Morality as identity: The missionary moral agenda in Buganda, 1877-1945

Journal of Religious History

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 51-74

  Musisi, Nakanyike B ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33847040972     PISSN: 00224227     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-9809.00073     Document Type: Article

References (139)

1. The adjective "morality" is used in this essay to refer to the CMS missionaries' discourse directed towards the Baganda in regard to issues of character/conduct considered as good/ civilized, ethical, etc. for a new Christian nation. "Moral agenda" is used to refer to a narrow concern with issues of sexual morality largely by the CMS missionaries as a means of exerting social and political influence in Buganda. The concept of "identity" is developed in the article to denote the very important missionary program of "conversion" and "membership" to a specific reference group. As politics, it concerns the discourse the CMS missionaries and elite male Baganda chiefs developed and organized around questions of religious, ethnic, and racial identity.
2. Peoples of principalities, whether in Koki, Buluri, Singo, and Masaka.
3. D. E, Apter, The Political Kingdom in Uganda (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961);
4. J. F. Cunningham, Uganda and its Peoples (1905; reprint, Cass: London, 1969);
5. Kenneth Ingaham, The Making of Modern Uganda (London: Allen & Unwin; 1958);
6. Apolo Kagwa, Ekitabo kwa Basekabaka be Buganda (The book of kings of Uganda) (1901; reprint Kampala: Uganda Bookshop and East African Publishing House, 1971);
7. Apolo Kagwa, Empisa za Buganda (The customs of Buganda) (1905), trans. May Mandlebaum Edel (New York: Columbia University Press, 1934);
8. Apolo Kagwa, Ekitabo kye Bika bya Baganda (The book of Ganda clans) (1912), ed. and trans. James D. Wamala (Columbia University Library and Makerere University, 1949, manuscript).
9. M. S. M. Kiwanuka, A History of Buganda: From the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900 (London: Longman, 1971);
10. A. D. Low, Buganda in Modern History (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1971);
11. A. D. Low and R. C. Pratt, Buganda and British Overrule (London: Oxford University Press, 1960).
12. H. M. Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, vol. 1 (New York, 1878), 193.
13. A. T. Matson, "The Instructions Issued in 1876 and 1878 to the Pioneer C.M.S. Parties to Karagwe and Uganda," Journal of Religion in Africa 12 (1981): 206.
14. Matson, 206.
15. Matson, 209-10.
16. Matson, 210.
17. A. Mackay, Mackay of Uganda by his Sister (New York, 1889), 175.
18. "Diaire de la Mission de L'Ouganda. Rubaga," vol. 2, 23 January 1882. White Fathers' Archives, Rome (hereafter cited as "Rubaga Diary").
19. He had once offered his daughter in marriage to O'Flaherty. O'Flaherty declined the offer on the pretext of old age. The daughter was then offered to Mackay in absentia. "Rubaga Diary," vol. 2, 23 January 1882.
20. Pierson to Wright 14 February 1879, Church Missionary Intelligencer (hereafter cited as CMI).
21. Mackay to Wright, 14 July 1879, Church Missionary Society Archives (hereafter cited as CMSA).
22. Pierson to Wright, 29 September 1879; Pierson to Wright 29 September 1879 CMSA.
23. Felkin to correspondent, no date; CMSA.
24. For example, see Wilson to Wright, May 1879;
25. Litchfield to Wright, 18 April 1879;
26. Bid, 16 May 1879;
27. Stokes to Secretaries, 18 October 1879;
28. O'Flaherty to Wigram. 22 December 1881;
29. Ashe to Chille-Long, 31 June 1896, G 3A6/81;
30. Felkin to Wright, 24 June 1879, G 315/03;
31. Wilson to Wright, 7 July 1879, CA6/025, all CMSA.
32. Matson. 197.
33. Mackay, 118.
34. For example, see "Rubaga Diary," vol. 0;
35. Livinhac to Lavigerie, 2 July 1879;
36. Litchfield to Wright, 3 July 1879;
37. Mackay to Wright, 14 July 1879, CMSA.
38. Litchfield to Wright, 3 January 1880, CMSA.
39. Meaning readers of foreign religions, a new category of people.
40. L. L. Kato, "Government Land Policy in Uganda 1889-1900," Uganda Journal 35 (1971): 153-60.
41. Copy of MacDonald Report of 1892 on Uganda Disturbances; 2, White Father's Archives, Rome.
42. MacDonald Report of 1892.
43. See Kiwanuka, A History of Buganda.
44. To use Homi Bhabha's metaphor. Homi Bhabha, "Signs Taken for Wonders: Questions of Ambivalence and Authority Under a Tree Outside Delhi, May 1817," in Henry Louis Gates, Jr, ed., "Race," Writing, and Difference (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 163-84;
45. and "The Third Space," in Jonathan Rutherford, ed., Identity: Community, Culture, Difference (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990), 207-21.
46. In his absence the chiefs nominated his infant son, Daudi Chwa, as heir to the throne.
47. The Lukiiko was to function only as an internal government of Buganda (for more details see Low and Pratt, Buganda and British Overrule). Significantly, the 1900 agreement did not give the Lukiiko the power to legislate even on "internal matters"; its resolutions required the approval of the colonial government before becoming law. Ingham, 168.
48. Two years old Daudi Chwa had been installed as kabaka by the Christian chiefs.
49. Kato, 153-60.
50. Mahmood Mamdani, Politics and Class Formation in Uganda (London: Heinemann, 1976), 43.
51. Apart from the subsequent addition of one county (Gomba) to the Muslims at the expense of the Protestants, the situation remained unchanged.
52. Extracts of E. C. Gordon to Mackay, 3-21 October 1889, CMSA.
53. H. W. West, The Mailo System in Buganda (Entebbe: Government Printer, 1964)
54. and The Transformation of Land Tenure in Buganda Since 1896, African Social Research Documents, vol. 2 (Cambridge: African Studies Centre, University of Cambridge, 1969).
55. Although some clan heads were allocated part or all of their Butaka, the land went to them not in their capacity as trustees for their clans, but as a private property. In fact clan heads were further dispossessed of their land by the task of finding 350 square miles of official estates for the kabaka imposed by the agreement.
56. CMS Report, 1904-1905: 108.
57. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism, rev. ed. (London: Verso, 1996).
58. This period that saw martyrdom is well covered by Kiwanuka, History of Buganda, and several other Buganda historians.
59. Kiwanuka, 6.
60. Miss M. S. Thomsett, Mengo, 3 October 1893;
61. R. H. Leakey, Koki, 25 October 1896;
62. Miss J. B. Purris, Gayaza, 4 November 1896
63. Miss E. M. Furley, Mengo, n.d.;
64. Miss G. E. Bird, Ngogwe, 27 October 1899;
65. Miss J. E. Chadwick, Mengo, 6 November 1900;
66. Miss S. R. Tunner, Ngogwe, November 1900;
67. Mr T. B. Fletcher, Kasala, n.d., possibly 1908 and 1910;
68. Rev. C. J. A. Burden, Rakai, n.d., possibly 1909;
69. C. J. Smyth, Gayaza, 28 November 1910;
70. A. L. Allen Girls Boarding School, Gayaza, and numerous others.
71. Joint letter by J. T. Willis, J. B. Biermans, and John Forbes to Governor, 19 April 1918, SMP 5368.
72. E. S. Haydon, Law and Justice in Buganda (London: Butterworth, 1960), 70.
73. Sir Harry H. Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate, vol. 1 (London; Hutchinson, 1902), 642.
74. Walker to mother, 9 December 1894, ACC 88 Letter 252, CMSA.
75. Buganda parliament, later to be called Lukiiko.
76. Walker to father, 28 February 1900, Walker Papers, to Sadler, 6 January 1903, Entebbe Government Archives (hereafter cited as ESA), A24.
77. The last one being in 1909. See J. M. Waliggo, "The Catholic Church in the Buddu Province of Buganda" (DPhil diss., University of Cambridge, 1976), 282.
78. Possibly of the Muzaana type. See Nakanyike Musisi, "Women, 'Elite Polygyny,' and State Formation," Signs 16 (1991): 757-86.
79. John V. Taylor, The Growth of the Church in Buganda (London: SCM Press, 1958), 55.
80. Taylor, 55.
81. Law of 4 September 1899, ESA, File 991/09.
82. Law of 20 May 1901, ESA, File 991/09.
83. Law of 20 May.
84. Law of 20 May 1901.
85. Thomsett, 3 October 1896. CMSA.
86. Leakey, Koki, 25 October 1886, CMSA.
87. CMS Report, 1897:119-20.
88. FO to Commissioner Sadler, 17 September 1902, A24 Special File, Harding A Salisbury
89. August (1902) FO 2/674;
90. also see H. F. Morris and J. S. Read, Indirect Rule and the Search for Justice: Essays in East African Legal History (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 217.
91. For the full discussion, see H. F. Morris and J. S. Read;
92. Uganda: The Development of its Laws and Constitution (London: Stevensis, 1966), chap. 16;
93. H. F. Morris, "Marriage Law in Uganda: 60 Years of Attempted Reform," in Family Law in Asia and Africa, ed. J. N. D. Anderson (New York: Praeger, 1968), 34-48.
94. Tucker to Sadler, 18 December 1902, telegram A 24;
95. Tucker to Sadler, 19 December 1902, ESA, A24.
96. Tucker to Sadler, 19, 22, 24 December 1902, FO 2/906.
97. Tucker to Baylis, 27 December 1902, No. 43 C 3 A7/03.
98. Tucker to Baylis, 13 January 1903, No. 43 A7/03.
99. The Times, 1 August 1903.
100. Minute of the synod, July 1910, Minute Book, Makerere University Library (hereafter cited as MUL).
101. Report of Tucker's Speech at Synod, 1909 Minute Book, MUL.
102. J. J. Willis, "The Policy of the Uganda Mission," 4 July 1912, CMSA.
103. Willis, 4 July 1912.
104. Protestant and Catholic Bishops to Governor, April 1918, ESA.
105. Protestant and Catholic Bishops to Governor.
106. Provincial Commissioner to Governor, 14 October 1916, ESA file 5368.
107. Provincial Commissioner to Governor.
108. Law of 16 November 1927, ESA File C 888.
109. Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol. 2, The Use of Pleasure (New York: Vintage Books, 1990).
110. ESA R/18 Baganda Native Criminal laws Adultery and Fornication Law.
111. Willis to Governor Coryndon, 13 March 1920, Bishop's Files, SMP 6013.
112. Baskerville to Chief Secretary, 13 January 1920, SMP 6013.
113. Canon Blackedge, SMP 5860.
114. Minute of Synod, April 1909.
115. Minute of Synod, July 1910.
116. E. Michaud, Vicar Apostolic of Uganda, to Albert R. Cook, January 1934, SMP C 2042.
117. Foucualt, The Use of Pleasure
118. Nakanyike B. Musisi, "Transformations of Baganda Women" (PhD diss.. University of Toronto, 1991).
119. E. L. Scott, The Chief Secretary's reply to the CMS letter, 10 October 1934, SMP; 22 Jan 1934 No. 2042, SMP.
120. Scott, Chief Secretary's reply, 10 October 1934.
121. Also see 8 and 21 November 1933, SMP C 1983/1.
122. Unfortunately I was unable to trace the court records to find out on what grounds she had obtained divorce.
123. Letter marked "confidential": Ag P. C. Buganda J. H. B. Landford to the Chief Secretary, 17 September 1934, C 2042, SMP.
124. Acting Chief Secretary S. A. Temple Perkins to Provincial Commissioner Buganda, 25 September 1934, SMP C 2042.
125. Michaud to Cook, January 1934.
126. East African Standard No. 88, copy in CMSA, G3 A7/2.
127. H. B. Hansen, Mission, Church and State in a Colonial Setting: Uganda 1890-1925 (London: Heinemann Educational, 1984).
128. Willis, Policy of the Uganda Mission, 1912 (1913), 18.
129. Now constructed as a homogeneous group-an imagined Christian nation.
130. Foucault, Use of Pleasure:
131. also see, Musisi, "Women."
132. Musisi, "Elite Polygyny."
133. Waliggo, 83.
134. John Roscoe. Twenty Five Years in East Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1921), 179.
135. They were particularly worried about what they perceived to be the effect of the newfound freedom for women from forced marriages, particularly the emergence of such social ills as "laziness," "prostitution," "female promiscuity and adultery."
136. The Women Missionaries' Conference, 17 January 1910, recommended to the synod the calling of women by their husband's name. Minute of Central Women's Conference, Mengo, 12 January 1910, CMSA. The resolution was passed in 1913.
137. Morris and Read, Indirect Rule, 222.
138. Morris, "Marriage Law in Uganda."
139. Hansen, Mission, Church and State, 302.