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Imperialistic ideologies in children’s literature about Africa have still not disappeared today. As Edward Said (1993, p. 9) states in Culture and Imperialism “[i]n our time, direct colonialism has largely ended; imperialism […] [however] lingers where it has always been, in a kind of general cultural sphere, as well as in specific political, ideological, economic, and social practices”. Children’s books in particular offer themselves for imperialist ideologies, Maddy and MacCann (2009, p. 6) observe: “Children’s books retain their usefulness to the imperialist because they greatly oversimplify some information and at the same time make it easy for children to internalize a well-dramatized, well-crafted set of ideas”.

Various scholars, therefore, have examined contemporary children’s books that deal with Africa and discovered neo-imperialistic tendencies1 (Attikpoé, 2006; Maddy & MacCann, 2009; Richards, 1989). The researchers hold that contemporary novels such as A Girl Named Disaster (1996) by Nancy Farmer and Our Secret, Siri Aang (2004) by Cristina Kessler display stereotypes about Africa and Africans. Those books are often praised in Western countries, become bestsellers and are even awarded prestigious awards. But they portray Africa from a merely Western perspective and give their readers a false picture of the continent by presenting stereotypes and misconceptions, the scholars criticise.

Such wrong ideas about Africa portrayed in the children’s books of many Western writers include ‘dark continent’ mythologies, presentations of whites as superior, and degenerations of African customs and traditions. Even in the twenty-first century it is still true that,

[t]he jungle-type environment is still a favourite setting for books on Africa. Even books published in the last decade prefer a premodern, rural, or primitive setting, while modern city life, with its inherent adjustment to postcolonial realities, is totally ignored. It is the mysterious, Edenic, or traditional Africa that Western writers try to evoke. (Khorana, 1994, p. xxi)

Frequently, Western writers use children’s books about Africa to raise topics which are primarily of their own interest such as “environmental protection, Western feminism, disease prevention, law and order” (Maddy & MacCann, 2009, p. 18). Many of the books focus on development aid and the role Western development aid workers play in the ‘underdeveloped’ countries. They so depict societies which are in need of help from white people. Furthermore, international organisations often publish and distribute books by writers in African countries, also Uganda, on topics they consider educative for children. Sometimes writers are also given seminars and guidelines which instruct them in their writing. This may also be interpreted as a neo-imperialistic influence in children’s fiction.2

Neo-imperialism becomes apparent in yet another sphere: Even today the practice of importing Western texts to Africa continues. International development organisations such as Book Aid International, located in the UK, work “in partnership with libraries in Africa providing books, resources and training to support an environment in which reading for pleasure, study and lifelong learning can flourish” (Book Aid International, 2015). The organisation further explains on its website that most of the books that are sent to African countries are donated by UK publishers:

Our work would not be possible without the generous support of the UK publishing and book trade sector. Over 90 % of the books we send to our partners are donated by publishers and we work closely with our partners to understand their needs so that we can ensure the books we send are relevant and useful. (Ibid.)

Taking into account that school libraries in African countries are gradually filling up with books by mainly UK-based publishing houses like that, which in the case of school books are oriented towards the school curricula in the UK, I argue, however, their relevance may be questioned. Also in libraries and bookshops in the Global North children’s books by African writers are still rare. It is mainly small publishing houses which publish literature by writers based on the African continent and translate it into other languages, for example German. There are only a few children’s books by African writers which have gained international attention: “So far in German speaking countries the most important book of an African author is Meja Mwangi’s Kariuki and His White Friend (1991), which in 1992 was awarded the German Youth Literature prize” (Braunlein, 1997–1999, p. 46).

Thus, much of the children’s fiction about Africa and also the distribution structures remain imperialistic in one way or another. Colonial misconceptions “continue to define Africa in the lives of Western schoolchildren” (Maddy & MacCann, 2009, p. 113).

There is, however, an increasing amount of postcolonial African children’s literature that readers and educators can resort to. Before a closer insight into postcolonial Ugandan children’s literature is provided, a definition of the term ‘postcolonial’, particularly with reference to children’s fiction, is required.

Boehmer (1995, p. 3) defines postcolonial literature as literature which “critically scrutinizes the colonial relationship. It is writing that sets out in one way or another to resist colonialist perspectives”. Postcolonial3 writing is often described as writing back to the colonisers, the oppressors. The postcolonial subjects, the formerly silenced, raise their voices, speak for themselves and so become heard and recognised. For Perry Nodelman (1992) and Jacqueline Rose (1984), children’s literature and its criticism, however, are always colonialist. Perry Nodelman constructs many parallels between Said’s Orientalism (1978; see Chapter 2.4) and fiction for children. In children’s literature, children are usually spoken for by adults, he argues. In analogy to Said, Nodelman thus describes children’s literature as a study of ‘the other’ (1992, p. 29). Also according to Rose (1984, p. 10), “[t]here is no child behind the category ‘children’s fiction’, other than the one which the category itself sets in place, the one which it needs to believe is there for its own purposes”. She bases her line of argument on The Little White Bird (Barrie, 1902) but it may also be applied to other children’s literature. Mushengyezi (2008, p. 235), for example, questions whether there is really a child behind the category of oral Ugandan children’s literature:

If these texts (as we presume) are performed for a child audience, why are they often dominated by adult themes, and why do they employ layered language that only adults can decipher? Do adults use children’s songs as an arena for playing out their own agendas?

Other scholars, however, believe that children’s literature can also be postcolonial. For Bradford (2007, p. 7) the relationship between children and adults cannot be compared with that of Orientals and Orientalists: “children are always seen as occupying a state or stage that will lead to adulthood, whereas Orientals never transmute into Orientalists and are thus always and inescapably inferior”. She criticises that Nodelman does not take into consideration the question of ‘race’ which is actually essential for postcolonial theory. McGillis (1997, p. 8), who also points to the contradiction of postcolonialism and children, sees the possibility of children’s literature being postcolonial as children’s books “represent a challenge to the traditions of mainstream culture”. Introducing students at universities to children’s literature and making use of this literature in the foreign language classroom, may be evaluated as a postcolonial act itself since it contributes to the process of reconceiving the canon. In Khorana’s (2007, p. 17) view, postcolonial literature “speaks in multiple voices; it gives agency to and embraces all hitherto marginalized segments of the population—children, women, untouchables, and ethnic and racial minorities”. Taking these reflections into account, literature which gives children in Uganda, who were formerly often silenced, a voice and does not patronise them but provides them with the possibility to choose, to make decisions and to think critically, can be referred to as postcolonial.

Many Ugandan writers after independence gave their attention to the Ugandan child. They wrote down oral tales and explored current topics that were of interest to the children in the country. Children in Uganda are the main characters in the narratives and the stories focus on young people’s issues. The literature does not only portray the children as victims of circumstances but also as powerful actors who make meaningful contributions to their society. Some of the topics Ugandan children’s literature deals with and selected titles that were chosen for the inclusion in the extensive reading project are presented in the next chapter.