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Contesting Catholics
First scholarly treatment of Uganda's first elected ruler; offers new
insights into the religious and political history of modern Uganda.Assassinated by Idi Amin
and a democratic ally of J.F. Kennedy during the Cold War, Benedicto Kiwanuka was Uganda's
most controversial and disruptive politician, and his legacy is still divisive. On the eve
of independence, he ledthe Democratic Party (DP), a national movement of predominantly
Catholic activists, to end political inequalities and religious discrimination. Along the
way, he became Uganda's first prime minister and first Ugandan chief justice. Earle and
Carney show how Kiwanuka and Catholic activists struggled to create an inclusive vision of
the state, a vision that resulted in relentless intimidation and extra-judicial killings.
Focusing closely on the competing Catholic projects that circulated throughout Uganda, this
book offers new ways of thinking about the history of democratic thought, while pushing the
study of Catholicism in Africa outside of the church and beyond the gaze of missionaries.
Drawing on never before seen sources from Kiwanuka's personal papers, the authors upend many
of the assumptions that have framed Uganda's political and religious history for over sixty
years, as well as repositioning Uganda's politics within the global arena. Jonathon Earle is
Associate Professor of African History, Centre College, where he holds the Marlene and David
Grissom Professorship of Social Studies, and author of Colonial Buganda and the End of
Political Thought and Historical Imagination in Africa (2017), which was a finalist
for the African Studies Association's Bethwell A. Ogot award. J.J. Carney is Associate
Professor of Theology, Creighton University, and author of Rwanda before the
Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era (2014), which won the Ogot
award.
insights into the religious and political history of modern Uganda.Assassinated by Idi Amin
and a democratic ally of J.F. Kennedy during the Cold War, Benedicto Kiwanuka was Uganda's
most controversial and disruptive politician, and his legacy is still divisive. On the eve
of independence, he ledthe Democratic Party (DP), a national movement of predominantly
Catholic activists, to end political inequalities and religious discrimination. Along the
way, he became Uganda's first prime minister and first Ugandan chief justice. Earle and
Carney show how Kiwanuka and Catholic activists struggled to create an inclusive vision of
the state, a vision that resulted in relentless intimidation and extra-judicial killings.
Focusing closely on the competing Catholic projects that circulated throughout Uganda, this
book offers new ways of thinking about the history of democratic thought, while pushing the
study of Catholicism in Africa outside of the church and beyond the gaze of missionaries.
Drawing on never before seen sources from Kiwanuka's personal papers, the authors upend many
of the assumptions that have framed Uganda's political and religious history for over sixty
years, as well as repositioning Uganda's politics within the global arena. Jonathon Earle is
Associate Professor of African History, Centre College, where he holds the Marlene and David
Grissom Professorship of Social Studies, and author of Colonial Buganda and the End of
Political Thought and Historical Imagination in Africa (2017), which was a finalist
for the African Studies Association's Bethwell A. Ogot award. J.J. Carney is Associate
Professor of Theology, Creighton University, and author of Rwanda before the
Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era (2014), which won the Ogot
award.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 16, 2021
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