What do the origins of a city tell us about power, resistance, and identity? In this episode of Sera na Sauti, we sit down with A.K. Kaiza, a renowned Ugandan writer and journalist, to unpack the hidden histories of Kampala—its colonial violence, its evolution, and the legacies that still shape it today.

Drawing from his powerful essay The Violent Birth of Kampala in Debunk Quarterly, Kaiza takes us through the city’s contested past, the role of storytelling in reclaiming buried histories, and how urban spaces become battlegrounds for power and resistance.

📌 Key themes from the conversation:

✅ The brutal origins of Kampala and how colonial legacies persist in urban design

✅ How history is erased, rewritten, and reclaimed through storytelling

✅ The role of writers in confronting uncomfortable truths and challenging dominant narratives

✅ The intersection of art, memory, and activism in shaping African cities

Kampala’s history is not just about one city—it’s a mirror for how African urban spaces carry the weight of the past into the present. This is a conversation for anyone interested in history, politics, literature, and the ongoing struggle for identity in African spaces.

📚Reading Material

Link: https://debunk.media/quarterly/the-violent-birth-of-kampala/

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