"I write what I like," like Steve Biko
“The family name comes first, the "first name" comes second. (And) Ugandan names are hellish to pronounce.”Francisco Toro Uganda’s sustaining legacies of colonialism include one’s “first name” not being their “family name”; and in many cases not a Ugandan name. Our colonizers required that we have their names as our "religious names"; and it is… Continue reading Expat Gaze Part 4 – Ugandan Names
A story in The Guardian, “Interview Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi: ‘Life is about making myth’,” has annoyed me. I first saw it when its link was shared on social media with the following comment extracted from it: "Feminism is failing to take hold in Uganda because of the discrepancy between middle-class and working-class women." I clicked… Continue reading Feminism is within each culture; none superior
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
