Christopher Muhoozi African Presidential Scholar, University of Michigan Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Tuesday, January 31, 2012
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
10383 Bunche Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Ethnic tensions in Africa continue to fuel scholarly interest in the study of ethnic relations, usually between two groups. In Uganda, Ankole in the southwest presents one such case of ethnic contestations with potential for violent conflict between the Iru and Hima.  The Iru are cultivators and constitute the majority and the Hima are pastoralists and the minority.  This paper traces the history of ethnic consciousness in Ankole in southwestern Uganda and is particularly interested in how the Iru and Hima distinguish themselves from each other and how a variety of status and occupational categories were re-shaped and re-directed by Ankole state builders.

Christopher Muhoozi is a lecturer in African History at the History Department, Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Christopher is presently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He works largely on the history of western Uganda and is particularly interested in how the Iru and Hima distinguish themselves from each other and the history of their distinctiveness.

Cost : Free and open to the public; pay-by-space and all-day parking ($11) available in lot 2.

www.international.ucla.edu/africa

Sponsor(s): African Studies Center, Department of History