Colonial Buganda was one of the most important and richly documented kingdoms in East Africa. In this book, Jonathon L. Earle offers the first global intellectual history of the Kingdom, using a series of case studies, interviews and previously inaccessible private archives to offer new insights concerning the multiple narratives used by intellectuals. Where previous studies on literacy in Africa have presupposed 'sacred' or 'secular' categories, Earle argues that activists blurred European epistemologies as they reworked colonial knowledge into vernacular debates about kingship and empire. Furthermore, by presenting Catholic, Muslim and Protestant histories and political perspectives in conversation with one another, he offers a nuanced picture of the religious and social environment. Through the lives, politics, and historical contexts of these African intellectuals, Earle presents an important argument about the end of empire, making the reader rethink the dynamics of political imagination and historical pluralism in the colonial and postcolonial state.
‘Buganda is one of the most studied societies in sub-Saharan Africa, but in this thoughtful and innovative book Jonathon L. Earle shows us how much more there is to explore. Using a series of illuminating case studies, based on pioneering research in private archives, Earle demonstrates how vivid, and how complex, were the political and historical imaginations of the kingdom's leading intellectuals in the late colonial moment. This book represents a thrilling new strand in Ganda historiography, and scholars of Uganda, and intellectual historians more broadly, owe Jonathon L. Earle a debt of gratitude.'
Richard Reid - School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
‘With this book Earle becomes a leader in re-thinking the history of African nationalisms. His scrutiny of private papers undiscovered by previous historians allows us to eavesdrop on the political thought of late-colonial activists as never before. Widely read in comparative politics, they thought deeply, from different religious viewpoints, Christian, Muslim, and ‘popular', about political responsibility and obligation – with a view to the right governance of their kingdom.'
John Lonsdale - Emeritus Professor, Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge
‘Essentially, this is an important examination of the end of empire in Uganda during the 1950s and 1960s. Many interviews with survivors from this period as well as careful analysis of a cornucopia of written sources make this a major study of a vital period in mid-twentieth century African history.'
Michael Twaddle - University of London
‘This unique book offers carefully constructed intellectual biographies of four critical patriots of Uganda's independence era: Musazi, Mulira, Abu Mayanja and Kiwanuka. Their historical imaginations and deep political commitments come alive through Earle's meticulous research. No other historian of Buganda has used these sources.'
Holly Hanson - Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts
‘The most exciting thing about this valuable new book is the insight that it sheds into the mechanics of political innovation. The Ganda intellectuals who are the book's subjects mined their libraries, looking for snippets of text that could expand old ideas and launch new ways of thinking about public life. Earle's meticulous book helps us see how an African people defined and debated the principles that held them together.'
Derek R. Peterson - University of Michigan
‘I strongly recommend you read this book. Jonathon L. Earle uses evidence from some one hundred authoritative individuals, thirty-three official and private archives as well as from hundreds of secondary sources to show that multiple literacies conditioned the political behavior and actions of Buganda's political activists towards the end of British rule in Buganda. Sources of their inspiration for imagining the kingdom they wanted were Buganda's past, Christian and Islamic literacies as well as European political and intellectual thought. Multiplicity of literacies created ambiguity and plurality of the vision of the state for both the activists and departing administrators with the British Empire.'
A. B. K. Kasozi - Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University Kampala, Uganda
'This book effectively demonstrates the multiplicity of conceptualizations of political futures in the late colonial Buganda kingdom, emphasizing especially the roles of religious and historical interpretation in defining political preferences … of interest to scholars of African studies, intellectual history, and religious studies. Highly Recommended.'
M. M. Heaton Source: Choice
'Earle’s work in elaborating the intellectual journeys of these individuals is vivid and methodologically innovative. It reclaims fragmentary sources and interprets intellectual leaps to emphasize a contingent and creative literary culture connecting diverse narratives of Uganda’s history, religious ideas, and secular visions of progress, development, and (sometimes) democracy.'
Carol Summers Source: African Studies Review
The following archival material was consulted during the research of this book.
With the assistance of the photography archivist of the collection, Father François Richard, I located numerous photographs of early colonial Buddu, some of which have been included in this book. The photographs from the collection are signified: Photothèque Missionnaires d'Afrique Rome.
The File Records of Budo highlight the educational performance of the school's former students. They also provide insight into the College's relationship with eastern Africa's Islamic political institutions, including the East African Muslim Welfare Society and the Young Men's Muslim Association.
At the time of my research, the Africana Archives was in the process of being reclassified. In addition to consulting the papers of Apolo Kaggwa and Hamu Mukasa, I worked closely with the material in the Buganda Government files, Kabaka Yekka files, and Extra Mural records.
Files: AF PSF; AF UC; Unmarked Buganda Government Files; KY Files; Hamu Mukasa Papers AR/BUG/78
The personal library of Hamu Mukasa includes an extensively annotated library, manuscripts, and photographic images from early colonial Buganda.
The Rubaga Archives provide extensive amounts of material concerning Catholic politics in late colonial Uganda. The library also houses the most complete collection of both Munno and the bounded records of Uganda's postcolonial parliamentary assemblies.
Files: 31; 81; 99; 128; 904
This is the most extensive collection of sources regarding local Protestant activism during the colonial period.
Files: 1/41; 1/66; 1/72; 1/112; 1/113; 1/136; 1/179
The library maintains an extensive, unpublished volume of the early Luganda press, with English translations. At the time of this project, the volume was found on the regular bookshelves.
The library houses copies of the Agreed Recommendations of the Namirembe Conference; and an extensive amount of constitutional documents and government reports.
At the time of my research the National Archives was housed in Entebbe, the colonial capital of Uganda. The Archive is now in Kampala. It houses district reports, correspondence between Uganda's and Buganda's respective statebuilders, economic studies, and material related to the general operation of the colonial government.
Files: A43; A44; A45; A46
Material includes intelligence reports, commissions of inquiry, dispatches, interview transcriptions, political party manifestos, petitions, newspaper clippings, court records, and academic summaries provided by the East African Institute of Social Research.
Files: CO 536; CO 537; CO 822; MP K122
During the 1960s, the Centre acquired a series of studies and governmental records through Audrey Richards and the East African Institute of Social Research.
Files: 676
The papers of E.M.K. Mulira include an unpublished biography, unpublished essays, personal correspondence and political pamphlets. Large portions of the collection are now accessible through Apollo, the digital repository of the University of Cambridge. The classifications for the Mulira papers have been moderately revised since the completion of this book.
Material produced by Anglican missionaries and Buganda's early Christian converts offered important insights into the area's competing regional interests. The CMS Papers also include material produced by E.M.K. Mulira and his father, Nasanaeri Ndawula Kiwomamagaaya.
Files: ACC 265; ACC 549; ACC 549–50
The ICS contains a number of pamphlets and manifestos produced by Uganda's political parties in the late 1950 and early 1960s. The collection also includes the private papers of Professor Keith Hancock, which illuminates the inner workings of the Namirembe Conference and the Lukiiko's international delegation. The delegation was a committee that was charged with securing the return of Kabaka Muteesa II from exile during the 1950s.
Files: PP.UG
Professor Keith Hancock Papers (Files: 29)
The Annual Reports of the College highlight Abubakar Mayanja's studies at Cambridge during the mid-1900s. The papers of the broadcaster Sir George Reginald Barnes contain correspondence to and from the Ganda intellectual Erisa Kironde.
Files: Annual Reports
George Reginald Barnes Papers (Files: GRB 2)
The Museum contains records surrounding the acquisition of the remains of the Ganda hero-god, Kibuuka, and the return of his remains to Uganda in the early 1960s. This material was removed from the final book.
The papers of Margery Perham include personal correspondence with Ugandan activists and Colonial Reports.
Files: 514; 515; 529
The papers of Audrey Richards include field notes and correspondence from her work in Uganda in the 1950s.
Files: 6; 7
In addition to providing English translations of Munno in the early 1900s, the papers of Sir John Gray include copies of letters that illuminate political negotiation and conflict between Buganda's competing religious communities in the late nineteenth century.
Files: 126; 150
The library of SOAS contains one of the most extensive collections of early Luganda grammars and dictionaries. The Special Collections provide insight into E.M.K. Mulira's work on a Luganda grammar and dictionary during the mid-twentieth century. It also houses a copy of Mulira's play, ‘Mackay the Dauntless: A Play in Three Acts’ (c. 1944).
Files: MS 380474
During the course of my research on E.M.K. Mulira, I spent time conducting research with the papers of the Ghanaian intellectual James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey, whose career influenced Mulira's philosophy of co-education. Ultimately, much of this material was removed from the final draft.
Box 147: 1–3
Box 147–3
Box 147: 3–4
Box 147: 5 & 7
The Elisofon collection includes a rich assembly of photographs from early twentieth-century Uganda. Richard H. Leakey assembled the collection in the early 1900s.
The collection, comprised of 28 linear feet of material, includes correspondence and field notes from Fallers’ work in Uganda. It also contains a copy of John Rowe's English translation of Ali Kulumba's Ebyafayo By'obusiramu mu Uganda.
Fallers’ material on Buganda is contained largely in boxes: 29; 30; 54.
The records of the National Archives concern Uganda's postcolonial politics, which is largely beyond the scope of the current volume. The site in College Park also maintains the CIA's declassified searchable database, which highlights the involvement of the American government in central and eastern Africa during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Throughout the duration of this project, numerous private collections were revewied.
The collection contains the parliamentary assembly minutes, between 1894 and 1918.
In the late 1950s, the journalist and writer Neal Ascheron worked with the Uganda National Congress in Uganda, a movement with which he became familiar through Abubakar Mayanja at King's College, Cambridge. Mr Ascherson graciously made his Uganda field notes from this period available.
The tin-trunk archive of the trade unionist Erieza Bwete, which I unearthed in the former county of Ssingo, contains loose manuscripts, letters, petitions and memoirs. The collection deals mostly with farmers’ and cooperative activism from the mid- to late twentieth century.
This modest collection includes correspondence between the author and anti-colonial activists and their families; printed Luganda pamphlets; audio and video recorded interviews and ethnographic material.
The private collection of the Graces includes correspondence, political pamphlets, and photographic sources. These chronicle the Grace's work in Ankole, Buganda and Achimota.
In partnership with the Kiwanuka family, I digitised Prime Minister Benedicto Kiwanuka's personal papers. In this book, I use the folder titles originally designated by Kiwanuka. The collection includes letters, journals, government records, course notebooks, photographic sources and an annotated library. The files and loose papers comprise approximately 5900 artefacts.
The papers are comprised of bounded volumes of the Luganda press, mostly chronicling Joseph Kiwanuka's output during the late 1950s and the activism of the Uganda National Congress and its successor: Uganda People's Congress.
The annotated library of Ignatius Musazi, located in northern Buganda, contains approximately 100 volumes.
This collection includes notes and transcripts taken from interviews with Abubakar Mayanja. Before his passing, Mayanja had begun the process of co-authoring an autobiography with Nganda.
Assorted, 13 July 2010, Kkungu
Ascherson, Neal, 17 August 2010, London
Barlow, Hugo, 11 November 2010, Munyonyo (Kampala)
Bonabana, Euginia, and Rose Nakimera, 19 January 2010, Mutundwe
Guwedeko, Fred, 25 February 2010, Makerere University
Kaggwa, Kawalya, Interview by Audrey Richards, 8 February 1954, in ARP 7/6/69 Audrey Richards, Field Notes
Kakyama, Asiya, 9 December 2009, Kampala
Kalema, Rhoda, 5 & 7 January 2010, Kampala
Kajubi, William S., 2 December 2009 & 17 February 2010, Kampala
Kayunga, Sallie S., 25 November 2010, Makerere University
Kisitu, Gideon, 14 January 2010, Nakulabye
Kiwanuka, Josephine, 7 July 2011, London
Kiwanuka, Maurice P.K., 29 May 2010, Kampala
Kiwanuka, Semakula M., 9 November 2010, Muyenga (Kampala)
Kiwanuka, Yusufu, Interview by Arye Oded, 12 November 1967, Lwanjaza, Singo County, in Arye Oded, Islam in Uganda: Islamization through a Centralized State in Pre-Colonial Africa (New York: Israel Universities Press, 1974)
Laetitia, Kinyingi, 7 January 2010, Kampala
Lubowa, A.D., 23 November 2009, Maya, Mpigi District
Lukwago, Al-Hajj Isa, 11 February 2010, Kampala
Mugwisa, Samuel, 16 December 2009, Kampala
Mukasa, George Kasedde, 23 June 2010, Kampala
Mulira, Eve, 10 November 2009, Kampala
Mulira, James, 25 June 2010, Kampala
Mulira, Mary, 11 June 2010, Kampala
Mulira, Peter, 3 November 2009, Kampala
Musazi, E.N., 11 December 2009, Timina (Luwero)
Musazi, Elizabeth, 10 February 2010, Kampala
Musazi, I.K., Interview by Neal Ascherson, 9 June 1956, Uganda Club, Kampala, in Neil Ascherson Papers
Musazi, I.K., Interview by Simba S. Kayunga, June 1988, Tinda (Kampala), in Sallie S. Kayunga, ‘Uganda National Congress and the Struggle for Democracy: 1952–1962’ (Working Paper No. 14, Centre for Basic Research Publications, Kampala, 1995)
Musoke, Kintu, 26 February 2010, Masaka
Mutiaba, Al-Hajj Mustafa, 3 March 2010, Kampala
Mwebe, Simon, 11 February & 17 March 2010, Kampala
Naniskombi, Rita, 11 & 16 November 2009, Luteete, Wakiso District
Nganda, Ssemujju I., 22 & 27 July 2010, Kampala
Nsambo, Shaikh al-Islām Ahmad, Interview by Arye Oded, 11 November & 16 December 1967, Natete, in Arye Oded, Islam in Uganda: Islamization through a Centralized State in Pre-Colonial Africa (New York: Israel Universities Press, 1974)
Sempebwa, Ernest, Interview by Gordon P. McGregor, March 2002, Makerere, in Gordon P. McGregor, King's College Budo: A Centenary History, 1906–2006 (Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 2006)
Ssali, Nick, 17 November 2009, Radio One (Kampala)
Tyaba, L. Mathias, and Simon Mwebe, 30 July 2010, Kampala
Wamala, Osmani, Interview by Amin Mutyaba, A.K. Kasozi, Noel King, and William M. Watt, May & September 1967, Buyanga, Butambala County, in Noel Quinton King, A.B.K. Kasozi and Arye Oded, Islam and the Confluence of Religions in Uganda, 1840–1966 (Tallahassee, FL: American Academy of Religion, 1973)
African Pilot. Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Bukedde. Personal collection; www.bukedde.co.ug/
Daily Herald. British Library
Daily Mail. British Library
Daily Telegraph. British Library
Dobozi lya Buganda. Makerere University Africana Archives; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Drum. In, Uganda: The Bloodstained Pearl of Africa and its Struggle for Peace: From the Pages of Drum, ed. by Adam Seftel (Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 1994)
East Africa and Rhodesia. Rare Books Room (University Library, Cambridge)
Ebifa mu Buganda (Ebifa mu Uganda). Makerere University Africana Archives
Evening News. British Library
Emambya Esaze. Makerere University Africana Archives
Gambuze. Makerere University Africana Archives; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Guardian. The Guardian and Observer Digital Archives: archive http://archive.guardian.co.uk/Default/Skins/DigitalArchive/Client.asp?Skin=DigitalArchive&enter=true&AW=1330161867594&AppName=2
Ggwanga. Personal collection
Independent. British Library
Monitor. Personal collection; Digital Archives: www.monitor.co.ug/
New Vision. Personal collection; Digital Archives: www.newvision.co.ug/Archive.aspx
Munno. British Library; Rubaga Diocesan Archives; Sir John Gray Papers; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Ndimugezi. Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
New Times of Burma. British Library
Obugagga. Makerere University Africana Archives; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Observer. The Guardian and Observer Digital Archives: archive http://archive.guardian.co.uk/Default/Skins/DigitalArchive/Client.asp?Skin=DigitalArchive&enter=true&AW=1330161867594&AppName=2
Sekanyolya. Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Taifa Empya. Makerere University Africana Archives; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Times. The Times Digital Archives: http://gale.cengage.co.uk/times.aspx/
Transition. West Room (University Library, Cambridge)
Uganda Empya. Makerere University Africana Archives; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Uganda Express. Personal collection of Sam Kiwanuka; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Uganda Eyogera. Makerere University Africana Archives; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Uganda Herald (Uganda Argus). British Library; Makerere University Africana Archives
Uganda Mail. Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
Uganda Post. Makerere University Africana Archives; Personal Collection of Sam Kiwanuka; Uganda Information Department: Summary of the Local Press
United Asia [Bombay]. Rare Books (University Library, Cambridge) Washington Post. Digital Archives
Loading metrics...
* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.
Usage data cannot currently be displayed.
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.
Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.