Conversation with Nakisanze Segawa, board member of Uganda PEN

 

Nakisanze Segawa is a board member of Uganda PEN and chair of the Women's Committee. Nakisanze works as a journalist for the American based Global Press Journal which has a focus on local events and social issues. Visit Global Press Journal here/.

It´s free to subscribe for the journal. Donations are of course welcome. The journal also aims to empower women journalists.

I was lucky to meet Nakisanze for lunch at the Café Javas, Kampala Road, dowmtown Kampala, January 14, 2023.

Our conversation focused mainly on the language situation in Uganda, a country with many local languages, but to a large extent dominated by the colonial language English. Why is this? Even though primary schools teaches the kids local languages through the first years, an increasing number of well educated citizens belonging to the middle classes in the bigger cities as well as an increasing number of foreigners moving to Uganda consider the local languages to have an inferior status. So they don't learn them, which also goes for their children. More and more children in Uganda grow up without knowing the local languages. And some unfortunately grow up not attending school at all.

According to Nakisanze, the situation is the opposite when it comes to freedom of expression. Local population is much more sensible to news, information and communication in their local languages than they are to the more remote, instrumental English. Bloggers, news media and others who take a critical attitude to local authorities, to regional representatives and to national government have a much bigger impact when working in the local language. This is also knowledge
of government representatives, who may also turn to communicate in Ugandan languages.

As for freedom of expression as such, there are limitations, according to Nakisanze. Limits are floating, and many writers, poets and journalists turn to selfimposed censorship in order to avoid confrontations with the authorities. 

Few novels are written and distributed in printed format in local languages, and the local, printed press in local languages is often used for propaganda purposes by the authorities. This also contributes to the weakening of the Ugandan
languages. 

Nakisanze Segawa and the author


The Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee of International PEN has a focus on making invisible languages visible (again). This is a matter of cultural rights, human rights, linguistic rights and of democracy. To participate fully in democratic processes, to make your voice heard, one needs the ability and the right to express oneself in a language of your own choice. 

Find Nakisanze Segawa on Facebook here/ 

Read about the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee - TLRC - of International PEN here/

Read my interview with Danson Kahyana of PEN Uganda here/ 

Read my interview with Beatrice Lamwaka, Uganda PEN and PEN International board member here/.

Visit my blog on Uganda (and Eastern Africa) here/ 


By Jørgen Chr. Wind Nielsen
Board member of Danish PEN
Vicechair and secretary of TLRC/International PEN

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