Ugandan Martyrs: Race and sexuality collisions and revisions.

A despotic king orders his servants to perform sexual favours, they refuse, he slaughters them.

A sexual revolutionary enraged by his subjects lack of sexual openness after their conversion to Christianity kills them.

The story of the Ugandan martyrs is read in many ways, either through racial or queer retellings. Certain afrocentrists have presented King Mwanga II Basammula Ekkere as a bisexual man who was trying to resist foreign Christianity. Anti LGBT groups have written about this incident pointing out the depravity of gay people. Context in which these acts took place are lost in these politicised retellings.

Christianity in the continent of Africa has had a long history appearing in the early days of when the faith was being established and also during colonial times. As with conversion through the centuries neo converts have had to negotiate their place in society, which often turns hostile towards them. Rejecting their non-Christian past converts have to carve out a new identity for themselves. This often results in converts being disowned by their families as a common culture that bound them is no longer adhered to.

The Ugandan martyrs faced a similar dilemma, their royal duties involved sexual slavery, their faith opposed to these practises. In hindsight the issue has taken on different meanings, LGBT groups and Afrocentrists see this as a issue as one where a Bisexual king was opposed by a because of Christian/foreign morality that was being imposed on them. Post colonialism has been useful in reclaiming identity, however it has its pitfalls. In order to reclaim an identity that was made inferior due to colonialism they look to the pre-colonial past. This past becomes a site for infusing modern values into a past that never was. By presenting the pre colonial past as free from social injustice we tend to oversimplify history. Mwanga’s actions as a King were normal in an era when Kings could impose their rules on their subjects. Revolt to this order was punishable, the martyrs understood this when they chose to refuse Mwanga. By today’s standards they are revolutionaries, standing up to authority.

By today’s standards King Mwanga has been declared bisexual, this is problematic as it categorises sexuality in modern western terms. Sexuality is complex and very difficult to define, neat categorisations often erase the complexity of the issue. Power, economics and context guide the way sexuality is treated. The sexuality of powerful men often reflects their social status and domination over the weak rather than the modern idea that sexuality is something one is born with. Reading bisexuality into King Mwanga’s actions erases the power structures afforded royalty to perform their sexuality in dominant ways.  Those who claim this example as evidence of homosexuality being African do a disservice to LGBT Africans who are not fighting for rights on the basis of how African they are.

LGBT rights have come to indicate social progress with homonationalists in the west who claim moral and cultural superiority because they are apparently more tolerant of queer culture. Homophobes in the global south claim moral and cultural superiority for keeping their culture free of decadent western sexual practises. Both groups use history to justify their actions, both do little for the rights of LGBT people.

Incidentally King Mwanga converted to Christianity.  He was received into the Anglican church and was baptized with the name of Danieri (Daniel)

The Uganda Martyrs are a group of 23 Anglican and 22 Catholic converts to Christianity who were executed between 31 January 1885 and 27 January 1887. Their feast day is celebrated on 3rd June they are venerated in the Anglican Communion, Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church.

Further reading

Charles Lwanga Mubiru. The Uganda Martyrs and the Need for Appropriate Role Models in Adolescents' Moral Formation: As Seen from the Traditional African Education. Vol. 102. LIT Verlag Münster, 2012.

James Martin S.J -The Story of Ugandan Martyrs  http://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/story-ugandan-martyrs

Jesus in Love Blog. (They have plenty of good resources here).  http://jesusinlove.blogspot.in/2014/06/uganda-martyrs-raise-questions-on.html

John F Faupel. African holocaust: the story of the Uganda martyrs. Vol. 1984. Paulines Publications Africa, 2007.

Rahul Rao - The Location of Homophobia  https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/location-homophobia-oxford-transnational-and-global-history-seminar

The Christian Martyrs of Uganda (Contains a list of those martyred) http://www.buganda.com/martyrs.htm