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ABSTRACT
This article explores the role that material things, such as space, buildings, and all kinds of commodities, played in how Kampalans experienced the expulsion of the Asians under Idi Amin in early 1970s and its aftermaths. It argues that the materiality of things – in everyday urban items, goods, buildings and urban spaces – was at the centre of how Kampalans experienced expulsion; with expulsion, particular items, commodities, spaces, and buildings gained new meanings, and the government as well as Kampalans transformed the prevailing notions of value attached to them. It draws on material artefacts, such as personal possessions and news clippings, and the oral histories of the men and women who lived in post-expulsion Kampala. The article shows how material goods and spaces transformed significantly and fluctuated as sources of both power and vulnerability for Kampalans during the 1970s and 1980s.
KEYWORDS:
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Edgar Taylor and Tasha Rijke-Epstein for their comments and suggestions on multiple versions of this draft, and to the two anonymous reviewers whose comments were helpful. Thanks also to Joel Lee and Christophe Kone at Williams College for reading and commenting on an earlier draft of this article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 For example, see Uganda Argus, August 10, 1972.
2 See Thomas Blom Hansen, ‘Expelled From Public Memory: Cato Manor and the Segregation of History in South Africa,’ History and Anthropology
3 Tasha Rijke-Epstein and Edgar Taylor, ‘Expulsions: Knowledge, Temporality and Materiality in Africa,’ History and Anthropology
4 Nana Osei Quarshie, ‘How Exemptions Made Mass Expulsion in Ghana, 1969–1972’ History and Anthropology
5 See, for example, Aidan William Southall, and Peter C. W. Gutkind, Townsmen in the Making: Kampala and Its Suburbs (Kampala: East African Institute of Social Research, 1953).
6 See, for example, John Martin, "Looking Back at the 1971 Uganda Coup," Sources and Methods: A Blob of the History and Public Policy Program, Woodrow Wilson Center, 12/20/2021, 2021.
7 See, for example, interviews with Teopista Adroni, Joseph Kalibala, and Janet Namatovu
8 Interview by author with Enosi Mukibi in Mengo, Kampala, Uganda, March 5, 2014.
9 Ibid.
10 Several interviewees espoused this view. For example, Mary Nnalongo Namubiru, Nakulabye, Kampala, Uganda, April 19, 2014; Daniel Kamanyi, Rubaga, Kampala, Uganda, June 4, 2014.
11 While Idi Amin was the military commander of the soldiers who attacked the Lubiri (palace), Kampalans placed the misfortune of the kingdom squarely on the Obote regime.
12 Interview by author with Teopista Adroni in Mengo, Kampala, Uganda, March 18, 2014.
13 Interview by author with Jaja Nalugwa, Rubaga, Kampala, Uganda, May 20, 2014
14 See, for example, Aidan William Southall, "Kampala-Mengo," in City in modern Africa, ed. Horace Miner (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1967).
15 Interview by author with Daniel Kamanyi, Rubaga, Kampala, Uganda, June 4, 2014; Ham Serugo, Nakulabye, Kampala, Uganda, November 15, 2004.
16 In its implementation, the policy of expulsion included even those with Ugandan citizenship. For exceptions, see Anneeth Kaur Hundle, "Exceptions to the expulsion: violence, security and community among Ugandan Asians, 1972–1979," Journal of Eastern African Studies 7, no. 1 (2013).
17 See for example, ‘Gen[eneral] Criticises the habit of overcharging,’ Voice of Uganda, Kampala, Uganda, December 30, 1974.
18 Ibid.
19 Interview by author with Sheikh Musa in Nakulabye, Kampala, Uganda, June 22, 2016.
20 Interview by author with Hajj Ismail in Nakulabye, Kampala, Uganda, August 2014.
21 Interview by author with Mildred Nkalubo in Nakulabye, Kampala, Uganda, June 20, 2016.
22 Interview by author with Charles Kato in Mengo, Kampala, Uganda, August 13, 2014.
23 Interview by author with Jane Namale in Mengo, Mengo, Kampala, Uganda, April 16, 2014.
24 Interview by author with Joseph Jingo, Mengo, Kampala, Uganda, July 21, 2014
25 See, for example, Interview by author with Daniel Kamanyi, Rubaga, Kampala, Uganda, June 4, 2014.
26 See Stanley Mulumba, ‘How To Combat Beer Owomubitanda,’ The Voice of Uganda, December 19, 1974.
27 Interview by author with Stephen Wagaba in Rubaga, Kampala, July, 21, 2016
28 Ibid
29 Ibid