Identity, Ownership and Tradition in Ugandan Oral Culture

How do oral forms that have existed for generations reinvent themselves to remain valid in a high-tech world, in which communication is affected through cell phone and email? Who owns a song that has grown over decades, in and through the voices of a community? And what are the intellectual copyrights of a street performer when his act is posted on You Tube?

These are some of the questions raised by the authors of this, the second collection of essays produced by scholars from Makerere University, as part of a continuing research project with the University of Bergen.

Other writers explore issues of gender, in forms such as marriage songs and praise poetry, or in the appropriation of stories of heroic women to offer role models to young women making their way in competitive fields of activity in the new African economy.

In addressing these and other issues, the writers in this collection present and preserve aspects of an oral culture of great richness and diversity, showing its continuity in the fact of the threats, and the opportunities, of unprecedented social change.

Contents

Acknowledgments 7

Notes on Contributors 9

Prologue: Journey to Ritual
Stuart Sillars 13


Ownership and Recording

1 ‘You have stolen our feet!’ Intellectual Property Issues and Intangible Folklore Forms
Okello Ogwang 21

2 Riddle Performance: The Evasive, the Popular and the Enigmatic in the Written Form
Cornelius Wambi Gulere 45

Gender and Change

3 Heroic Women in the Legends of Ankole and Kigezi
Aaron Mushengyezi 69

4 Myths and Core Values: Circumcision of the Mind
Wotsuna Khamalwa 90

5 Representations of Masculinity in Ganda Myth
Saidah Namayanja 106

6 Marriage, Family and Praise Poetry in Toro Society
Isaac Tibasiima 121

7 Gender Power Relations in Soga Marriage Songs
Lillian Bukaayi 143

8 Reconstructing Traditional Heroism in Contemporary Contexts: The Case of Princess Koogere Atwooki of Tooro

Dominica Dipio 160

Society and Identity

9 Talking Animals and Cultural Identity: The Role of Fables in Constructing Ganda Community Psyche
Abasi Kiyimba 183

10 Mapping the Dream of Cultural Continuity: Songs at Enkuuka y’omwaka
Susan Nalugwa Kiguli 209


ISBN 978-82-7099-552-3, 230 pp., paperback
Format: 14,5x20,5 cm, weight 0,35 kg, year of publication 2009, language: English