Bio: I am a PhD student, currently writing my PhD thesis on the title, “Maternal Bodies, Culture and Motherhood in Postcolonial Uganda.” I am also a wife and mother and I have long been interested in how motherhood is interpreted and perceived in Uganda. I have a background in cultural and literary studies, education, and knowledge production in gendered perspectives. I have extensively interacted with studies of culture, politics, economics and power in relation to motherhood, especially in how mothers navigate culture, power, labour and the law to remain a focal point of society and discourse.
Abstract
The article examines how colonial and native culture(s) shaped the sexuality of mothers in colonial Uganda. Using Namasole (queen mother) Irene Druscilla Namaganda of Buganda as entry point, the article historicizes the sexuality of mothers through Namasole Namaganda’s struggles to attain sexual freedom at the cost of cultural and political privilege(s). It explores her life as she attempts to live beyond the legal and political scandal that re-shapes colonial and native influence in Buganda. I use African colonial feminist and motherhood theories to locate her within the broader framework of feminist and gender studies to answer key questions. How was the sexuality of mothers understood in Buganda? How can the events in Namasole Namaganda’s sexuality be interpreted? How do these events shape the collective logic of sexuality of mothers in Uganda? The article’s main claim is that the control of Namasole Namaganda’s maternal body lies within the broader quest for sexual freedom outside of her role(s) of mother and queen mother and more within her need to reclaim her sexual sovereignty.
A Mother’s Body is a Temple: of Sacred Spaces and the Sovereignty of Sex in Colonial Buganda
- JourMS - 