UCU Digital Institutional Repository(UCUDIR)

Welcome to the Uganda Christian University Digital Institutional Repositoy (UCUDIR). This is the University's official Institutional Repository. It aims to collect, preserve and showcase the intellectual output of staff and students of UCU. This growing collection of research includes peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, working papers, theses, and more.

  • The Repository ingests documents, audio, video, datasets and their corresponding Dublin Core metadata
  • The aim is to open up this content to local and global audiences, with have optimized well for Google Scholar so your items here shows up on Google Scholar searches
  • we also issue permanent urls and trustworthy identifiers, including optional integrations with handle.net and DataCite DOI

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 8

Recent Submissions

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Constructs of Postcolonial Space and Identity in Women’s Fiction
(East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2025) Johnson Ocan, Sharon Namara, Gad Kwizera, & Norah Ainemababazi
This study examines women fictionists’ engagement with the interwoven themes of conflict trauma, the pursuit of education, and duplicity in Beatrice Lamwaka’s Butterfly Dreams and Monica Arac de Nyeko’s Jambula Tree. It argues that these authors construct narrative spaces which reflect contemporary realities where their heroines assert autonomy, reconstruct identities, inscribe painful memories, and confront postcolonial tensions in northern Uganda during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency. Using textual analysis, the research interrogates the weight of postcolonial governance through critical concerns such as gender, post-traumatic stress disorder, armed conflict, educational aspiration, and sexuality—particularly in Uganda’s sociopolitical context, where same-sex relationships are criminalised. Findings indicate that women fiction writers employ the postcolonial framework to anchor their narratives in historical tragedy, advocate for sociopolitical transformation, affirm individuality, and pursue emancipation through the written word.
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Five Poems about Youth
(The Journal of African Youth Literature, 2020-07-02) Alice Jossy Kyobutungi
Five poems about youth Song of a Teenager Blessed Curse Let it not Hold You Back The Young Adult Character A Letter to my Mind
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A Critical Analysis of Legal and Institutional Framework of Natural Resource Conservation in Kabale, Uganda
(International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research, 2024-09-15) Patience Najuna
Natural resource conservation in Kabale, Uganda, presents a critical challenge given the district's ecological significance and socio-economic dynamics. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal and institutional frameworks governing natural resource management in Kabale. It examines the effectiveness and limitations of existing policies, regulations, and institutional structures in achieving conservation goals amidst growing pressures from population growth and economic activities. While there are notable legislative efforts and institutional commitments to resource conservation, issues such as inadequate enforcement, limited institutional capacity, and conflicts between conservation and local economic interests undermine the effectiveness of these measures. The analysis highlights the need for a more integrated approach that enhances legal enforcement, strengthens institutional capacities, and addresses socio-economic challenges. Recommendations are provided for policy improvements and strategic interventions aimed at fostering more effective natural resource conservation practices in Kabale. This study contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable development by offering actionable insights into optimizing legal and institutional mechanisms for resource management in similar contexts.
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Young Adult Vulnerabilities in the Fiction of a Ugandan
(Global Research in Higher Education, 2022-03-08) Alice Jossy Kyobutungi Tumwesigye
Questions of identity, power, autonomy and vulnerability carry a particular weight in cultures that have emerged from colonialism. Although few writers of fiction focus on the conflicts between African and European characters, a focus on power and marginalisation remains. One category in which this focus may be plainly seen is writing for and about young people. The study’s aim was to analyse young adult fiction written by a Ugandan female author, Barbara Kimenye to investigate this writing to find out how young adult vulnerability is depicted in literature. Although literature targeting young people in Uganda has flourished and though issues of limited representation have been scrutinised in literary studies, like gender discrimination, very limited attention has been accorded young adult representation in literature. This research analyses fiction written by a female author Barbara Kimenye to expand knowledge about the criticism of young adult representation in literature with particular focus on young adult vulnerability in an adult dominated world. The methodology was mainly qualitative research design, where a document analysis method was used to aid analysis and make critical appreciation of the fictional works. The study investigated the state of young adult characters in literature with special focus on their vulnerability.
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Negotiating Young Adulthood in Ugandan Literature: Identity in Kimenye’s Moses Series and Namukasa’s Stories
(East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2025-09-17) Alice Jossy Kyobutungi
This article examines the negotiation of young adulthood and identity formation in Ugandan literature through a close reading of Barbara Kimenye’s Moses series and Glaydah Namukasa’s short stories The Pact and Girlie. The study situates these works within broader African literary discourses on adolescence, transition, and socio-cultural belonging, with specific attention to the Ugandan postcolonial context. Drawing from postcolonial theory, youth studies, and identity construction frameworks, it interrogates how young protagonists navigate shifting roles, expectations, and self-concepts amidst the intersecting pressures of family, peers, education, and socio-economic change. Kimenye’s Moses series, set primarily in a Ugandan boarding school, portrays adolescence as a space of playful rebellion, communal bonding, and gradual moral negotiation. The protagonist, Moses, becomes a focal point for exploring the tensions between institutional authority and youthful agency, revealing how humour and camaraderie serve as tools for self-assertion and social learning. In contrast, Namukasa’s stories, set against contemporary urban and peri-urban backdrops, confront the challenges of girlhood and young womanhood, including issues of friendship, sexuality, betrayal, and socio-economic vulnerability. Through The Pact and Girlie, Namukasa foregrounds the gendered dimensions of young adulthood, showing how female protagonists navigate restrictive cultural scripts while asserting individual desires. By juxtaposing Kimenye’s light-hearted, male-centred narratives with Namukasa’s more intimate and gender-conscious portrayals, this article reveals how Ugandan children’s and young adult literature collectively engages with themes of resilience, negotiation, and identity-making. It argues that these works challenge linear, Western-centric models of adolescence by depicting it as a socially embedded, culturally mediated, and at times precarious process. The analysis highlights how language, narrative voice, and character agency reflect both continuity and change in Ugandan youth experiences. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that Kimenye and Namukasa contribute significantly to African literary representations of young adulthood, offering nuanced portraits that resist reductive categorisations. Their works not only document the lived realities of Ugandan youth but also invite critical reflection on how identity is actively shaped within complex socio-cultural and historical landscapes. This intersectional reading underscores the role of Ugandan literature in expanding global understandings of adolescence and identity beyond dominant Euro-American frameworks.