Browsing by Author "Juvonen, Tiina"

This thesis explores the interrelations and roots of conflict between the Indians and Africans in Kampala, Uganda. More precisely it focuses on how the historical middle-position of the Bayindi (Indians) is produced in contemporary Uganda by people living in the capital region and what the descriptions of ‘the other’ uncover about the Baganda’s own societal position. The study was carried out with an ethnographic approach, including a two month field research in Uganda. The research data consists of semi-structured interviews (21), participatory observations and tens of informal talks. Content analysis was employed to analyze the research data. The collected data demonstrates that the historical middle positioning of the Ugandan Indians is still produced in contemporary Uganda. Now, instead of the colonial setting of British at the top, Indians in the middle and the Africans on the bottom of the society, the Indians are perceived as the middle actors in-between the detested NRM government and the Ugandans. The construction of the Indians’ contemporary middle-position reveals some of the social, political and economic frustrations the Baganda have gone through as a group over the past half a decade. Though Museveni has re-established the traditional kingdom’s culturally they still don’t have the political or the economic power which the Baganda and the Mengo have yearned ever since the colonial times. The study concludes that the ethnic division lines are still alive in contemporary Uganda. Current conflicts, such as the Buganda riots in 2009, show clearly how the anxieties in contemporary Uganda are deeply rooted in the colonial era and how all the post-independent governments have failed to erase ethnic biases in the society.