Documenting and Presenting Contentious Narratives and Objects—Experiences from Museums in Uganda

Abstract

Uganda is currently witnessing a new era, in as far as the safeguarding of cultural heritage is concerned. The preservation and presentation of cultural heritage objects is no longer a preserve of the state. National and community museums, totaling about 25, and spread across the country, are now preserving and presenting important aspects of Uganda’s diverse and multi-layered history as well as cultural heritage. Former leaders and political personalities are rarely documented. Even when documented by non-museum workers, their narratives are insufficiently presented in museums. Certain aspects of Uganda’s cultural heritage and history are silently being contested through museum spaces. The silent contestations are generally influenced by ethnicity, politics, and religion. Through this article, I intend to present the predicament of documenting contested histories and cultural heritage by Ugandan museums and provide examples of museum objects or aspects of Uganda’s cultural heritage, such as the narrative of “Walumbe” (death), that are subject to contestations.