Tribe or Ethnic Group

Those who oppose using the word "tribe" desire that African ethnic groups are understood as similar to those elsewhere.

They want the complexity of these groups paid attention to, and are attentive of the word "tribe's" associations with notions of backwardness, atavism and superstition - its roots in colonial policies aimed at defining African societies and making them legible for control.

They are attentive to the fact that the term is only used to describe their cultural formations, of the fact that Western societies' cleavages would never be defined as tribes.

They also reject the notions of fixity, of common ancestry that come with the term "tribe", preferring the looseness of the term ethnic group, and how this acknowledges internal differences of language, culture and descent, and permits accretion.

Conversely, this, along with constant media use, may explain why many African people continue to use the term "tribe".

Even with their fictive kinships, many Africans may prefer to establish the bonds between them as based on common descent, as biological, than to acknowledge the complex ways in which their present-day ethnic groups were formed.

By Basil Ibrahim, Nairobi-based political consultant

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20465752 

Ugandan unity over open grave

With Dr. James Mulwana passed on the mentor of Uganda industrialization, an icon of local and regional entrepreneurship.  He was a very successful businessman, a philanthropist, and a seasoned diplomat.  And yet, throughout his life, he stayed a humble person.

Uganda has lost an exemplary personality, in business, social activities and politics.  Buganda kingdom has lost a great son of land who helped the Kabaka in many ways.  And Thailand has lost her honorary consul in Uganda.

Mrs. Sarah Mulwana has lost her caring husband, his children and grandchildren their loving father.

I have lost one of my best Ugandan friends.  For me, the name James Mulwana stands for honesty, integrity, hard work, friendliness, generosity, tolerance and humility.

The funeral service and the burial of Dr. James Mulwana at his ancestral home in Masiriba, kiboga districit, on Wednesday, with thousands of mourners in attendance, was not only a living documentation of “Who is Who in Uganda” but also a rare “showdown” of Ugandan unity over an open grave.

The president and the vice-president of Uganda were sitting relaxed next to the Katikkiro and the Mengo establishment.  Representatives of all political “shades” paid tribute to a personality who had been able to bring “friends and foes” together,

Clergy of different faiths and denominations joined in prayers for sending the souls of James Mulwana into the realm of eternal life.

All this was not a dream.  It was a beautiful picture in real setting.

However, it is very unfortunate that this demonstration of Ugandan unity needed the death of a Ugandan role model, Dr. James Mulwana, and took place over his open grave.

Is it “wishful thinking” to hope that Mulwana’s death may lead to change in the “mindsets”, and greater appreciation for the value of Ugandan unity?

It is a pity that the “good ones” pass on too early. James Mulwana was 76 years old, only.

By Klaus Holderbaum (former German ambassador to Uganda and a number of other African countries, now senior Presidential Adviser(Uganda) on tourism and investment.)