The Director of Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) is pleased to invite you to a seminar titled:
Tradition and Traditionalism: Frantz Fanon, Mao Tse-tung, and the Intellectual Genealogy of FRONASA
Presenter:
Dr. Joseph Kasule, Research Fellow, MISR
Discussants:
- Dr. Evarist Ngabirano, Research Associate, MISR;
- Mr. Fred Guweddeko, PhD Fellow, MISR
Date: Wednesday, 8th April 2026
Time: 2:00 - 5:00 PM (EAT)
To join via Zoom, kindly register through this Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/AdW299YeSISR5PUjWg8w_Q
Abstract:
Mainstream discourses on epistemological decolonization presuppose a Eurocentric origin of knowledge that guided political praxis in postcolonial Africa. The intellectual history and political experiences of the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) reveal otherwise. Analyzing the early writings of Yoweri Museveni shows the significant influence of Frantz Fanon's theory on violence, and the organizational/disciplinary logics of Mao Tse-tung. The formation of FRONASA as a diasporic group within Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) exposed Marxist-Leninist leaning radical/militant intellectuals to a revolutionary atmosphere in which like-minded thinkers and activists debated all forms of revolutionary possibilities. Within the context of the vibrant learning at the "Hill" (University of Dar es Salaam) and the social milieu shaped by the Arusha Declaration in 1967, revolutionary theory was debated and then applied in the adjacent Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The Hill provided the intellectual vigor; Cabo Delgado province (Mozambique) became the testing laboratory for theoretical veracity. Mozambique's condition as a manifestation of the colonial situation par excellence coupled with its proximity to Tanzania, confirmed its suitability as a theatre of revolutionary violence. This model would be replicated and exported to Uganda. Yet the occupational experiences of FRONASA's core ethnic group, composed of expert pastoralists infused an organizational logic born of the mundane interaction with forms of pastoral violence. For this group, Western education merely supplemented an already existing intellectual tradition, stimulated within and by the daily relationships with forms of violence, sedentary or otherwise. Within this complex intersection of knowledge and political praxis, how does decolonization proceed?
Hard copies of the seminar paper are available at MISR Library.
We look forward to your participation in this timely discussion.