‘Don’t Talk into my Talk’:oral narratives, cultural identity & popular performance in Colonial Uganda

The essay draws on available archival sources and conversations with performance practitioners to 'recover moments from the past'demonstrating the relationship between performers, society and the colonial masters.Performance in colonial Uganda was dominated by dance and song, although individual technical mastery of dance, song, and instrumentation was a prerogative of the professional performers and court musicians who played at the royal courts, beer parties, and market places. There are limited written materials available on indigenous performances of the colonial period in Buganda. However, the existence of a corpus of archival Luganda musical recordings, going back to the 1930s, and oral narratives of aged people, gives us an insight into performance activities of this period. Old musical recordings help us to understand various forms of performance about which we know little, and contribute to aspects of performance that have shaped contemporary Ugandan theatre. The essay identifies popular performances a form existing before colonisation, how these were ‘documented’ and what has survived. It examines how the texts, impacted on by complex colonial and missionary systems reveal syncretised popular performance infrastructures. Finally, it explores the notion of the body as a “memory” reflecting on selected Ugandan indigenous aesthetics of performance

Re-imagining Bertolt Brecht, redefining British Theatre: Oladipo Agboluaje's Mother Courage

Since 1979, among significant productions of Mother Courage that have been staged with predominantly black casts are included: Ntozake Shange’s successful American production staged on May 13, 1980 that sets the play at the American frontier during the Reconstruction period of the late nineteenth century; Joanitta Bewulira-Wandera’s Maama Nalukalala Ne’zzade Lye (Mother Courage and Her Children),first staged at the National Theatre, Kampala in 2009, which also toured in United Kingdom, U.S.A and South Africa; and Oladipo Agboluaje’s Mother Courage first produced at Nottingham Playhouse on 6 February 2004. An analysis of these adaptation, each relating to its political and social context, suggests that by constructing a link between the past and present theatrically, the playwrights are demonstrating that memory and political resistance are alive in theatre and continue to inform and shape dramatic works. Agboluaje’s reworked Mother Courage is a good reminder of the ‘classical’ text as a complex shifting concept acknowledged and used in various ways

Contemporary Muslims and human rights discourse: a critical assessment

This book is a majpr departure from what many may regard as the general trend of studies by Muslims on the human rights tradition. Whereas most authors on the subject ardently argue the case for human rights by tracing it from the traditional Islamic religious sources, this study poses an antithesis to that trend. The point of departure in this work is found in its in-depth investigation and critique of the theoretical foundations of the human rights issued by international organizations such as the United Nations or the Organization of African Union (now defunct) or the Cairo Declaration. Instead the real meaning of the human rights values should be found in the philosophical thought of its original authors, the Western thinkers, as well as in their common but unique experience in the historical process vis-a-vis the rest of humanity especially the orient, where the Islamic civilization thrives this day

Mathematical Modeling and Simulation of a One-Dimensional Transient Entrained-flow GEE/Texaco Coal Gasifier

Numerous gasifier models of varying complexity have been developed to study the various aspects of gasifier performance. These range from simple one-dimensional (1D) models to rigorous higher order 3D models based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Even though high-fidelity CFD models can accurately predict many key aspects of gasifier performance, they are computationally expensive and typically take hours to days to execute even on high-performance computers. Therefore, faster 1D partial differential equation (PDE)-based models are required for use in dynamic simulation studies, control system analysis, and training applications.;In the current study, a 1D transient model of a single-stage downward-firing entrained flow General Electric Energy (GEE)/Texaco-type gasifier has been developed. The model comprises mass, momentum and energy balances for the gas and solid phases. A detailed energy balance across the wall of the gasifier has been incorporated in the model to calculate the wall temperature profile along the gasifier length. This balance considers a detailed radiative transfer model with variable view factors between the various surfaces of the gasifier and with the solid particles. The model considers the initial gasification processes of water evaporation and coal devolatilization. In addition, the key heterogeneous and homogeneous chemical reactions have been modeled. The resulting time-dependent PDE model is solved using the method of lines in Aspen Custom ModelerRTM, whereby the PDEs are discretized in the spatial domain and the resulting differential algebraic equations (DAEs) are then integrated over time using a variable step integrator.;Results from the steady-state model and parametric studies have been presented. These results include the gas, solid, and wall temperature profiles, concentrations profiles of the solid and gas species, effects of the oxygen-to-coal ratio and water-to-coal ratio on temperature, conversion, cold gas efficiency, and species compositions. In addition, the dynamic response of the gasifier to the disturbances commonly encountered in real-life is presented. These disturbances include ramp and step changes in input variables such as coal flow rate, oxygen-to-coal ratio, and water-to-coal ratio among others. The results from the steady-state and dynamic models compare very well with the data from pilot plants, operating plants, and previous studies

A Bibliometric Analysis of Health and Medicine Research in Uganda

Background: Research is one of the many domains that help countries to provide solutions to various challenges and improve facilities. The bibliometric analysis measures the research output of individuals/research teams, institutions, and countries and identifies national and international research networks across the globe. Objective: To examine key research topics, interrelations, and collaboration patterns of published health-related research in Scopus from Ugandan institutions and authors. Methods: Using the search term "Uganda, health, medicine" in the title, abstract and keywords, documents published between 1963 and 2022 were retrieved from Scopus. The extracted records were analysed in terms of keywords analysis and collaboration networks. The R Bibliometrics package was used to analyse and visualise the data. Results: The results reveal to scholars and practitioners the most relevant authors, affiliations, publication sources, trends in research topics and collaborating countries. The results provide valuable information for more investigation into the revealed research trends. Conclusion: Bibliometric analysis of health research in Uganda revealed that the most frequent topics are medicinal plants, traditional medicine and herbal medicine. Research work on malaria, Covid-19 and HIV/AIDS is also evident. There is a significant research collaboration with authors from the United States and the United Kingdom

Status of professional learning communities in developing countries: Case of Vietnam and Uganda

What is the status of professional learning communities in Vietnam and Uganda? Is there a significant difference between the teaching experience of secondary teachers and how they see the relevance of professional learning communities on professional development in Vietnam and Uganda? The forementioned questions were explored by collecting data from secondary school teachers (n=345) in Vietnam and Uganda through a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) were used to analyze the data. The findings depict that involvement of secondary school teachers in professional learning communities and the associated contribution on professional development is ‘moderate’ in Vietnam whilst, it is ‘minimal’ in Uganda. It was also established that significant difference exists between the teaching experience of secondary teachers and how they recognize the relevance of professional learning communities on professional development. The findings suggest that relevant educational policies and adequate funding ought to be considered in order to make professional learning communities vibrant in both Vietnam and Uganda. This is deemed key to enhance secondary school teacher competence which in turn could lead to higher students’ learning outcome in Vietnam and Uganda respectively

Brecht in pidgin: Oladipo Agboluaje's mother courage in Africa

African British performances and dramas mutually share their collective interest in the tempestuous afterlife of colonialism and post-independence and the different vibrations they carry into the present but in Africa’s performance forms and the various cultural ‘beats’. Regardless of their routes to Europe, Africans living in new national spaces of the diaspora yearn for Africa; hence, African British performances that emerge are caught between the longing to present Africa, which they left behind or one that is fading in their memories, and the diaspora with its pervasive pitiless demands. The interpretation of African British plays demands a more nuanced appreciation not only because of the multi-stranded and multi-voiced identities, but because they share a collective interest in the complex ‘afterlife’ following political independence of Africa from the colonialists to the present. Oladipo Agboluaje’s Mother Courage demonstrates that theatrical presentation, informed by the African British playwrights’ identification with the African continent reproduce local, transnational and/or trans-border dimensions. The essay traces the dialogue between Agboluaje’s adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Brecht’s original text, focusing on how the African playwright’s travel between different ‘worlds’, across borders develops into a new web of ideas, characters, and words.N/