Danson Sylvester Kahyana
Biographic Data
| ID | 138586 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Danson Sylvester Kahyana |
| GIVEN NAMES | Danson Sylvester |
| FAMILY NAME | Kahyana |
| SIGNATURE | KAHYANA D S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Makerere University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7560-451X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Depictions of Mourning and Personhood in Stella Nyanzi’s Prison Poetry
This paper examines how Stella Nyanzi eulogizes the baby she miscarried while in incarceration at Luzira Women’s Prison. Closely reading two poems on this subject from her prison-authored poetry collection entitled No Roses from My Mouth (2020), I argue that Nyanzi deploys poetry to write the injustices meted out on her by the prison officers, whom she blames for the loss of her baby. Unable to bury her child because the officers insist that a mi…
Arrested decolonisation and post-independence disorderliness
An epidemic of corruption
Good news for tyrants
A fatal game of international hide and seek
Singing for a revolution
Controlling dissent, Controlling Sexuality in uganda
Culture, tradition and healthcare
In southwestern Uganda, a custom of health and social support has been managed through collective organizations known as engozi for centuries. Subscribers advanced help for those who were not able to provide for themselves and their households. Participants pooled financial and food resources, offered emotional assistance, and aided in transporting patients to hospitals. The institution of "free government health amenities" caused the decline of …
When the old fox walks the tightrope
Setting the story straight
This great stage of fools
The smile that says a thousand words
Mythopoetic environmental ethics
Re-Imagining Bobi Wine
During the 2019 Guild elections in two Ugandan public universities (Makerere and Kyambogo), poetry performances in the form of songs were deployed by some candidates to articulate particular ideological perspectives. This paper examines the poetics and politics of the songs – the aesthetics of the musical performances themselves and their power in mobilising large crowds for the guild vote. I argue that poetry performances in the form of songs do…
From a Habit to a Husband
This paper examines how John Ruganda represents the intersection between religion and masculinities in his play, The Burdens (1972), which imagines an ex-Catholic nun marrying and bringing up a family. It argues that literary texts are an important avenue through which the intersection between religion and gender can be explored, leading to a rich harvest of nuanced insights. Data is collected through a close reading of the play under analysis, w…
Reading Two Ugandan Sketch Comedies as Social Critiques1
YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp – among other social media platforms – circulate many sketch comedies by Ugandan artists, such as Siraje Sebbanja (stage name: Muzei Kalali), Allan Mujuni (stage name: Amooti Omubalanguzi), Dickson Zzizinga and Anne Kansiime, to mention but a few. This article investigates the manner in which two of these comedies – “Embaga ya Mayor” and “Kwanjula kw’Omuyaaye Ganja” – offer social critiques on pertinent issues in t…
The People’s Republic of China as Imagined in Taddeo Bwambale Nyondo’s Around China in 300 Days
My article contributes to the current debates on travel, with special emphasis on Africans’ travels to China. I theorize travel writing from a South-South perspective, thereby bypassing the European colonial era, which is usually considered the watershed of travel writing. Besides, I interrogate the uncritical praise of China by the Ugandan traveller, Taddeo Bwambale Nyondo, as well as the absence of criticism of the country even when there are m…
A General Introduction
Versifying as reckoning
Shifting marginalities in Ham Mukasa and Sir Apolo Kagwa's Uganda's Katikiro in England
In Uganda’s Katikiro in England (a record of the journey that Sir Apolo Kagwa and his personal secretary, Ham Mukasa, made to England to attend the coronation of Edward VII) there are several instances where Mukasa and Kagwa seem to occupy a marginal position as colonized subjects. Yet there are also moments when Kagwa and Mukasa are not marginal at all (for instance as Christ’s Generals who have just fought two major religious wars in Buganda, a…
The Poetics of Place and Space in Michael David Kyazze’s Zimbabwe-Set Novel Rustlings of the Mulberry Tree (2014)
The essay explores the centrality of place and space in the Ugandan Michael David Kyazze’s Zimbabwe-set Rustlings of the Mulberry Tree (2014), a novel which details the fight against pederasty of some Pentecostal Church pastors. One of the issues examined is why this novel, which is a fictionalized account of real-life events that happened in Uganda, is set in Zimbabwe. I argue that if we look at Zimbabwe not just as a geographical reality—i.e. a…
Writing dictatorship and misrule in Uganda
This article explores the portrayal of one aspect of the theme of dictatorship and misrule in Susan Nalugwa Kiguli’s first collection of poems, The African Saga, that is, the cruel leadership that is blind to the humanity of the ruled. I argue that Kiguli’s writing of post-independence leadership in Uganda is unique in its use of vivid images that help the reader to visualise how rulers like Idi Amin and Milton Apollo Obote brutalised their compa…
The Potential Role of Orature in Fighting the Spread of HIV/Aids
Narrating National Identity
French Abstract (Résumé) La narration de l'identité nationale: fiction citoyenneté et l'expérience asiatique en Afrique de l'Est Cet article porte sur une construction littéraire de la question de la citoyenneté en Afrique de l'Est. Il examine la manière dont l'identité nationale et la citoyenneté sont abordées dans les romans d'Africains d'origine asiatique, notamment dans ceux de M.G. Vassanji (The Gunny sack), de Yusuf K. Dawood (Water under t…
Shifting marginalities in Ham Mukasa and Sir Apolo Kagwa's Uganda's Katikiro in England
In Uganda’s Katikiro in England (a record of the journey that Sir Apolo Kagwa and his personal secretary, Ham Mukasa, made to England to attend the coronation of Edward VII) there are several instances where Mukasa and Kagwa seem to occupy a marginal position as colonized subjects. Yet there are also moments when Kagwa and Mukasa are not marginal at all (for instance as Christ’s Generals who have just fought two major religious wars in Buganda, a…
Writing dictatorship and misrule in Uganda
This article explores the portrayal of one aspect of the theme of dictatorship and misrule in Susan Nalugwa Kiguli’s first collection of poems, The African Saga, that is, the cruel leadership that is blind to the humanity of the ruled. I argue that Kiguli’s writing of post-independence leadership in Uganda is unique in its use of vivid images that help the reader to visualise how rulers like Idi Amin and Milton Apollo Obote brutalised their compa…
Culture, tradition and healthcare
In southwestern Uganda, a custom of health and social support has been managed through collective organizations known as engozi for centuries. Subscribers advanced help for those who were not able to provide for themselves and their households. Participants pooled financial and food resources, offered emotional assistance, and aided in transporting patients to hospitals. The institution of "free government health amenities" caused the decline of …
The People’s Republic of China as Imagined in Taddeo Bwambale Nyondo’s Around China in 300 Days
My article contributes to the current debates on travel, with special emphasis on Africans’ travels to China. I theorize travel writing from a South-South perspective, thereby bypassing the European colonial era, which is usually considered the watershed of travel writing. Besides, I interrogate the uncritical praise of China by the Ugandan traveller, Taddeo Bwambale Nyondo, as well as the absence of criticism of the country even when there are m…
Narrating National Identity
French Abstract (Résumé) La narration de l'identité nationale: fiction citoyenneté et l'expérience asiatique en Afrique de l'Est Cet article porte sur une construction littéraire de la question de la citoyenneté en Afrique de l'Est. Il examine la manière dont l'identité nationale et la citoyenneté sont abordées dans les romans d'Africains d'origine asiatique, notamment dans ceux de M.G. Vassanji (The Gunny sack), de Yusuf K. Dawood (Water under t…
The Potential Role of Orature in Fighting the Spread of HIV/Aids
Writing dictatorship and misrule in Uganda
This article explores the portrayal of one aspect of the theme of dictatorship and misrule in Susan Nalugwa Kiguli’s first collection of poems, The African Saga, that is, the cruel leadership that is blind to the humanity of the ruled. I argue that Kiguli’s writing of post-independence leadership in Uganda is unique in its use of vivid images that help the reader to visualise how rulers like Idi Amin and Milton Apollo Obote brutalised their compa…
The Poetics of Place and Space in Michael David Kyazze’s Zimbabwe-Set Novel Rustlings of the Mulberry Tree (2014)
The essay explores the centrality of place and space in the Ugandan Michael David Kyazze’s Zimbabwe-set Rustlings of the Mulberry Tree (2014), a novel which details the fight against pederasty of some Pentecostal Church pastors. One of the issues examined is why this novel, which is a fictionalized account of real-life events that happened in Uganda, is set in Zimbabwe. I argue that if we look at Zimbabwe not just as a geographical reality—i.e. a…
Shifting marginalities in Ham Mukasa and Sir Apolo Kagwa's Uganda's Katikiro in England
In Uganda’s Katikiro in England (a record of the journey that Sir Apolo Kagwa and his personal secretary, Ham Mukasa, made to England to attend the coronation of Edward VII) there are several instances where Mukasa and Kagwa seem to occupy a marginal position as colonized subjects. Yet there are also moments when Kagwa and Mukasa are not marginal at all (for instance as Christ’s Generals who have just fought two major religious wars in Buganda, a…
Versifying as reckoning
From a Habit to a Husband
This paper examines how John Ruganda represents the intersection between religion and masculinities in his play, The Burdens (1972), which imagines an ex-Catholic nun marrying and bringing up a family. It argues that literary texts are an important avenue through which the intersection between religion and gender can be explored, leading to a rich harvest of nuanced insights. Data is collected through a close reading of the play under analysis, w…
Reading Two Ugandan Sketch Comedies as Social Critiques1
YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp – among other social media platforms – circulate many sketch comedies by Ugandan artists, such as Siraje Sebbanja (stage name: Muzei Kalali), Allan Mujuni (stage name: Amooti Omubalanguzi), Dickson Zzizinga and Anne Kansiime, to mention but a few. This article investigates the manner in which two of these comedies – “Embaga ya Mayor” and “Kwanjula kw’Omuyaaye Ganja” – offer social critiques on pertinent issues in t…
The People’s Republic of China as Imagined in Taddeo Bwambale Nyondo’s Around China in 300 Days
My article contributes to the current debates on travel, with special emphasis on Africans’ travels to China. I theorize travel writing from a South-South perspective, thereby bypassing the European colonial era, which is usually considered the watershed of travel writing. Besides, I interrogate the uncritical praise of China by the Ugandan traveller, Taddeo Bwambale Nyondo, as well as the absence of criticism of the country even when there are m…
A General Introduction
Re-Imagining Bobi Wine
During the 2019 Guild elections in two Ugandan public universities (Makerere and Kyambogo), poetry performances in the form of songs were deployed by some candidates to articulate particular ideological perspectives. This paper examines the poetics and politics of the songs – the aesthetics of the musical performances themselves and their power in mobilising large crowds for the guild vote. I argue that poetry performances in the form of songs do…
The smile that says a thousand words
Mythopoetic environmental ethics
When the old fox walks the tightrope
Setting the story straight
This great stage of fools
A fatal game of international hide and seek
Singing for a revolution
Controlling dissent, Controlling Sexuality in uganda
Culture, tradition and healthcare
In southwestern Uganda, a custom of health and social support has been managed through collective organizations known as engozi for centuries. Subscribers advanced help for those who were not able to provide for themselves and their households. Participants pooled financial and food resources, offered emotional assistance, and aided in transporting patients to hospitals. The institution of "free government health amenities" caused the decline of …
Arrested decolonisation and post-independence disorderliness
An epidemic of corruption
Good news for tyrants
Depictions of Mourning and Personhood in Stella Nyanzi’s Prison Poetry
This paper examines how Stella Nyanzi eulogizes the baby she miscarried while in incarceration at Luzira Women’s Prison. Closely reading two poems on this subject from her prison-authored poetry collection entitled No Roses from My Mouth (2020), I argue that Nyanzi deploys poetry to write the injustices meted out on her by the prison officers, whom she blames for the loss of her baby. Unable to bury her child because the officers insist that a mi…
Political science (16 works) · Sociology (12 works) · History (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · African history and culture studies (6 works) · Art (6 works) · Media studies (6 works) · African studies and sociopolitical issues (4 works)