Abstract The nexus between Uganda’s contemporary art and politics forms the overarching theme of this thesis. The trajectory of Uganda’s contemporary art as a political expression has been retraced. The different political dispensations which have shaped Uganda’s political art have been analysed. The political postures and visual symbols Uganda’s contemporary artists have engaged have been analysed in the context of the wider socio-political discussions which have shaped, and been shaped by, the country. It has been contended that different political epochs have invited response from Uganda’s artists since the early- 1940s. Whereas this debate has been attempted by varied scholars, it has not been rigorously pursued. Formalist discourses seeking to prioritise formal aesthetics have been engaged; conclusions that after 1986 contemporary Ugandan art[ists] became apolitical have been made. With emphasis on two contemporary artists—Fred Kato Mutebi and Bruno Sserunkuuma—this formalist reading has been decentred; the socio-political relevance of Uganda’s contemporary art has been retraced and prioritised. It has been argued that although initially depoliticised through colonial modernity, Uganda’s contemporary artists have been sensitive to the socio-political conditions affecting their space and time; issues of governance and service delivery have preoccupied them albeit in different but often complementary ways.

This thesis is based on the belief that representations of women in contemporary Ugandan art serve cultural and political purposes. The premise is that the autonomous woman (seen as the new woman in this study), emerging in Uganda in the mid-1980s, agitated for the social, economic and political emancipation of women in Uganda. It has been demonstrated that the patriarchy attempted to subordinate, confine and regulate this new woman. The press, drama, music and film became powerful tools to force her into silence. This study posits that contemporary Ugandan art was part of this cultural discourse. Adopting a feminist art historical stance, it examines and assesses the gendered content of Uganda’s contemporary art masked as aesthetics. On the one hand, the study exposes the view that some men artists in Uganda use their works to construct men’s power and superiority as the necessary ingredients of gender difference. I demonstrate that some artists have engaged themes through which they have constructed women as being materialistic, gold-diggers, erotic and domesticated. I argue that this has been a strategy to tame Uganda’s new woman. On the other hand, the thesis attempts to show that some women artists have used visual discourse to challenge their marginalisation and to reclaim their ‘agency’ while revising some negative stereotypes about the new woman. This study makes an interdisciplinary contribution to Uganda’s art history, cultural studies and gender studies. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Art History)

This thesis is based on the belief that representations of women in contemporary Ugandan art serve cultural and political purposes. The premise is that the autonomous woman (seen as the new woman in this study), emerging in Uganda in the mid-1980s, agitated for the social, economic and political emancipation of women in Uganda. It has been demonstrated that the patriarchy attempted to subordinate, confine and regulate this new woman. The press, drama, music and film became powerful tools to force her into silence. This study posits that contemporary Ugandan art was part of this cultural discourse. Adopting a feminist art historical stance, it examines and assesses the gendered content of Uganda’s contemporary art masked as aesthetics. On the one hand, the study exposes the view that some men artists in Uganda use their works to construct men’s power and superiority as the necessary ingredients of gender difference. I demonstrate that some artists have engaged themes through which they have constructed women as being materialistic, gold-diggers, erotic and domesticated. I argue that this has been a strategy to tame Uganda’s new woman. On the other hand, the thesis attempts to show that some women artists have used visual discourse to challenge their marginalisation and to reclaim their ‘agency’ while revising some negative stereotypes about the new woman. This study makes an interdisciplinary contribution to Uganda’s art history, cultural studies and gender studies. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Art History)