Uganda 21–26 July 2002. Buganda.” American Ethnologist 2 (1): 89–109. and Petromyths in Ankole and Kigezi.” Uganda Journal Kampala: Department of Women and Gender Studies, 35 (2): 175–84. Ray, Benjamin C. 1991. Myth, Ritual, and Kingship in Makerere University. Buganda. New York: Oxford University Press. Young, M. Crawford. 1966. “The Obote Revolution.” Murray, Harold James Ruthven. 1952. A History of Board- Africa Report 11 (6): 8. Reid, Andrew. 2003. “Buganda: Unearthing an African games Other Than Chess. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Kingdom.” Archaeology International 7: 40–43. Zaslavsky, Claudia. 1999. Africa Counts: Number and Pat- Musisi, Nakanyike B. 1991. “Women, ‘Elite Polygyny,’ tern in African Cultures. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. Robbins, Lawrence H. 1982. “Bao Games from North- and Buganda State Formation.” Signs: Journal of Women

VOL. 52, NO. 2 SUMMER 2019 african arts 65 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00460 by guest on 01 October 2021 |

kirumira.indd 65 2/20/2019 12:23:17 PM