Humanities & Social Sciences
ICGSA 2022 Sets the Pace for Re-Imagining Future of Gender Studies
The International Conference on Gender Studies in Africa (ICGSA) closed on a high note on Friday 25th February, 2022 with resolutions on how to champion Gender Studies on the African continent. These called for the need to; theorise from the African context, network across the academia at local level, teach better, conduct more research and mentorship, as well as network more between academia and the field of practice in Africa and internationally.
“Networking across the academy on the continent is very important” emphasised Assoc. Prof. Sarah Ssali, the Dean, School of Women and Gender Studies (SWGS), Makerere University. “We have been able to inspire many other gender units to come up on the African continent; the current one being worked on is with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, which is being spearheaded by Dr. Tabitha Mulyampiti,” she added.
Other resolutions shared by Assoc. Prof. Ssali included the need to build a community of practice comprised of teachers and practitioners at the continental level as well as document and archive more in order to build memories.
“This is one of the things that is lacking heavily in Africa not just in Gender Studies but all over; we are constantly researching because we don’t know what those before us did. This creates a problem in that the memories become fractured,” she explained.
To help galvanise all these aspirations, ICGSA 2022 resolved to establish a Pan-African feminist network for Women and Gender Studies. “This is supposed to be a platform that is going to bring together the 500+ Gender Scholars and those yet to come, to build a better community of practice, academia and take the discipline further” Assoc. Prof. Ssali added.
The resolutions shared by the Dean tied in nicely with those of fellow panelist Prof. Shefer Tamara, Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa, as well as those of Prof. Joy Kwesiga, Vice Chancellor, Kabale University who chaired the Fifth and final Plenary Panel on The Future of Gender Studies in Africa.
Prof. Kwesiga in her presentation themed The Door is only Ajar made a few propositions to help Gender Studies Open the Door Fully, and Enter the Corridors of Power and Equity. These included;
- The need to acknowledge that Gender Studies are varied and their enhancement require both general and specific interventions.
- Curriculum reviews that emphasise transformatory areas (e.g. masculinity) are urgently required.
- The need to record and know our history: it underpins our cultural norms and practices, and informs us about the origins of gender inequality in our specific environment.
- Form networks along interests and specialties (education, health, economics, training, etc), regionally and even on linguistic basis.
- Learn from experience of the 1995 Beijing International Conference on Women – a stimulant to Gender Studies and birth of many organisations that promote gender equality.
Prof. Tamara in her reiteration critically observed that “Imagining future possibilities requires working with our pasts, especially those that continue to haunt us in the present.” These, she noted, include neoliberal capitalism and its consumerist universities, “where critical feminist scholarship only matters when it is packaged in particular ways and proliferates particular kinds of outputs. “
She called for the need to decolonise the curriculum by adopting alternative approaches to the classroom such as emphasis on non-didactic, collaborative, participatory, embodied, relational and affective feminist practices, as well as the value of working across modalities of art, activism and scholarship in both pedagogical and research practices, as key terrains of possibility on the way forward.
Citing the keynote address delivered by Prof. Amina Mama on the opening day of the conference, Prof. Tamara said, “We cannot simply acknowledge that we emerged from feminist grassroots movements, but we need to make sure that these connections are vibrant and alive.
“We need to be consistently reviving and reinvigorating these synergies, as she put it, between civil society movements and the scholarly projects, which of course means ongoing collaborations and networking” emphasised Prof. Tamara.
Delivering her remarks at close the conference, the Chairperson of Council, Mrs. Lorna Magara thanked the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, Principal College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), Assoc. Prof. Josephine Ahikire, Dean SWGS Assoc. Prof. Sarah Ssali, as well as the faculty, staff and volunteers for the excellently organised and well-facilitated conference.
“I am delighted to note that in addition to my expectations being met, I had, in the few sessions I attended, the rare opportunity to hear firsthand, the accounts of the brave heroines of Afro-feminism and how important these accounts are for shaping future mindsets” remarked Mrs. Magara.
The Chairperson of Council nevertheless cautioned that in addition to decolonising the African academy, the debate should be blended with a candid discussion on the application of African scholarship to the needs and aspirations of African communities.
“The debate must go beyond the goal of accommodating the voices of African scholars in academia. The academy must provide space for indigenous knowledge, sharing local experiences, and prioritising discourse on African problems from African lenses” she noted.
The closing keynote address was delivered by Dr. Nyepudzayi Mercy Nyangulu, Founder and Chair, of the Women in Management Business and Development (WIMBD) TRUST of Zimbabwe, which coincidentally marks 30 years of existence on 27th October, 2022. On this celebratory note, Dr. Nyangulu proposed the following as recommendations to SWGS for the next 30 years.
- Leverage the rich list of SWGS alumni to influence Government Ministries as well as Higher Education Institutions to include a gender component in their curricula.
- Develop programs that can enhance collaboration, solidarity and sharing of experiences with Women’s Movements so as to strengthen needs assessment and data collection at the grassroots.
- Take advantage of e-learning to reach those in full-time employment with the aspirations of upgrading their qualifications in leadership and management
- Adopt community dialogues as a mechanism for learning more about gender-related issues such as child marriages and Gender Based Violence.
- Adopt gender programmes that encourage inter-generational learning and knowledge sharing
- Explore opening up SWGS Centres in other African countries as an income generating activity.
- Collaborate with National Gender Commissions to bring theory and practice together and develop new theories for Gender Praxis.
- Tap into the debate on masculinity that is gaining momentum so as to develop relevant programmes and grow the number of male champions
- Think outside the box, dream big and turn all the challenges afflicting gender studies into opportunities
- Follow up past students and their impact on society and use data findings to inform future programmes
- Broaden funding base by; going beyond development partners to institutions such as the African Union (AU) that have Ambassadorial positions e.g. in Child Marriages, Offering consultancy services to Countries as SWGS, etc.
The Guest of Honour at the closing ceremony and Minister of Gender Labour and Social Development, Hon. Betty Amongi Akena, who was accompanied by the Chairperson of the National Women’s Council (Uganda), Hajat Faridah Kibowa in her speech congratulated Makerere University upon successfully hosting the conference whose recommendations will inform policy.
Hon. Amongi Akena, a double alumna of the Bachelor of Political Science and Public Administration and Masters of International Relations and Diplomatic Studies commended her alma mater for pursuing a broad gender agenda, by establishing academic programmes at Undergraduate, Masters and PhD level. “You’ve harnessed, advanced and promoted gender equality over the years.”
She observed that the conference theme; Africa and Gender Studies: Celebrating 30 Years of Transformation and Re-imagining the Future was a timely underpinning of SDG 5. “We know that social, political and economic equality for women is an integral part of achieving all the SDGs.”
The Honourable Minister shared that the Government has come up with a comprehensive approach to reducing gender inequality by; repealing laws that discriminate against women and girls, increasing protection against violence, closing the gap in girls accessing education, digital technology, as well as sexual reproductive health services and rights.
“We also look at women’s equal leadership and participation as fundamental and with the quotas that guarantee women’s participation in politics, which we have been implementing, we have at least achieved a shift in the balance of power in those corridors” she said.
The extent of this shift was elucidated upon by the Minister of State, for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Hon. Peace Regis Mutuzo as she took part in the UN WOMEN High Level Policy Panel on Gender Studies and Practice: Lessons from the Field, held earlier on closing day.
“As we talk right now, we have 178 women in Parliament. Out of 178, 168 are elected; not just appointed but elected. And so I think we have moved a milestone. That goes to show how the Government of Uganda is committed to women empowerment, and has put in place legal and policy mechanisms for its attainment.
“The Constitution mandates the same to ensure gender balance and representation of marginalised groups on all constitutional and other bodies, guarantees women’s equal rights with men, and affirmative action to redress imbalance created by history, tradition, customs among other factors” said Hon. Mutuzo.
The UN Women High Level Policy Panel was presided over by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Assoc. Prof. Umar Kakumba and chaired by the Principal CHUSS, Assoc. Prof. Josephine Ahikire. Other panelists included; Ms. Awa Ndiaye, UN WOMEN Representative to the African Union, Ms. Susan Ngongi Namondo, UN Resident Coordinator for Uganda, Dr. Maggie Kigozi, Chairperson of the Makerere University Endowment Fund (MakEF) who represented the Private Sector, and Hon. Bjørg Sandkjær, Deputy Minister of International Development in the Norwegian Government.
Please click the links below to view video recordings of the Closing Ceremony and UN Women High Level Panel.
Closing Ceremony: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1ZkKzbnrjPaKv
UN Women High Level Policy Panel: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1rmxPgbejYZJN
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Humanities & Social Sciences
Call for Abstracts: International Social Work and Social Development Conference
Humanities & Social Sciences
Mak Reviews Bachelor of Chinese and Asian Studies Program to Address Key Gaps
The School of Languages, Literature, and Communication at Makerere University held a stakeholders’ workshop to review the Bachelor of Chinese and Asian Studies (BICAS) program. The workshop, held on 5th December, 2024 aimed at refining the curriculum to meet the evolving academic and professional needs of students and employers.
The Dean of the School, Associate Professor Saudah Namyalo emphasized the significance of engaging stakeholders in the curriculum review process. She noted that feedback from students, employers, and academia is crucial for identifying gaps and improving the program.
“It’s a very important stage in our curriculum review to ensure that we have stakeholders’ workshops. This is an opportunity to hear from potential employers, students, and academic experts. Today, for example, we’ve learned that many of our graduates are not fully grounded in the science of the language, and because of that feedback, we are going to improve on it,” she said.
The Dean highlighted gaps in the current curriculum, such as limited focus on linguistic aspects like syntax, morphology, phonology, and semantics, which are essential for students pursuing advanced degrees. Additionally, the cultural component of Chinese language education was found to be inadequate.
“There’s no way you can teach a language detached from its culture. We are going to introduce courses emphasizing the culture of the Chinese so that the two go hand in hand,” she added.
The review aims to address these gaps by incorporating courses that build linguistic competence and cultural understanding. The program will now cater to both beginners and advanced learners, allowing graduates to pursue academic careers, including master’s and PhD programs, in Chinese linguistics. It will also strengthen the Asian Studies strand, enabling students to specialize in either Chinese language or broader Asian studies.
Dr. Enock Sebuyungo: Aligning Uganda’s Needs with Global Opportunities
Dr. Enock Sebuyungo, Head of the Department of European and Oriental Languages, underlined the growing importance of Chinese proficiency in Uganda. He noted that China’s rise as a global economic superpower has strengthened ties with Uganda in trade, education, and infrastructure development.
“Chinese companies dominate Uganda’s major infrastructure projects, and increasing numbers of Ugandans engage in trade and studies in China. Proficiency in Chinese offers competitive advantages for accessing the Chinese market,” he said.
Despite this, students under previous programs faced challenges achieving desired proficiency levels in international tests like HSK3. Employers expressed dissatisfaction with graduates’ language skills, and scholarships for study in China remained underutilized. The proposed BICAS program aims to bridge these gaps by producing graduates proficient in Chinese, knowledgeable about Asia’s economic and geopolitical landscape, and skilled in business, tourism, and diplomacy.
The BICAS program aligns with Makerere University’s expertise in foreign language instruction and supports Uganda’s strategic need to engage with Asia’s rapid development. It is expected to attract students from Uganda and East Africa, where Chinese is currently offered only as a short course. The program projects an annual revenue increase of UGX 865 million from an estimated 200 enrolled students. Partnerships with Chinese companies will provide scholarships for 10-15 students per intake, ensuring financial sustainability and accessibility.
Uganda joins a growing list of countries incorporating Chinese studies into higher education, with similar programs established in Botswana, Australia, and the United States. Makerere University, which already trains secondary school Chinese teachers, is poised to create a critical mass of experts to sustain Chinese language education and strengthen Uganda-China bilateral relations.
Dr. Sebuyungo expressed gratitude to Associate Professor Helen Nkabala, Principal of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), for her moral and financial support in organizing the workshop. He also thanked the Confucius Institute and Xiangtan University for their invaluable contributions to the program.
“Confucius Institute and Xiangtan University sent us professors who reviewed this course. What we are looking at is a revised course done by professors from Xiangtan University, and we deeply appreciate their support,” he said.
The Bachelor of Chinese and Asian Studies program positions Makerere University as a regional leader in language and cultural studies. It prepares graduates to address gaps in trade, diplomacy, and cultural exchange while enhancing Uganda’s ability to benefit from China’s global influence. The workshop marked a pivotal step in ensuring the program aligns with both local and international demands.
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