Humanist

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.

This attitude, case in point, is perhaps the real reason that Uganda has failed to move past having only English, its former colonizer’s language, as the official language of Uganda. And yet, Luganda, the language of Buganda Kingdom, the largest of the 65 first nations of Uganda, is widely spoken in Uganda and in its neighboring countries.

The logical consequence of this regressive mindset is that the knowledge systems that continue to be prioritised by the nation-state Uganda are those that are exogenous of origin. While the colonialists physically left Uganda, their knowledge systems remained and continue to wield significant influence over Uganda’s policy frameworks. All official government policy in Uganda, after all is in English.

Within the formal context of the nation-state Uganda, endogenous knowledge systems are diminished and subjugated, at best, or completely disregarded, at worst. 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, but sadly are under attack.