Читать книгу Talkative Polity - Florence Brisset-Foucault - Страница 10

Acknowledgments

Talkative Polity is, as it should be, the product of a series of conversations held over the years with many different people to whom I am greatly indebted. I want to thank, first and foremost, all the women and men who were kind enough to answer my questions during my stays in Uganda. Not only did they give me time and knowledge, but I was always met with generosity, consideration, and patience. I am extremely grateful for all they agreed to share. Every one cannot be named here, but my thoughts go in particular to Dr. Edward Kayondo, Church Ambrose Bukenya, J.L., James Wasula, G.F., Dick Nvule, Hon. Moses Kasibante, Benjamin Bbaale, L.N., B.W., P.S., M.B., Robert Kabushenga, the staff at the Media Centre, Hon. Kaddu Mukasa, all the team from Radio Buddu, as well as Patrick Otim, Innocent Aloyo, William Pike, Andrew Mwenda, Kalundi Serumaga, Wilfred Mukonyezi Abooki, Patrick Bamanyisa “Ambassador,” Johnston Baguma, Solomon Akugizibwe Apuuli, Jon Bosco Tibeeha, and Gerald Kankya. I cannot but single out Angelo Izama, whom I am honored to have as a friend: I learned so much from our conversations; thank you for everything.

The wonderful staff of Radio One and Radio Two Akaboozi, particularly Lynn Najjemba, Hakeem Booza (my thoughts are every day with their little warrior), Enock Kiyaga, Michael Kisenyi, RS Elvis, the late Kizito Kayiira Sentamu, and all the others I have interacted with on the many, many occasions I wandered their corridors, deserve special praises. Among them is Geoffrey Mulinde Kiwanuka, whom I cannot thank enough for providing me with a real home in Nakulabye, for his friendship and for his unfailing support since the very, very beginning. In Nakulabye, I could always count on Mali Kirubine’s warm support over the years.

Translations into English from Luo, Lutooro, and Luganda were provided by Patrick Otim, Irene Kangume, Betty Hasacha, Michael Kisenyi, and Robinson Samuel Kisaka, whose input has been invaluable.

This book bears the mark of my years in Cambridge and the profound influence some of its astonishing scholars have had on my work. Sharath Srinivasan first opened for me the gates of Cambridge when I joined CGHR as a research associate. I will always be grateful for this opportunity and for the intense and highly enjoyable brainstorming sessions (and scary whiteboard filling!), with which Iginio Gagliardone and Alastair Fraser were also closely associated. A portion of the research for this book was carried out as part of the New Communication Technologies and Citizen-Led Governance in Africa project, developed by CGHR through the support and generosity of the Cairns Charitable Trust and the Isaac Newton Trust.

While in Cambridge, I became a junior research fellow at Trinity College and joined the Centre for African Studies (CAS). I am extremely thankful for the support both these institutions gave me. Formal and informal discussions with historians and anthropologists at CAS profoundly shaped the way I thought and studied the ebimeeza. I am particularly indebted to John Lonsdale, who, in addition to providing me with constant friendly encouragement, led me to explore how the ebimeeza were part of a deep and older conversation about what being a Muganda meant, and how the citizenship of distinction they harbored made sense within wider debates about civic virtue across the continent. I was also very lucky to engage in fascinating conversations with Harri Englund on vernacular and unorthodox uses of communication technologies in Africa. Emma Hunter’s timely and fruitful interest in the plural forms of citizenship in Africa, as well as Jonathon Earle’s captivating insights on the history of political thought in Buganda, considerably enriched my reflections.

This book is the product of the intertwining of these years in Cambridge with the French Africanist approach of political science in which I was originally trained: an approach of politics “from below,” concerned with its historicity, with people’s daily and ambivalent experience of the exercise of power and the complex sense they make of it. Richard Banégas introduced me to this approach. He was the first, when I was a student at the Sorbonne, to encourage me to explore the “imaginaires de la citoyenneté” through radio talk shows in Uganda, and this conversation still goes on. I owe him, his amazing pedagogic generosity, his brilliant suggestions, and his enthusiasm more than I can ever repay.

Over the years I have had the chance to benefit from the support, friendly advice, and acute insight of scholars such Johanna Siméant, Tilo Grätz, Dorothea Schulz, Yves Sintomer, William Tayeebwa, Andrew State, Richard Vokes, Valérie Golaz, Claire Médard, Henri Médard, Anna Baral, Pauline Bernard, Sandrine Perrot, Sabiti Makara, Julius Kiiza, and my friends and colleagues at the Groupe d’initiatives et de recherche sur l’Afrique (GIRAF). At Makerere University, the support of the Department of Political Science and the Department of Mass Communication has been invaluable. The French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) of Nairobi provided me repeatedly with logistical and friendly support.

Another warm “thank you” goes to Béatrice Hibou and Jean-François Bayart, to whom I am greatly intellectually indebted, and whose dedication in supporting alternative ways of doing research and grooming young researchers in Africa and Europe through the Fonds d’analyse des sociétés politiques (FASOPO) I salute here.

I was incredibly lucky and honored to work with such brilliant and thorough editors as Derek Peterson, Harri Englund, and Chris Warnes, and with such an efficient team as Ohio University Press. This work considerably benefited from their insight and the anonymous reviewers’ meticulous work.

Many thanks also to New Vision Publications, MonitorPublications Ltd., and the Observer for granting permission to use some of their material. Nicholas Sowels helped with the last edits through funds provided by the Joint African Studies Programme (PUF). My thanks for these final touches.

Last but not least, I want to thank Manuel for his unfailing support over all those long years and his great talent at finding titles; as well as our boys, Pablo and Missak, for being the astonishing little persons they are.