Maintaining Community and Identity as a Ugandan Post Expulsion
Loading...
Authors
Nathwani, Maya K. B.
Issue Date
2023
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
On August 4th, 1972, Asians in Uganda woke up to a nightmare: they had 90 days to leave the country, an order put in by Idi Amin, the President of Uganda. The expulsion left a large part of Uganda’s population under extreme duress. Uganda was their home and had been their home for multiple generations. All Ugandan Asians were forced to leave their homes, their livelihoods, but where would they go now that they had no home? If they were British citizens or British Protectorates, they became refugees but if they were Ugandan citizens, they became stateless. And regardless of their citizenship status before the expulsion, they lost their identity as Ugandans and were forced to obtain another in order to survive. As they dispersed to all parts of the globe such as England, Canada, and India, the communities, and identities they had built in Uganda would forever be changed. Belonging to a community or to a nation are feelings that help create an identity, both as an individual and a community. But how can you form and maintain an identity if that belonging is forcefully taken away? This research, and its findings from the conducted interviews, in conjunction with current literature surrounding the expulsion and theories of belonging, individual and national identity, and community, answer this main question, showing how that even through losing their homes, Ugandan Asians were able to rebuild and maintain communities and reform their identities post expulsion.
Description
1 broadside. 48"W x 36"H
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.