Glossary

Terms:

• Noble Savage: “a mythic conception of people belonging to non-European cultures as having innate natural simplicity and virtue uncorrupted by European civilization” (Merriam-Webster).

• Nsimb’egwire: “Ganda equivalent of Snow White, the beautiful girl whose wicked stepmother takes her into the forest and leaves her there” (Dowden).

• Radio Katwe: “the grapevine telegraph through which people got the news behind the news” (Seremba 28).

• Sandinista: Reference to the Nicaraguan revolution where “a left-wing group of revolutionaries overthrew President Somoza in 1979 and formed a socialist coalition government” (Dictionary.com).

• The Tanzanian Army: “The Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) are the armed forces of Tanzania set up in September 1964” with the “mission: to defend Tanzania and everything Tanzanian, especially the people and their political ideology” (Military.wikia).

• Ugandan Exiles: “In 1972, Amin expelled Uganda’s Asian population, which numbered between 50,000 and 70,000”, in 1979 the exiles along with the “Tanzanians took control of the capital of Kampala, forcing Amin to flee” (history.com).

Geography/Places:

• Buganda: “Buganda, powerful kingdom of East Africa during the 19th century, located along the northern shore of Lake Victoria in present-day south-central Uganda. Buganda’s insistence on maintaining a separate political identity contributed to Uganda’s destabilization after that country reached independence in 1962” (Britannica, “Buganda”).

• Kabaka’s Lake: “Situated in Ndeeba, … It is the largest man-made lake in Uganda and it is Africa’s excavated lake”. “The lake was constructed in 1880 to act as an “escape corridor” during the British armed conflicts” (Bwindigorilla).

• Kabaka’s Palace at Mengo: “the official residence of the King of Buganda… The building was duly converted to army barracks, while an adjacent site became a notorious underground prison and torture-execution chamber built by Idi Amin in the 1970s” (Uganda Tourism Centre).

• Kampala: “capital and largest city of Uganda. Kampala lies just north of Mengo, the capital of the kingdom of Buganda in the 19th century” (Britannica, “Kampala”).

• Mugwanya Preparatory School: “one of the oldest all boys primary schools in Uganda. It was built in 1960 under the supervision of Brothers of Christian instruction Kisubi” (Schoolnet Uganda).

• Nairobi: “the capital and largest city of Kenya. The area Nairobi currently occupies was essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built by the British in 1899 linking Mombasa to Uganda” (Nairobi.go).

• Namanve Forest: “At the time of civil unrest and political turmoil in the 1970s during Idi Amin's era the forest was a dumping ground for dead bodies” (New Vision).

• Nile: “The Nile River flows from south to north through eastern Africa. It begins in the rivers that flow into Lake Victoria (located in modern-day Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya), and empties into the Mediterranean Sea to the north, making it one of the longest river in the world” (National Geographic Society).

• Poet’s Corner of Idi Amin: The lake or the Nile where bodies are dumped during Amin’s era” (Seremba 50).

• Uganda: “a landlocked country across the equator in Eastern Africa bordering Lake Victoria in south east. Uganda achieved independence from the UK in 1962” (Nationsonline.org).

Important Names:

• Byron Kawada (1940-1977): “a playwright and artistic director of the Uganda National Theatre. He was murdered by Idi Amin in 1977 soon after returning from Lagos, Nigeria, where he led his team to the second World Festival of Black Arts and Culture” (New African).

• Christopher Okibo (1932-1967): “one of Africa's most prominent poets writing in English. In rhythmic, musical poems, he imaginatively blends African culture and ritual with such influences as Christianity and Western poetics” (Encyclopedia.com).

• Idi Amin (1925-2003): former Ugandan president, who “in 1971 overthrew Milton Obote, launching a ruthless eight-year regime in which an estimated 300,000 civilians were massacred. His expulsion of all Indian and Pakistani citizens in 1972—along with increasing military expenditures—brought about the country’s economic decline, the impact of which lasted decades” (history.com).

• Milton Obote (1925-2005): “the first prime minister of Uganda when the country gained independence in 1962. Overthrown by Idi Amin (1925–2003) in a military coup in January 1971, Obote went into exile for eight years in Tanzania. But he returned to Uganda in 1980 and was elected for a second term as president, only to be overthrown in yet another coup staged by Ugandan military officers Tito Okello (1914–1996) and Bazilio Okello (1929–1990) in July 1985” (Encyclopedia.com, “Milton Obote”).

• Robert Serumaga (1939-1980): a Ugandan playwright “who founded the National Theatre Company in 1967. His plays were all influenced by absurdism, the lack of narrative action mirroring the stagnation of Ugandan society under Milton Obote”. He later founded the Abafumi ("Storyteller") Theatre Company… he created a new dramatic form for Abafumi. By means of an abstract drama of physical movement and dance, political criticism of Amin could be enacted without censorship” (Peoplepill.com).

By: Casey Hua

Main Themes:

• Trauma

• Music

• Fables

• Violence

• Politics