Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T18:17:24.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Musicking and Dancing Imbalu at Namasho: Enacting Indigenous Education Among the Bagisu, Uganda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2022

DOMINIC D.B. MAKWA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper discusses how the activities during which people gather to create, perform, and transmit imbalu circumcision music and dance at Namasho Cultural Site (NCS) become a platform for the Bagisu of the Balutseshe clan to tutor boys about society’s gender ideology, social histories, and rituals of the sacred swamp, thus turning the place into a communal classroom for imparting this knowledge. Due to the changing context of contemporary Bagisu, I argue for efforts to archive these events to make them accessible by future generations in order to uphold imbalu performances as a mechanism of knowledge production and dissemination.

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 53 , December 2021 , pp. 127 - 154
Copyright
© International Council for Traditional Music 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Agawu, Kofi. 2003. Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Agawu, Kofi. 2016. The African Imagination in Music. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berliner, Paul F. 1978. The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe. London and Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Chernoff, John Miller. 1979. African Rhythm and African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Fargion, Janet Topp. 2012. “Connecting with Communities: Building Sustainable Models for Audiovisual Archiving into the Future.” In Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond, ed. Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia and Solomon, Thomas, 49–59. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.Google Scholar
Feld, Steven. 1994. “Communication, Music, and Speech about Music.” In Music Grooves: Essays and Dialogues, ed. Keil, Charles and Feld, Steven, 77–95. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Friedson, Steven. 1996. Dancing Prophets: Musical Experience in Tumbuka Healing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Grant, Catherine. 2012. “Rethinking Safeguarding: Objections and Responses to Protecting and Promoting Endangered Musical Heritage.” Ethnomusicology Forum 21(1):31–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, Catherine, and Sarin, Chhuon. 2016. “Gauging Music Vitality and Viability: Three Cases from Cambodia.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 48:25–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heald, Suzette. 1999. Manhood and Morality: Sex, Violence and Ritual in Gisu Society. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kafumbe, Damascus. 2018. Tuning the Kingdom: Kawuugulu Music Performance, Politics, and Storytelling in Buganda. Rochester: University of Rochester Press.Google Scholar
Khamalwa, Wotsuna. 2012. “The Role of Music, Dance and Drama in Imbalu Rituals.” In Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond, ed. Sylvia, Nannyonga-Tamusuza and Thomas, Solomon, 63–70. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.Google Scholar
Khamalwa, Wotsuna. 2018. The Power of Culture and Identity: Imbalu Initiation Ritual Among the Bamasaaba of Uganda. Kampala: Makerere University Press.Google Scholar
Khanakwa, Pamela. 2016. “Male Circumcision Among the Bagisu of Eastern Uganda: Practices and Conceptualisations.” In Doing Conceptual History in Africa, ed. Fleisch, Axel and Stephens, Rhiannon, 115–137. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Makwa, Dominic D.B. 2005. “Role of Music and Dance Among the Bagisu of Eastern Uganda.” BA dissertation, Makerere University, Kampala.Google Scholar
Makwa, Dominic D.B. 2010. “Musicking and Dancing Imbalu Circumcision Rituals (Khushina Imbalu): Performing Gender Among the Bagisu of Eastern Uganda.” MA dissertation, Makerere University, Kampala.Google Scholar
Makwa, Dominic D.B. 2012. “From ‘Entering’ and ‘Hatching’ to Being ‘Clothed’ into Manhood: Integration of Music and Dance in Imbalu Circumcision Rituals Among the Bagisu (Eastern Uganda).” In Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond, ed. Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia and Solomon, Thomas, 71–92. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.Google Scholar
Makwa, Dominic D.B. 2016. “Collaborative Archiving of Music and Dance: Framework for a More-inclusive Postcolonial Archive Among Contemporary Bagisu, Uganda.” PhD dissertation, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.Google Scholar
Makwa, Dominic D.B. 2017. “Cultural Sites as Living Archives for Music and Dance Among the Bagisu of Uganda.” African Performance Review 9(2):54–74.Google Scholar
Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia. 2005. Baakisimba: Gender in Music and Dance of the Baganda People of Uganda. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia. 2015. “Music as Dance and Dance as Music: Interdependence and Dialogue in Baganda Baakisimba Performance.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 47:81–96.Google Scholar
Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia. 2006. “Constructing the Popular: Challenges of Archiving Ugandan ‘Popular’ Music.” Current Writing 18(2):33–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nannyonga-Tamusuza, Sylvia, and Weintraub, Andrew N.. 2012. “The Audible Future: Reimagining the Role of Sound Archives and Sound Repatriation in Uganda.” Ethnomusicology 56(2):206–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nketia, J.H. Kwabena. 1974. The Music of Africa. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Omolewa, Michael. 2007. “Traditional African Modes of Education: Their Relevance in the Modern World.” International Review of Education 53:593–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Onsrud, Silje Valde. 2015. “Gender Performativity through Musicking: Examples for a Norwegian Classroom Study.” Nordic Research in Music Education: Yearbook 16:69–86.Google Scholar
Ortner, Sherry B. 1996. The Making of Gender: The Politics and Erotics of Culture. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Ozah, Marie Agatha. 2015. “Moninkim: A Symbiotic Performance of Ritual, Music, and Dance by the Ejagham People of Nigeria and Cameroon.” Ethnomusicology 59(3):421–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Semali, Ladislaus, and Stambach, Amy. 1997. “Cultural Identity in an African Context: Indigenous Education and Curriculum in East Africa.” Folkore Forum 28(1):3–27.Google Scholar
Small, Chirstopher. 1998. Musicking: The Meaning of Performing and Listening. Hanover and London: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Spradley, James. 1979. The Ethnographic Interview. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.Google Scholar
Ssempijja, Nicholas. 2012. “The ‘Native,’ the ‘Halfie,’ and Autoethnography: Ethics and Researcher Identity in Fieldwork.” Nordic Research in Music Education: Yearbook 14:217–235.Google Scholar
Ssempijja, Nicholas. 2015. “Musical Performance, Meaning and Power: A Postcolonial Perspective.” In African Musics in Context: Institutions, Culture, Identity, ed. Solomon, Thomas, 105–142. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.Google Scholar
Tamale, Sylvia. 1999. When Hens Begin to Crow: Gender and Parliamentary Politics in Uganda. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.Google Scholar
Tamale, Sylvia. 2005. “Eroticism, Sensuality and ‘Women’s Secrets’ Among the Baganda: A Critical Analysis.” Feminism 5:9–36.Google Scholar
Tamale, Sylvia. 2012. “Introduction.” In African Sexualities: A Reader, ed. Tamale, Sylvia, 1–7. Cape Town: Pambazuka Press.Google Scholar
Tough, Alistair G. 2012. “Oral Culture, Written Records and Understanding the Twentieth Century Colonial Archive. The Significance of Understanding from Within.” Archival Science 12:245–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, Victor W. 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Ithaca and New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Uganda Bureau of Statistics. 2016. The National Population and Housing Census, 2014. Kampala: The Republic of Uganda.Google Scholar
van Gennep, Arnold. 1960. The Rites of Passage. London: Routledge and Kegan.Google Scholar
Walser, Robert. 1993. Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Middletown and Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Wangusa, Timothy. 1989. Upon this Mountain. Johannesburg: Heinemann.Google Scholar
West, Candace, and Zimmerman, Don H.. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender and Society 1(2):125–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masata, Phares. Interview by author. Bituwa Village, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 3 July 2020.Google Scholar
Mutinye, Abas. Interview by author. Namasho Cultural Site, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 24 August 2010.Google Scholar
Namara, Sam Fred, and Wapayule, Lawrence. Interview by author. Khama Trading Centre, Nangako Town Council (Bududa District). 18 June 2020.Google Scholar
Wanambwa, Michael. Interview by author. Namasho Cultural Site, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 25 February 2015.Google Scholar
Wangokho, Paul. Interview by author. Shiluku Village, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 22 August 2012.Google Scholar
Wazemba, Abiasa Zeruya. Interview by author. Shiluku Village, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 27 September 2013.Google Scholar
Masata, Phares. Interview by author. Bituwa Village, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 3 July 2020.Google Scholar
Mutinye, Abas. Interview by author. Namasho Cultural Site, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 24 August 2010.Google Scholar
Namara, Sam Fred, and Wapayule, Lawrence. Interview by author. Khama Trading Centre, Nangako Town Council (Bududa District). 18 June 2020.Google Scholar
Wanambwa, Michael. Interview by author. Namasho Cultural Site, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 25 February 2015.Google Scholar
Wangokho, Paul. Interview by author. Shiluku Village, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 22 August 2012.Google Scholar
Wazemba, Abiasa Zeruya. Interview by author. Shiluku Village, Bulucheke Sub-County (Bududa District). 27 September 2013.Google Scholar