ISSN: 3104-9281 (Print), 3104-929X (Online) The Makerere Historical Journal publishes peer-reviewed articles, reports and book reviews on topics related to Ugandan and eastern African history, archaeology and heritage. Originally established in 1975, the Journal is the publication of the Department of History, Archaeology and Heritage Studies at Makerere University.
© 2025, Makerere University Press and Makerere University Department of History, Archaeology, and Heritage Studies. This journal holds copyright under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. Articles from this publication may be copied and redistributed for non-commercial purposes so long as they give appropriate credit to the authors and the journal; and refrain from remixing, transforming, or building upon the material.
This issue, which is an initiative towards the journal's revival, was inspired by the enthusiasm of the celebrations of one hundred years of Makerere University’s existence.
Copyright (c) 2025 Deo Katono (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Child soldier as saint: a Ugandan peacebuilding paradox
This paper examines the paradoxical elevation of the child soldier to the status of a folk hero in Ugandan popular culture, drawing parallels with the veneration of the Ugandan Martyrs, particularly Saint Kizito. It analyzes how the historical narrative of the martyrs, celebrated for their heroic resistance and ultimate victim-to-victor transformation, inadvertently provides a cultural framework for interpreting the figure of the child soldier during the National Resistance Army (NRA) era of the 1980s. The study explores the dissonance between the image of the child soldier as a symbol of national resistance and the grave reality of child rights violations inherent in their recruitment. By contextualizing this phenomenon within the age-old cult of saints and creative peacebuilding efforts in Uganda, the discourse argues that the child soldier, much like the young Saint Kizito, is perceived as a victim-victor by virtue of age. The paper also touches upon the varied experiences of boy and girl child soldiers, highlighting their shared victimhood and challenging conventional notions of warrior capabilities while probing the effectiveness of the security ostensibly offered by guerrilla life in the broken communities of the time.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jude Kateete (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Epidemics and ethnic identity: the case of Busoga, Uganda, 1880s-1912
This study builds on the concept of moral ethnicity to analyse the influence of the sleeping sickness epidemic on the evolution of Busoga ethnic identity between 1880 and 1912. Using the Confidential Minute Papers of the Uganda National Archives, the study contends that ethnic identity in Africa is more influenced by lived social realities than by colonial or political manipulation. It highlights the shared hardships that fostered social integration based on indigenous relationships among the diverse socio-political groups of Busoga. The study underscores the agency of repeated epidemics in dissolving the social divisions and fostering a shared Basoga ethnic identity which was later formalized by the colonial administration in the 1900s. It accentuates how the destructive impact of the epidemics and the arbitrary remedies of the colonial state reinforced the emergent social integration as the varied sub-groups were fused together despite decades of hostilities and incessant warfare. The unprecedented migrations distorted the existent boundaries, creating conditions of emerging social cohesion, out of which sprung the ethno-identity pool of the Basoga people of eastern Uganda. The unparalleled boundary openness, socio-cultural fusion, and peculiar flexibility, as well as continual accommodation and assiduous integration formed a colossal expression of moral ethnicity.
Copyright (c) 2025 William Musamba, Zaid Sekito (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Lending meaning to Catholic presence in Uganda: the story of Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga 1966-1969
This article examines the legacy of Cardinal Emmanuel Nsubuga in shaping Uganda’s Catholic religious heritage through the creation, preservation, and revitalisation of sacred spaces. While scholarship has largely emphasized Nsubuga’s political leadership during Uganda’s turbulent decades, this study foregrounds his role in Catholic memory-making and spatial politics in the 1960s. Drawing on archival records, oral interviews, and secondary literature, the article analyses three major initiatives: the construction of Namugongo Catholic Martyrs Shrine, the repatriation of the remains of early Catholic missionaries, and the monumental preservation and social transformation of Nalukolongo, one of the earliest Catholic preaching sites in Buganda. It argues that Nsubuga’s interventions strategically reinforced Catholic identity and historical presence within a religious landscape historically dominated by Protestant institutions. His efforts mobilised religious memory, architectural symbolism, and indigenous cultural values, particularly the veneration of ancestors and care for the vulnerable, to produce a distinctly Ugandan expression of Catholicism. Through these material and spiritual projects, Nsubuga embedded Catholic heritage in Uganda’s national consciousness, fostered communal devotion, and advanced the Church’s social mission. The article positions Nsubuga as a central architect of Uganda’s modern Catholic landscape and as a key figure in the ongoing negotiation of religion, memory, and public life.
Copyright (c) 2025 Anatoli Lwassampijja, Pamela Khanakwa (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Report on archival archaeology of Buvuma and Bugaia Islands, Uganda
This paper is an initial report on our findings, which highlights the potential of the existing collection for further studies. It focuses on the history of the collection and provides an initial inventory of the material currently stored at the Department for Heritage Studies of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), in Tervuren, Belgium.
Copyright (c) 2025 Alice Leplongeon, EIs Cornelissen, Christian Tryon (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Report: Makerere/University of Johannesburg postgraduate writing workshops: a reflection
This report assesses the achievements and challenges of three postgraduate student exchanges from 2022 to 2024 between Makerere University’s Department of History, Archaeology and Heritage Studies (HAHS) and the Department of History at the University of Johannesburg (UJ).
Copyright (c) 2025 Edgar C. Taylor, Natasha Erlank, Pamela Khanakwa, Tshepo Moloi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Book review of Uganda: an Indian colony, 1897–1972 by Samwiri Lwanga-Lunyiigo, Kampala: The African Studies Bookstore, 2022. Paperback ISBN: 9789913623070, 50,000 UGX.
Lwanga-Lunyiigo’s book highlights the position of the Indians in Uganda’s economy as economic agents from the 1890s up to the fall of their economic empire in 1972.
Copyright (c) 2025 William Musamba (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Book review: poverty and wealth in East Africa: a conceptual history; Rhiannon Stephens, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2022. Paperback ISBN 9781478018827, $27.95
Poverty and Wealth in East Africa: A Conceptual History focuses on eastern and northeastern Uganda, a region viewed as a landscape of uneven economic development.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rebecca K. Rwakabukoza (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Book review: to speak and be heard: seeking good government in Uganda, ca. 1500-2015 Holly Elisabeth Hanson. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2022. Paperback ISBN: 9780821424919, $34.95
Holly Hanson’s To Speak and Be Heard: Seeking Good Government in Uganda, ca. 1500-2015, provides an unparalleled unpacking of Uganda’s history.
Copyright (c) 2025 Yusuf Kasumba (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Book review: decolonising state and society in Uganda: the politics of knowledge and public life. Eds. Katherine Bruce-Lockhart, Jonathan L. Earle, Nakanyike B. Musisi, and Edgar C. Taylor. Cambridge: James Currey, 2022. Hardback ISBN: 9781847012975, $128
Decolonising State and Society in Uganda is a fascinating book with an interdisciplinary approach offering a fresh perspective on decolonization, governance, and local agency.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jacqueline Namukasa (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Book review: (mis)management of sub-nationalism and diversity in "nations": the case of Buganda in Uganda (1897-1980) Godfrey B. Asiimwe. Kampala: Makerere University Press, 2022. Paper ISBN 9789913603010, 50,000 UGX
The book lays out a chronological sequence of events to reveal a comprehensive understanding of Uganda’s sub-nationalism.
Copyright (c) 2025 Abudul Mahajubu (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The empire of Mwene Mutapa was not only a typically early Bantu-speaking kingdom in Central Africa but also, by all accounts, as one scholar has remarked, it was “the most extensive, the most stable and enduring Native State Southern Africa has ever known.”2 The empire endured from the first half of the fifteenth century until the last independent Mambo or Rozwi ruler died during the Mapondera Rising in 19023. The empire of Mwene Mutapa was probably at its peak ^luring the sixteenth century, but from about 1800 it was more in name than in reality. At its height, it was bound on the north by Zambezi River; on the west by the Kalahali Desert; on the east by the Mozambique Channel down to the Sabi estuary; while to the south it extended across Limpopo River into the Northern Transvaal. It was, therefore, by all reckoning an extremely big empire in the very heart of Central Africa. Its centre was originally at the Great Zimbabwe in the south, but it was later moved to the Dande area of the Zambezi Valley.
Copyright (c) 1975 Dr. Phares Mutibwa (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Institutions of government in the pre-colonial Kingdom of Nkore
In any given society—even those popularly called “Stateless” there are groups or individuals who exercise political authority over the rest. In every case there are sources from which such authority is derived and it is these sources that this paper proposes to discuss in the case of Nkore before the coming of the British administration to Uganda.
Copyright (c) 1975 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Emergence of Buganda As A Dominant Power in the InterLacustrine Region of East Africa, 1600-1900
Between 1600 and 1900 Buganda expanded territorially and politically. Because it was this two pronged growth which ensured Buganda’s dominance of the interlacustrine region during the 19th Century, this paper will examine in detail the process which led to political centralization and territorial expansion. In the first instance we shall consider governmental and constitutional changes. Then we shall deal with the territorial changes which began in the 17th Century. A close study of the political and constitutional developments suggests that there have been four major developments in the government of precolonial Buganda.1 All these changes were closely connected with the country’s territorial expansion. The first development really belongs to what we may describe as “pre-historic times” because it covers the Kintu-Kimera period, on which we have insufficient information.11 It is, therefore, not until the coming to Buganda of more clans that historical accounts become detailed enough to enable us to reconstruct the history of Buganda of about 21 generations back.2 But even after correlating evidence from the clan histories, it still remains difficult to determine with confidence the exact territorial extent of Buganda before the reign of Nakibinge in the early decades of the 16th Century.
The Demise and Rise of The Territorial State in Africa
To talk in terms of the demise and rise of the territorial states in Africa is obviously paradoxical for we all know that since the disintegration of colonial empires, Africa has seen the emergence of the territorial states. It is even more perplexing when it is viewed from a historical perspective. John Herz, in an essay on this subject, indicated that, as the unifying force of the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, and later the pervasive supreme power of the Roman Catholic church gave away to territorialism, the territory as a protective unit was enhanced.1 It became an instrument of order and security. The money economy and the invention of gunpower increased the defensibility of the state, while the emergence of complex economic relationships increased political control in the area.
Popular opinion is of the view that Islam not only supported the existence of African institutions but also strengthened them. Islam appealed to the Afri¬ can mind because its demands are almost similar to the established ways of life already pertaining in traditional African life.1 Whether that assumption is true or not in the rest of Africa, I am not qualified to say. However, a closer look on Uganda reveals that in fact, Islam is just like any other destroyer of African institutions, and that in some cases it has annihilated African ways of organization, customs and traditional mode of behaviour. There are many African established ways of behaviour or organiza¬ tions that Islam directly or indirectly weakened. Let us look at a few variables, which are by no means conclusive, like naming of the newly born, marriage, burial ceremonies, inheritance, African religions, the role of “technicians”, some customs and pleasures, and briefly, the sport of hunting to have a vague picture of the situation.
Copyright (c) 1975 A Kasozi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
If a visitor arrived in Uganda today, who had last visited the country in 1970, he would notice immediately a great number of changes which have given the country and its people a character and appearance very different from that of three years ago. If the visitor had not had access to the major news media over the past three years, he would be, to say the least, mildly surprised by the metamorphosis. The first question he would ask of a Ugandan would be, “What has happened?” The second question would be, “How did it happen?” These would be followed by a third question, “Why did it happen?” Only in this manner would the visitor begin to come to terms with the present situation, to be familiar with the “status quo”, and, most important, to understand it. In short, he would need to grasp the “history” of the last three years.
Copyright (c) 1975 Michael Quincey (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A Historical Analysis of Educational Development in Karamoja District
Karamoja was the locus of economic prosperity in the area vaguely defined as the British sphere of influence in Uganda for more than ten years after its establishment. It was ivory from Karamoja and not the richness and fertility of Buganda, which was the key to revenue earning in the area. The highly competitive exploitation of this commodity has been described by several writers.1 In the last decade of the nineteenth century a great trading centre had grown up at Manimani in central Karamoja and large numbers of foreigners —British, Greeks, Swahilis, Baluchis—vied for the profits from this trade. Before the completion of the railway, only ivory could assure a return large enough to cover the high costs of transportation to the coast. Even in the first years after the railway had reached Lake Victoria, ivory continued to occupy the predominant position as a source of revenue for the Protectorate Government. In 1903, ivory accounted for £26,000 of a total export value of £43,000.2 Ivory in 1904 was still considered significant enough to necessitate the establishment of a government post at Mbale. This was done in order to divert the ivory trade to the west of Mount Elgon, so that the revenues earned from the trade were not siphoned off illegally through Mumias, recently transfer¬ red to the East African Protectorate.®
The The Forging of an African nation: the political and constitutional evolution of Uganda from colonial rule to independence, 1894-1962
The Forging Of An African Nation: The Political And Constitutional Evolution Of Uganda From Colonial Rule To Independence, 1894-1962 By G. S. K. Ibingira, The Viking Press, New York, and Uganda Publishing House, Kampala, 1973, Pp. xviii + 332. £10 (U.S.A. Price). Shs. 30/- (Uganda Price). This is the first full-length published work by the man who was until recently Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Although the title may lead one to expect an historical analysis of the making of modern Uganda, the book is really an account of the forces that shaped the Uganda independence constitution. As the author himself points out, those looking forward to a detailed study of Uganda’s colonial history will be disappointed. However, the reader need not be discouraged. For, as far as the author’s principal aim is concerned—that is, to portray “the various political and cultural pressures associated with Uganda’s constitution-making processes”—the book is eminently successful.
Copyright (c) 1975 Balam Nyeko (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Bu^su is the home of the Banth-spe’aking Ba.gisu of eastern Uganda who prefer to be known as Bamasaba. In 1959 they numbered about 329,251. Many of them live on the foothills and slopes of Mount Elgon (which is locally known as Masaba) while others occupy the southern and southwestern plains. In the north and north-east they are bounded by the Sebei; by the Iteso in the north-wesV and south; on the west by the Bagwere and Basoga; and on- the south-west, east and south-east by the Banyole and Abaluyia, respectively. Mount Elgon is also the home of the Kalenjin-speaking Kony and Sebei.
Copyright (c) 1977 Gideon Were (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The The Emandwa cult in Western Uganda and Rwanda
The Emandwa cult is mainly associated with the pastoralists in western and south-western Uganda; its emergence ilatfes from their incursion into this region, from about the seventeenth century. The is popularly associated with the Bacwezi rulers of the former empire of Bunyoro-Kitara, though it was worshipped throughout the whole of the interlacustrine region down to Rwanda and the Unyamwezi region. In terms of historical developments, there must have 'been a tremendous interaction among the various ethnic groups in this region for this religious complex to cover such a vast area. No individual society lived as an isolated group, especially as intermarriage between the ruling families in this area was the order of the day. The Emandwa were more powerful than other earlier religious mediums in the area. In some areas, where Emandwa were very much entrenched, the Bazimu (ancestral, spirits) went underground completely. The people of the area called upon the Emandwa to quieten the rage of the living dead. In Rwanda, Ryangombe, the king of the Emandwa was raised almost to the status of a king. In a society which was wracked by ethnic divisions—Tutsi, Hutu and Twa, in descending order — the ruling family had to devise something to hold society together.
Copyright (c) 1977 Turyahikayo Rugyema (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This paper will not attempt to give a systematic account of the campaigns in East Africa of thfe 1914-1918 War. This was already been done with great precision elsewhere.^ What we shall attempt to define are the white attitudes towards the Uganda Africans as filters in particular and the Africans as fighters in general. We shall examine why the black man fought for the white man when he was ignorant of the causes of conflict between white and white, and lastly, we shall discuss conditions of service and what happened to him when he was no longer needed.
Copyright (c) 1977 S Lwanga-Lunyiigo (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The The politics of litigation and political integration in Uganda: The Lwebuga legal-political tangle
The period between 1962 and 1966, was an area of vigorous litigation in 'Uganda. There was faith' in legal' solutions to 'the struggle for political power between the Central Gbvernrrient and the subordinate govefnmdnts which were led by the Kabaka's Government. While this tradition of litigation and constitutionalism lasted, it provided a genuine chance of resolving political conflict in a candid manner. The Lwebuga legal-political tangle seeks 'to fflustrate that courts enhanced integration by serving as an important and acceptable forum through which political conflict was resolved. The study also attempts to show that competitive politics existed between the Kabaka’s Government and the Central Government, a phenomenon which enhanced open dissent in the political system of Uganda.
Copyright (c) 1977 A Nsibambi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Ancient foundations of black cultural development
To what extent can a historian go back in the reconstruction of a cultural history of the African people? When and where should the Africans begin in tracing their cultural history? The historians of the Western civilization do not seem to have problem in answering the above questions with particular reference to their cultural history. They claim, with certainty, ancient Greece and Rome to be the foundations of their Western civilization. Under the title, Ancient Foundations of Black Culutral Development, the writer wishes to address himself to the statement and challenge offered recently to the African historians by Dr. Chancellor Williams, a distinguished emeritus professor of African history, Howard University.
Copyright (c) 1977 Gershom Amayo (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The The policy of centralization of education in Uganda from 1964 to 1971
The primary task of this article is to analyze and examine the factors that prompted the then Uganda central, government to introduce and intensify the policy of strong control of the system of education, a policy they knew was sensitive and controversial. Was it political factors? Was it economic factors, or was it purely educational considerations, or a combination of all these elements? Was it an inevitable step to take? In short, is there a case really to sustain the government action? Furthermore, an attempt will be made to sketch out what the policy of state control of education that was adopted in 1964 meant in practical terms. It is not my intention to assess the impact the policy of centralization has had on the quality of education in terms of, say, performancein Primary Leaving and E.A.C.E. examinations or efficiency in the administration of education. Such an exercise is beyond the scope of this article. One point deserves explanation at this stage for clarity’s sake before plunging into a full examination of the issue. That is the significance of the years 1964' and 1971 as starting and closing points of the discussion, respectively. On the one band, 1964 is regarded as a turning point in the development of education in Uganda because it is presumed that that is when the central government began to take a strong grip on the education system as a whole. That is when the policy of strong central government control was 'inaugurated. The year 1971, on the other hand, is regarded as crucial in the history of our education system in respect to the issue of central governmentcontrol because it can be said that it closed the chapter that was 'began in 1964. That is when the consolidation of the policy embarked upon in 1964 reached a climax with the abolition of District Councils and District Education Committees.
Copyright (c) 1977 E Gumisiriza (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Towards the African social revolution: the case of Tanzania
From a historical perspective, the concept of revolution has two facets as G. A. Nasser observes in the above quotation. First, there is a revolution, which, out of sheer necessity for political freedom, sets out to get rid of imposed power upon the inhabitants. This imposed power can take a form of one person, as was the case with the Russian Revolution and the Zanzibar Revolution, to overthrow the Czarist' and the Sultan regimes, respectively. It can also take a* form of alien rule, without the due consent of the governed, as was the case with overthrow of the imperial power here in Africa and elsewhere. Second, a revolution can also be social in content, aiming at changing the social, political, economical" and cultural structures, so as to facilitate progress and harmony in a given society.
Copyright (c) 1977 Jimmy Tindigarukayo (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Some political effects of British educational policy in Egypt
Many studies on Egypt of the late 19th and 20th century reflect the central role of education and the educated in promoting political change. Among the most important developments during the British period in Egypt, 1882-1921, were the beginnings of political party activity and the rise of a nationalist movement. The aim of this article is to examine British educational policy as a contribution to this particular political environment.
Copyright (c) 1975 Mrs. Karen Lee Koning https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Buganda in modern history by D. A. Low [Book Review]
Buganda in Modern History is a collection of Professor Low's published articles, with the exception of the Introduction and the last Chapter (p. 227). In Chapter I Professor Low discusses Buganda's reception of and response to the foreign religions during the 19th Century and the revolutionary impact of these religiom on Kiganda Society especially in the Royal Court.
Copyright (c) 2025 Semakula Kiwanuka (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Subject matter as a source of educational goals and instructional objectives: the case for history in secondary schools
Imaginative planning and continuous improvement of an educational system crucially depends on a clear conception of the goals that are being aimed at. The educational goals become the criteria for selecting material, outlining content, and developing teaching methods and techniques. The objectives are also basically accountable for the nature of tests and examinations in the system. Clear educational and instructional goals are therefore a necessary pre-requisite for a competent educational system. All scholars and educationalists should work towards the realization of this feature. In East Africa particularly in Uganda and Kenya, lack of clear educational and instructional ends has been easily one of the most apparent weaknesses in the countries' systems.
Copyright (c) 2025 Peter Muyanda-Mutebi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Concerning freedom: an existential critique of man and society from the viewpoint of Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism might be understood as the cradle of his conceptual analysis of not only human reality and morality, but also the individual and society. The historical base of his philosophy is not unrelated to events such as: the humiliating defeat which Paris suffered at the hands of the German Army an event which was punctuated by the German Occupation, and Sartre himself was imprisoned by the Germans and set free only because of his continually failing eyesight.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mashaka C. P. Oniang'o (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0