African art and history

 On the evening of the 16th March 2010 an intense fire swept through the royal enclosure at Kasubi Hill. As the flames spread across straw thatching and engulfed the immense grass hut structures housing the tombs of four of the Kingdom of Buganda's recent kings and their descendants, news of the loss of the UNESCO world heritage site filtered across the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Carried on radio airwaves and in the reports of mobile Boda-Boda drivers initial information was confused. By the time news reached a fellow researcher and myself around four miles from the scene, rumours had already begun to circulate as to the origins of the fire. There were suggestions of arson and even intimations as to the involvement of the national government of President Yoweri Museveni.1 On the morning of the 1 i h huge crowds of Ganda gathered at the location of the tombs to express their grief and anger over the loss of one of Buganda's key spiritual sites described by Buganda minister, Medar...

  In the pages which follow, the traditions surrounding the first eight (of a total of thirty-five) kings of Buganda's traditional history will be investigated from a perspective that has not been utilized before. I hope to demonstrate that these traditions—beginning with the establishment of the first king, Kintu, in Buganda proper and ending with the death of the eighth king, Nakibinge, at the hands of the Banyoro—form an interrelated set which can be analyzed structurally as myth. While so doing, I do not wish to imply that the traditions in question demand this type of analysis and no other; different perspectives have been and will be useful for understanding early Buganda and its traditions. But I do want to show that such a structure can be discerned in the traditions and that the existence of this structure should be taken into account regardless of the type of analysis to be undertaken. One task which will further these ends will be a discussion of the reasons for setting ...