'The nation's valiant fighters against illiteracy' Locating the cultural politics of 'development' in 1990's Uganda David Shane Mills c , '1 I T A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. ProQuest Number: 10731593 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731593 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract This dissertation is a partial account of the cultural politics of 'development' in contemporary Uganda, focusing particularly on educational institutions as sites of negotiation of modernity's gendered meanings. Utilising media representations and ethnographic research carried out in both Makerere University and in a rural secondary school, I describe how senses of the 'modern’ are produced within colonial and postcolonial discourses on gender, education and the nation. Drawing on theoretical dialogues between cultural geography, social history and anthropology, I argue that historical and spatial relationships are often invoked to locate or contest the moral hierarchies that these understandings of 'progress’ or ’development' depend on. By shifting position, perspective and scale, I attempt to make visible the relational production of multiple and cross-cutting Ugandan localities. Recognising the legacies of war, nationalism and religion that shape understandings of'development' in Uganda today, this thesis is also an attempt at a 'history of the present', describing the way these turbulent pasts are retold and relived. After a brief introduction to anthropology's own troubled history of ethical debate, I discuss the influence of European ethnographies and 'Ganda' oral and textual narratives on Ugandan politics. I describe how, in the bitter aftermath of rural neglect and isolation stemming from the 1980s liberation war, monarchical idioms from Buganda's past have been suddenly reinvigorated within new Buganda nationalisms. Subsequently I interweave transnational and national media imageries with everyday lived experiences - rural school life, a speech day, urban popular music, staffroom gossip and university student romances - to create a sense of the multiple localities within which people create a sense of themselves as being both 'Ugandan' and 'modern'. Exploring the contested and political negotiations of culture in this way reveals both the material and symbolic aspects of the discursive practices of 'development'. 2 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 4 Chapter summaries 5 Abbreviations 8 Prologue Marketing a beginning 9 Chapter One The Anthropologist’s new clothes? 20 Rethinking the politics and ethics of ethnography Chapter Two 'Buganda Nyaffe': 66 The Luwero War and Ganda Nationalisms Chapter Three The nation’s valiant fighters against illiteracy: 109 Locations of learning and 'progress’ Chapter Four Progress as discursive spectacle: 148 But what comes after 'development'? Chapter Five Women on Top? 176 Transnational feminisms contested in Kampala Chapter Six Not for love or money: 203 relationships, commodities and sexuality at Makerere Coda 236 Bibliography 237 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS How many people does it take to write a thesis? A text such as this is the materialisation of innumerable conversations, shared ideas, and webs of relationships. Amongst the many people who have contributed, knowingly or not, I’d like to name and thank a few. Wendy James first interested me in anthropological questions, whilst Ken Wilson encouraged my early research efforts. Donald Moore provided a great deal of intellectual sustenance and support during a year spent in Florida and throughout the four years of PhD study. This thesis owes much to his insight, solidarity and wisdom. Special thanks go to dear friends and supportive colleagues in Uganda - Abby Ngobi, John- Mary Musoke, Susie McNaughton, Tony and Olivia Mutibwa, Luwero Hosea, Sayiga Matovu, Bakeera Balamu, Lamek Busulwa, Nathan Kitaka-Mayanja, Mary Nayiga, Martha Wolija, Venerandah Kitone, Kasalina Matovu, and Frank Schubert. Thanks also to all at Kikomera Secondary School and the 1995 intake of Masters students in Womens Studies at Makerere. I am particularly grateful to Richard Ssewakiryanga, who made collaborative research, paper writing and conference presentations a lot of fun. My work and ideas have benefitted a good deal from his companionship, his pragmatism and his sense of purpose. Many people have read sections of this thesis and provided always constructive, always critical comments. Ashwani Sharma has been an invaluable intellectual companion during the writing, unerringly pushing me into thinking about the bigger questions. Raminder Kaur provided consistently provocative readings, whilst Andrea Cornwall always managed to gently hint at ways of developing and improving my ideas. Draft chapters have also been read and commented upon by, amongst others, Nadje Al-Ali, David Forrest, Stan Frankland, Mark Hobart, Rohan Jackson, Jennifer Law, Nancy Lindisfame, David Parkin, Nirmal Puwar, Frank Schubert, Stuart Thompson and Andrew Turton. Thank you. A final few acknowledgements. The 'After Hours' reading group provided a fine place in which to read, think and share ideas, whilst the students of the 1996-1997 SOAS MA class in Anthropology and Development pushed me to comprehend and communicate concepts more effectively. Thanks also to everyone in my MPhil Research seminar, and to Johan Pottier for being a supportive and accomodating supervisor. Most of all I thank Louise Hoult for her caring challenges and constant solidarity. Earlier versions of the chapters included here were presented at various conferences and seminars. I would like to thank people for their questions and comments at these occasions. Chapters one and three were presented at different occasions to the SOAS postgraduate research seminar. I also gave Chapter three at the third SCUSA (Standing Committee of University Studies of Africa) conference in Keele, May 1997. I presented chapter four at an EIDOS (European Inter-University Development Opportunities Study Group) conference in Leiden in March 1997. Earlier versions of chapter five were read at the North-East Africa Seminar at Oxford in November 1996 and the Makerere Arts Conference in April 1995. Chapter six was originally presented at the 9th International conference on AIDS and STDs in Kampala December 1995, and then in a rather different version at the African Studies Association biennial conference in Bristol, September 1996. This research project was generously supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant R00429334241), by the Emslie Horniman Trust of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and by the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 4 CHAPTER SUMMARIES Chapter One In this first chapter I introduce my thesis and its style of presentation by relating it to the often tempestuous argument within anthropology over the politics and ethics of ethnographic research. Beginning with a conversation I had whilst in Uganda, I go on to suggest that the discipline's current 'crisis' is partly due to its attachment to this 'ethnographic method', however minimally defined. I provide a short history of ethical and political debates throughout twentieth century anthropology, showing the continued relevance of these debates for anthropological practice today. Aware that by itself a theoretical/political critique might seem detached from the complexities of ethnographic practice, I ground this history with examples from ethnographic writing on Buganda throughout this century. In particular, I look at the way power is represented in anthropological work carried out by John Roscoe, Lucy Mair, Lloyd Fallers and Audrey Richards. I then turn to the question of research ethics, often presented solely as a personal and moral concern for the individual ethnographer. Introducing the discussion with brief examples of the dilemmas I experienced in adopting ethnographic methods, especially over 'covert' research, I go on to show the difficulty of composing 'ethical' research guidelines. I argue that focusing only on ethics can also be a way of de-emphasising and downplaying the power relations that structure every aspect of the ethnographic encounter. Ethics talk can be a way of separating and 'purifying' (Latour 1993) one area of thought from another. By showing that ethical debate cannot be separated from questions of power, I argue that ethnographic research cannot be justified - in and of itself - as an ethical practice. Social research is an engagement with power. I end by exploring the possibilities and limits of an ethnographic practice shaped through and within the tensions of the 'political'. It is my sense of the constraints on and limits to anthropological translation that shapes my presentation of subsequent chapters. Chapter Two Much of this thesis focuses on the experiences and imageries of being modern, on popular and national understandings of'development'. Yet I begin in