"I write what I like," like Steve Biko
These past couple of days, I have been reflecting on the power of a name. Specifically, the meaning to which we attach to our name; the meaning that others attach to our name; and what reactions our name elicits. Does our name keep us rooted within the culture of our ancestors or does it render… Continue reading Makerere fire is ancestors’ warning: decolonize
People have studied – have gone to school – have attained formal global-western education, and are in their work places there. When a child is born, it is no longer the case that the father of the child will even bother to ask the elders that: "a child has been borne what name should it… Continue reading Iteso naming rituals are disappearing
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… Continue reading Iteso names are vanishing
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… Continue reading African Hairstyles for Beauty & Liberation
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… Continue reading Banana republic politics & Kakwenza-type writers
