Norah Owaraga

Loss of a civilization – Iteso names and naming practices are vanishing

In the past, it would be like, today a woman in the other home has delivered a baby and we would all go for etal (a custom – in this case, ceremonies to celebrate the birth of a new child). Part of the naming ceremony was that when a name is given, the mother gives…

African Hairstyles for Beauty & Liberation

In our African societies, it used to be that braid patterns and hairstyles indicated a person’s community, age, marital status, wealth, power, social position, and religion. Our hairstyles for both men and women, it follows, therefore, were a powerful identification code system. For example, among the Iteso, my people, currently the fifth largest first nation…

Banana republic politics & Kakwenza-type writers

Banana republic is a derogatory noun to describe “a small state that is politically unstable as a result of the domination of its economy by a single export controlled by foreign capital” (definitions from Oxford Languages). While, one has not yet read either of Kakwenza Rukirabashaija’s books for which he has been arrested twice, one…

Family Unit, Politics and Governance in Uganda

Take, for instance, the family of Ms Agnes Namaganda, who is contesting for the Kampala Woman MP seat and is the flag bearer for the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, who has reportedly accused her husband for chasing her out of their marital home. Reportedly, she is complaining that her husband first banned her from…