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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Negotiating social change: Ugandan discourses on Westernisation and neo-colonialism as forms of social critique
Author:Vorhölter, Julia
Year:2012
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies (ISSN 0022-278X)
Volume:50
Issue:2
Pages:283-307
Language:English
Geographic term:Uganda
Subjects:social change
images
modernization
neocolonialism
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/41653702
Abstract:A common claim, in public discourses and in postcolonial theory, is that colonialism, and more recently the aid industry and the media, have created global hegemonic norms, which have been enforced on non-Western societies. While this may be true in some respects, this article takes a different stance on the debate. It scrutinizes perceptions of Western-influenced social change in Uganda, and differentiates between discourses on Westernization and discourses on neocolonialism. Both are analysed as forms of social critique, one internally and the other externally oriented. The largely elitist discourse on neocolonialism is explicitly critical of the West and its interventions in Uganda. But it is not representative of the more ambiguous perceptions of Westernization among 'ordinary' people, who use references to the West to comment on contemporary Ugandan society. The article is based on empirical research in Northern Uganda. It focuses on discourses on gender, kinship and sexuality, and the recent debate on homosexuality. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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