Institute of Languages and Communication Studies

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The construction of gender in Ugandan English textbooks: a focus on gendered discourses
(Taylor and Francis, 2018) Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia
Informed by a feminist post-structural framework, this study departs from the overriding emphasis on explicit constructions of women in textbooks. It focuses on culturally implicit knowledge and/or gendered discourses that have informed the construction of gender in Ugandan secondary school textbooks. Findings illuminate the construction of women using discourses networked to produce them as emotional, invested in physical appearances, vulnerable, and in need of men. Intertwined within these are mutually supporting discourses that construct them as irrational, passive, nurturing, trivial, empty-headed, and jealous. Women were constructed oppositionally to men, produced as rational, physically fit breadwinners. This configuration of discourses draw on an underlying ‘common-sense’ gender-differences discourse, which secures female/male border maintenance, sustaining unequal power relations. In exceeding the dominant focus on visibility therefore, this study illuminates how women are constructed, illuminating the workings of power through discourse to re-inscribe hierarchical gender-power relations, tackling deeper gender inequalities and hierarchies.
From the classroom to the hospital ward: Dr Lydia Namatende-Sakwa on gender mainstreaming in Uganda
(THEFT, 2019-08) Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia
My interest in gender equity was largely shaped by my experience as a young English teacher in a co-educational secondary school in Uganda. I completed both my primary and secondary education in single-sex schools which made me somewhat oblivious to the complex gender relations that exist in co-educational contexts. That is not to understate the complexity that can be found in single-sex schools! But, I felt a sense of discomfort with the distinct gendered performance and participation of children in my classroom; I noticed that boys participated more actively in discussions and generally outperformed girls on tests.
‘Gendering’ the text through implicit citations of gendered discourses: the construction of gender and teacher talk around children’s fiction
(Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2019-04-08) Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia
This study departs from the overriding focus on textbooks, which disregards how readers take them up. Informed by feminist post-structural theory, I analyse the construction of gender in children's fiction texts used in a New York City elementary school. First, I demonstrate that while the children's fiction texts were explicitly female dominated and/or progressive in their construction of gender, a feminist post-structural discourse reading illuminated that they in fact, implicitly cited discourses, which maintained gendered binary constructions and male dominance. Second, in going beyond the text, the study demonstrates that far from ignoring gender to focus on the 'official' curriculum as explicitly affirmed by the teachers, they had in fact implicitly and inadvertently cited, invoked and deployed discourses and discursive practices that inscribed gender differential and hierarchical relations in the use of the texts in the classroom. Third, I provide insights into teachers' lack of awareness regarding how gender is cited in their texts, and enacted in their teaching practices. I argue therefore that this 'talk around the text', which illuminated gendered discourses and practices, is, as well articulated by Jane Sunderland, 'an excellent epistemological site' for the deconstruction of traditionally gendered positions in the classroom.
Government policy on science education in Uganda: A glass-ceiling for women’s access to higher education
(2013) Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia; Longman, Chia
The paper assesses the Ugandan policy on science education and its implications for girls‟ access to higher education. The rationale behind this policy was to build capacity in the field of science in Uganda. Consequently, science subjects were made compulsory in schools, and 75% of the Government scholarships to public universities made science based. We demonstrate that this has created a “glass ceiling”: it has put girls at a disadvantage by reinstating the former status quo, where access to higher education favoured boys. This is because Ugandan society (at home and in school) discourages girls‟ pursuit of the sciences. In addition, the policy was prematurely implemented with no adequate preparation for girls to take science based courses. Using content analysis, this study found that the policy was not guided by inclusion and/or equity principles to which Uganda committed as a signatory more than two decades ago, to the World Conference of Education for All (EFA) held in Jomtein, Thailand. These principles advocate removing obstacles to learning, and embracing diversity in education so that every learner is included.
‘Madam, are you one of them?’ ‘Reflexivities of discomfort’ in researching an ‘illicit’ subject
(Taylor and Francis, 2018) Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia
Informed largely by Affect theory (2004), this paper takes up ‘reflexivities of discomfort’ to reflexively engage with my affective struggles as a Christian, heterosexual, mother, educator, undertaking a study on homosexuality, which is a thorny issue in Uganda. It a methodological prologue, reflecting my thoughts and struggles before I undertake the study. My purpose is not to find solutions, but to lay bare some anxieties and ambivalences, also suggesting the limits of reflexivity. The paper begins with an autobiographical narrative about school in relation to (homo)sexuality. This is followed by an exposition of Uganda’s Anti-homosexuality Bill; my use of reflexivity and affect to inform my affective struggles; my background as it relates to sexuality, providing insights into my researcher positionality. I then engage with moments imbued with high affective/emotive intensity in my preparation to undertake the study.
Networked texts: discourse, power and gender neutrality in Ugandan physics textbooks
(Taylor and Francis, 2018-11-15) Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia
Research within science textbooks has dominantly focused on examining explicit representations of women and men using quantitative methodology. The assumption that gendered arrangements are necessarily explicit and therefore visible and countable, overlooks how power works explicitly and implicitly through discourse to produce specific gendered subjectivities. In taking up feminist post-structuralisms, this study contributes to textbook studies within sciences by illuminating both explicit and implicit representations of gender. Using discourse analysis, ‘gender-neutral’ and/or disembodied subjects and objects were ‘unmasked,’ revealing a generic male and/or masculine subject. Gender-neutrality, which is pervasive within the physics textbooks, was thus exposed as a mask for generic maleness/masculinity. I argue that this objectivist science, which remains compatible with a narrow range of student gendered identities, forecloses possibilities for a wide range of scientist subjectivities, to produce a more inclusive physics curriculum, with a greater possibility of developing physics using diverse subjectivities.
Problems of Usage Labelling in English Lexicography
(2011) Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia
Landau (1991: 217) stipulates that 'usage refers to any or all uses of language'. It is the study of good, correct, or standard uses of language as distinguished from bad, incorrect, and nonstandard uses of language. Usage may also include the study of any limitations on the method of use, whether geographic, social or temporal. Basically it alerts users that certain terms should not be uncritically employed in communication. This article discusses the treatment of usage in English lexicography. It analyses the labelling practices in six monolingual English dictionaries namely: the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (OALD), the Macmillan English Dictionary (MED), the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE), the Cambridge International Dictionary of English (CIDE), the World Book Dictionary (WBD) and the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (NSOED). Discrepancies in the contextual usage labelling in the dictionaries were established and are discussed.
The representation of gender in English textbooks in Uganda
(Taylor and Francis, 2012-06-29) Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia; Barton, Amanda
The central role played by textbooks in children’s education in developing countries has been highlighted previously in this journal. This paper reports on how an English-language textbook used commonly in Ugandan secondary schools reinforces gender stereotypes which are prevalent in society. The paper is based on a mixed-methods investigation of gender representation in English in Use, Book 2 by Grant and Wang’ombe, a textbook recommended by the Ministry of Education for teaching English to students aged 14–15 in Ugandan schools. Documentary analysis elicited the data which were analysed quantitatively using Porecca’s framework for the analysis of English as a Second Language textbooks and then qualitatively using critical discourse analysis. This revealed that positive female role models are under-represented and that the language of the text is not inclusive of females. Lesson observations of two teachers using the textbook, along with follow-up interviews, revealed that they mostly ignored gender issues by dealing with them uncritically, purely as a means of enhancing linguistic skills. We argue that the content of such textbooks, and the way in which they are mediated in the classroom, undermine the Ugandan government’s commitment to equity and inclusion.

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