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A CITIZENSHIP OF DISTINCTION IN THE OPEN RADIO DEBATES OF KAMPALA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2013

Florence Brisset-Foucault
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Abstract

This article investigates practices of speech and sociability in open radio debates in Kampala to decipher imaginaries of citizenship in contemporary Uganda. In these ebimeeza (‘round tables’ in Luganda, also called ‘people's parliaments’) orators are engaged in practices of social distinction when compared to those they call the ‘common men’. These spaces of discussion reflect the importance of education in local representations of legitimacy and morality, whether in Buganda ‘neotraditional’ mobilizations or Museveni's modernist vision of politics. The ebimeeza and the government ban imposed on them in 2009 reveal the entrenchment of the vision of a ‘bifurcated’ public sphere, the separation of a sphere of ‘development’ and a sphere of ‘politics’, the latter being only accessible to educated ‘enlightened’ individuals – despite the revolutionary discourse and the institutionalization of the Movementist ‘grassroots democracy’ model in 1986.

Résumé

Cet article traite de pratiques de prise de parole et de sociabilité observées dans les débats radiophoniques en plein air de Kampala afin de déchiffrer des imaginaires de la citoyenneté en vigueur dans l'Ouganda contemporain. Dans ces ebimeeza (tables rondes en luganda, également appelées parlements du peuple), les orateurs sont engagés dans des pratiques de distinction par rapport à ceux qu'ils appellent les ‘hommes du commun’. Ces espaces de discussion reflètent l'importance de l'éducation dans les représentations locales de la légitimité et la moralité, que ce soit au sein des mobilisations ‘néo-traditionnelles’ du Buganda ou de la vision moderniste du politique selon Museveni. Les ebimeeza et leur interdiction en 2009 révèlent l'importance de l'idée d'un espace public ‘bifide’, de la séparation imaginaire mais aux effets bien concrets entre un espace du ‘développement’ et un espace du ‘politique’, ce dernier étant seulement accessible aux individus éduqués et ‘éclairés’, cela, malgré le discours révolutionnaire et l'institutionnalisation du modèle mouvementiste de la ‘démocratie du terroir’ en 1986.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , May 2013 , pp. 227 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2013 

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