Kakungulu and the Creation of Uganda, 1868-1928: 1868-1928

by Michael Twaddle

Overview

This is a history of the early days of Uganda. The account has an African focus because it shows the British takeover through the experiences of an extraordinary leader.

"At this spot in the year 1901 the British flag was first hoisted by Semei Kakanguru, emissary and loyal servant of His Majesty the King. He built here a boma which was for a short time the headquarters of the district. From this beginning came the establishment of peace and the development of orderly progress in this part of Uganda."

Michael Twaddle was shown this plaque in 1963 by a local government official who said "That man created the Uganda we Ugandans are fighting for today." And yet the local people had had the plaque removed to a bicycle shed.

How do people regard an African who had an active role in the creation of the imperial state? Was this man "a hero," "a collaborator," "a warlord"? The reaction of colonial officials was mixed. One considered him "...in point of general intelligence, progressive ideas and charm of manner...far above all other natives in the Protectorate..." Another dismissed him, along with his companions, as "no better than Masai or Nandi cattle lifters." And yet another viewed him as "undoubtedly...a partial religious maniac."

The story of this man is an example of the dilemma for a whole generation of East Africans at the turn of the last century. This book has been compared in its importance to Shepperson's and Price's Independent African.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821410592
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	12/15/1993
Series:	Eastern African Studies
Edition description:	1
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	14.00(w) x 22.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1600L (what's this?)

About the Author

Michael Twaddle teaches politics and history at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Hansen and Twaddle are the editors of two renowned books, Uganda Now (1988) and Changing Uganda (1991).

Editorial Reviews

Twaddle (history and politics, U. of London) chronicles the life and career of Semei Kakungulu, a native African leader who took an active and still controversial role in creating the colonial state of Uganda as an agent of the British crown. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Kakungulu's extraordinary story - the freebooting warrior, ill at ease in his adopted home, who assembled a large number of ambitious warrior followers, and then established with them his own dominion in areas where overlordship had not prevailed before, only to be stripped in slow motion of the prominence he had attained...as a biography of nineteenth-century Africa it is all but without peer.' - Anthony Low in AFRICAN AFFAIRS
...is compelling, and throws fresh light on the construction of colonial states, the constraints on Ugandans and British officials alike, the nature of conversion and the import of literacy - and above all on the ways in which colonial and post-colonial historical narratives have been constructed. This is awesome scholarship. - Donald Denoon in ASA of AUSTRALIA & PACIFIC
... Twaddle has put the historiography of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Uganda on to a quite new footing. - Christopher Wrigley in JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY
...a richly textured life and times of one of Uganda's most significant historical figures. Let us hope this fine book will mark a reawakening of research and publication on the history of the lakes region of eastern Africa. - David M. Anderson in ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW

From the Publisher