Browsing by Author "Musamba, William"

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Busoga states amalgamation and ethnic formation, Uganda Protectorate, 1900 to 1950
(Routledge - Taylor & Francis Group, 2023-06-01) Musamba, William; Rukooko, Byaruhanga Archangel
Contrary to the common perception of colonialism as an exercise of power within the context of ‘divide and rule’, this study fore-grounds Ali Mazrui’s concept of ‘unite and rule’ as another funda-mental aspect of British colonial policy in East Africa. Unable to implement indirect rule in the multifarious Busoga states, the British colonialists were compelled to adopt the policy of unprecedented amalgamations, thereby creating a single ethnic identity at the beginning of the twentieth century. Overtime, Busoga came to be perceived as a territory of the Basoga: one of the major ethnic groups in modern Uganda. The rise of the Abataka Associations as opposition groups to the politics of states amalgamation enhanced the Basoga ethnic identity. However, the transition from the pre- colonial independent states to a single Basoga ethnic identity is hardly historicised in previous scholarship. This qualitative study therefore uses primary sources of archival materials in the Uganda National Archives and Jinja District Archives and five key informant interviews to historicise the primacy of agency in the process of Busoga ethnic formation between 1900 and 1950.
Record-keeping and political advocacy in late colonial Uganda: the case of Abataka Abasoga, Busoga, 1940 to 1950
(Routledge - Taylor and Francis, 2024-04-07) Musamba, William
This paper analyses the nexus between record-keeping and political advocacy in the late colonial Busoga which formed one of eastern ethno-geographical regions of the Uganda Protectorate. It illustrates the vexed position of the Abataka Abasoga attempting to build and use archival knowledge while the colonial government moved against the indigenous use of archival records as a tool of anti-colonial defiance. By weaving together archival materials with secondary sources, the paper reveals the precarious position of Ugandan archival records as denoted by the subsequent regimes’ involvement in the management of documentary materials. Ultimately, the example shows how the ruling regimes’ interests have been central in determining the nature of information made available for future preservation and its accessibility for use by both the political elite and reading publics.