Record-keeping and political advocacy in late colonial Uganda: the case of Abataka Abasoga, Busoga, 1940 to 1950

Abstract

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.