Songs of Soldiers

SONGS OF SOLDIERS DECOLONIZING POLITICAL MEMORY THROUGH POETRY AND SONG by Juliane Okot Bitek BFA, University of British Columbia, 1995 MA, University of British Columbia, 2009 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) November 2019 © Juliane Okot Bitek, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Songs of Soldiers: Decolonizing Political Memory Through Poetry And Song submitted by Juliane Okot Bitek in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies Examining Committee: Prof. Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, (Social Justice) Co-supervisor Prof. Erin Baines, (Public Policy, Global Affairs) Co-supervisor Prof. Ashok Mathur, (graduate Studies) OCAD University, Toronto Supervisory Committee Member Prof. Denise Ferreira da Silva (Social Justice) University Examiner Prof. Phanuel Antwi (English) University Examiner iii Abstract In January 1979, a ship ferrying armed Ugandan exiles and members of the Tanzanian army sank on Lake Victoria. Up to three hundred people are believed to have died on that ship, at least one hundred and eleven of them Ugandan. There is no commemoration or social memory of the account. This event is uncanny, incomplete and yet is an insistent memory of the 1978-79 Liberation war, during which the ship sank. From interviews with Ugandan war veterans, and in the tradition of the Luo-speaking Acholi people of Uganda, I present wer, song or poetry, an already existing form of resistance and reclamation, as a decolonizing project. Drawing from political memory in postcolonial, African, Black, Indigenous and Diaspora studies, I argue that truth-telling, a fundamental aspect of reconciliation and restoration of justice among the Acholi, can be achieved through poetic expression. This dissertation extends the technical definition of Okot p’Bitek’s Song school of poetry to include form and content and the space for social and political commentary in various voices and landscapes. The poet as historian, and the artist as ruler, both Okot p’Bitek’s concepts, are illustrated through “Songs of Soldiers”. This work is deeply rooted in displacement and the desire to return – continuing factors in where and how I think about and articulate myself. iv Lay Summary This is a multidisciplinary research project using scholarship from Black, Indigenous, Diaspora and African studies examine how we remember and how we forget events from the past that might haunt us today. In 1979, a ship sank on Lake Victoria, with the loss of Ugandan exiles and members of the Tanzanian army forces en route to fight against Ugandan President Idi Amin who had invaded Tanzania. Not much is known or remembered about that event and it still remains somewhat enigmatic. Veterans from that war shared their memories and have helped to create a clearer understanding of what may have happened. Using Wer, a form of poetry and song from the Acholi tradition of northern Uganda, this project memorializes events like this one as a way to reconcile past wrongs and create conditions for peace after a history of war. This research project also establishes Wer as a way to think about decolonization and reconciliation. v Preface This dissertation is an original intellectual product of the author, Juliane Okot Bitek. My supervisory committee, Dr. Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, Dr. Erin Baines and Dr. Ashok Mathur oversaw the project, contributing to concept formation and to manuscript edits; however, unless otherwise stated, all other work described in this dissertation, from concept to completion, is entirely my own. Ethics approval for fieldwork was granted through the University of British Columbia Behavioural Ethics Board (H14-02239, October 24, 2014) and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST SS3707, February 26, 2015). Extracts from “Song of Soldier” by my father, Okot p’Bitek, are included with permission of his estate, as follows: In Chapter 3, Section 3.4, poems 1-9. Lines aligned to the left-hand side of the page are by Okot p’Bitek, whereas the indented lines are written by me; lines by Okot p’Bitek are also included as aafootnote on p. 90. In Chapter 4, Section 4.6, lines from “Song of Soldier” appear as footnotes on pp. 187, 192, 202, 206, 210, 211, 212, 215, 216, 221, 222, 230 and 232. Chapter 2, Section 2.3 uses extracts from Hansard, June 1894, HC Deb 01 June 1894 vol 25 cc181-270, https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1894/jun/01/class-v to create erasure poems. In Chapter 2, p. 81 the poem “Day 36” was published in my book 100 Days. The University of Alberta Press (2016). vi From Chapter 2, p. 61-70, a version of “Migration Salt Stories” was published in Room Magazine, vol. 40, no. 3, 2017, pp. 6-14. From Chapter 3, a version of “What Choice between Nightmares: Intersecting Local, Global and Intimate Stories of Pain in Peacebuilding” is forthcoming in Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies: Peacebuilding and the Arts. Palgrave Macmillan. “My Son is A Story”, attached as Appendix D, was published in African Writers Online, no 11, www.african-writing.com/eleven/bitek.htm From Chapter 4, p. 154, a version of footnote 120 was published as “Ghost Poem” in the Incompleteness Edition https://burninghousepress.com/2019/05/03/juliane-okot-bitek/ from Burning House Press, edited by Petero Kalule. The PUNCH cartoon, “The Black Baby” on pp. 88, published in Punch Magazine April 4, 1894, is used under License from the Punch Magazine Cartoon Archive, May 11, 2018. The cartoon, “By the way Obote, can you swim?” on p. 175, is used with permission of the British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent: 19467, Raymond Jackson (Jaks), Evening Standard, 19 January 1971. All photographs were taken by me, except those on pp. 22 and pp. 233 which are from my family archives, used with permission. The brief chronology of relevant events in Uganda on pp. 13-14 was prepared by me to provide a broad background context to this work and is not intended as a complete or comprehensive historical picture. vii The schematic map on p. 58 and the graphic representation of my research journey on p. 126 were created in collaboration with Patrick O’Reilly. The physical collection, collation and analysis of the interviews was done by me, with support from Patricia Apiyo for translation and transcription. Additional notes: Acholi or Swahili words have been italicized but salutations, acronyms and geographic names have not. I have used a single upper case letter when referring to interviewees to protect their identity. viii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary ......................................................................................................................................... iv Preface ....................................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................ viii List of Figures .........................................................................................................................................xi List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... xii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... xiii Dedication ............................................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1: She Writes Dis Place, Dis Place, Dis Place, This Place and Dis place(d) ........ 1 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research on Location by the Gendered Body ......................................................................... 1 1.2 Antecedent, or a Brief Historical Background ........................................................................ 6 1.3 Homeland as Introduction ........................................................................................................... 15 1.4 Homeland: Origins at Seventeen ............................................................................................... 17 1.5 Homeland: How to listen to our own stories ....................................................................... 29 1.6 Homeland: Threshold, Memory and Portals ........................................................................ 36 1.7 Memory, Beauty, at Homeness .................................................................................................. 41 1.7.1 The Consecration of Bishop Janani Luwum ..................................................................... 41 1.7.2 The Reburial of Lt. General Bazilio Olara Okello ............................................................ 46 1.7.3 The Commemoration of Archbishop Janani Luwum ...................................................

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