ETHNOGRAPHIES ON CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

Ethnographies on Cultural Institutions

Ethnographies On Cultural

Introduction

One explosive political problem the government handled constitutionally was the long-standing dispute between the Buganda and Bunyoro Kingdoms over the so-called 'lost counties'. These were counties that belonged to the Bunyoro Kingdom before the onset of colonialism but were given to the Buganda Kingdom as appreciation for its assistance in the conquest of the Bunyoro Kingdom by the British. The colonial government left it to the government of the newly independent state to settle this issue through a referendum. (Smith, 1992) The referendum was held in 1964 as was required by the independence constitution. The population in the two counties voted overwhelmingly for their return to the Bunyoro Kingdom. This democratic solution to the problem of ethnic conflict instead provoked ethnic antagonism between Buganda and Bunyoro on the one hand, and the central government and the Buganda Kingdom, on the other. The Buganda Kingdom was not content with the way the dispute was handled by the government of Milton Obote. This resulted in a strain between the Buganda Kingdom and the central government culminating in the break-up of the UPC/KY alliance formed at independence. (Nederveen, 1996)

Family Structure

It is the argument of this paper that much of the explanation of the causes of ethnicity, ethnic conflict, militarism and the possible solutions to them in the Ugandan context, obstructs an understanding of the substantive underlying political, economic and social configurations that enhance ethnicity. The intricate ethnic configuration and militarism in Uganda's politics lies in their historical construction and continued reproduction since independence in 1962. Ethnicity is neither primordial (archaic) nor static. All societies are plural because human organisation is based on cognition of different levels of identity - family, clan, village, tribe, religion, language region or nationality. (Stone, 1992) Pluralism in itself is not problematic except when certain groups perceive that they are being excluded from what they consider to be their rights, whether political, religious, administrative, economic or linguistic. The central problem posed by exclusion is domination. Since ethnicity is made or constructed it can be deconstructed. The answers to the dilemma posed by ethnicity and forces of its deconstruction must lie in structural changes, which address political, social and economic inequity and imbalances in power in a given society. The answer, in other words, points to good governance and democratisation. Rather than resist or negate the process of group definition, it is more useful to evolve less antagonistic ways of promoting co-existence between groups. Democratisation of state power is fundamental in this process. (Katabarwa, 1999b)

Ethnicity is neither primordial (archaic) nor static. All societies are plural because human organisation is based on cognition of different levels of identity - family, clan, village, tribe, religion, language region or nationality. Pluralism in itself is not problematic except when certain groups perceive that they are being excluded from what they consider to be their rights, whether political, religious, administrative, economic or linguistic. The central problem posed by exclusion is ...