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“Village Life Is Better Than Town Life”: Identity, Migration, and Development in the Lives of Ugandan Child Citizens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Kristen E. Cheney
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Abstract:

This article contextualizes Ugandan urban–rural relations through urban children's knowledge, imaginations, and experiences, which are affected by the present sociohistoric moment in Uganda. Influenced by urban–rural migration, changing notions of family and kinship, and the national government's prolific “development-through-education” campaign, urban schoolchildren imagine “the village” both as an integral imaginary space of ethnic identity origination and a location for fulfillment of national citizenship through development.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Cet article contextualise les relations entre les milieux urbains et ruraux ougandais par le biais des connaissances, de l'imagination et de l'expérience des enfants en milieu urbain sous l'impact du moment socio-historique que l'Ouganda est en train de vivre. Influencés par l'évolution des notions de famille et de parenté, la migration entre les zones urbaines et rurales et la campagne prolifique menée par le gouvernement au niveau national sur le thème “développement par l'éducation,” les écoliers urbains conçoivent le “village” comme espace imaginaire intégral du berceau de leur identité ethnique et du lieu d'accomplissement de la citoyenneté nationale grâce au développement.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , December 2004 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2004

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