The nation-state Uganda, from its onset at political independence, is structurally designed to sustain cultural imperialism. The kind of cultural imperialism, in particular, that equates progress or being progressive to knowledge systems of the global-west.

The logical consequence is that the knowledge systems that continue to be prioritised by the nation-state Uganda are those that are exogenous of origin. Consequently, within the formal context of the nation-state Uganda, endogenous knowledge systems were diminished and subjugated, at best, or completely disregarded, at worst.

While the colonialists physically left Uganda, their knowledge systems remained and continue to wield significant influence over Uganda’s policy frameworks.

In practice, however, even though it is exogenous knowledge systems that are dominant within Uganda’s policy frameworks, their real positive influence at grassroots level is overrated. In the context of food systems and agriculture, in particular, it is the endogenous knowledge systems which dominate.

This is the thesis of a “Policy Report on Agriculture in Uganda”, researched and authored by Ms. Norah Owaraga from a cultural anthropological perspective. The pdf of this sixty-one page report is available on request from the author.