This monumental book traverses diverse time zones and disciplines. Prof A.B.K Kasozi and his team of editors have made Makerere University proud. Government, faculty staff, alumni, and students should find it as a useful reference book. It is so well written that any book club would be privileged to select it as book of the year! (Prof. Edward B. Rugumayo, Chancellor, Mountains of the Moon University)

This book documents all you ever wanted to know about Makerere’s nascent years since 1922. A sneak peek into contents of the volume reveals alluring commitments to growth and change in research and innovations: ‘growing a research-led university’; from analogue to digitalization; and from the let us all be men motto to we build for the future. A leap into the next century reveals witting and unwitting breakthroughs, daunting constraints and challenges for a regional model by Uganda’s flagship university. What makes Makerere tick? How does it survive and thrive? Who are the immortalized alumni forbearers of Makerere? The book is worthy reading to find all the answers to these and related queries.

(Prof. Ruth Mukama, Formerly Professor of Linguistics at Makerere University; currently Head of Department, African Languages at Kabale University)

At one time, Makerere was called the Harvard of Africa; and there was, therefore, a real opportunity for Makerere to become our national sacred cow. Then came the neo-liberal ‘revolution’; with its mass production of graduates and the conversion of our technical colleges into universities, the establishment of numerous private universities, and the near abdication of government from the education sector. As Makerere embarks on the second century of service, we must maintain what made it great. This book tells many stories of that greatness. The content herein will definitely energise the debate amongst those who are interested in Makerere and university education in general. (Prof. Samwiri Lwanga-Lunyiigo, Retired Professor of History, Makerere University)

Some philosophers of old thought of humour and comedy as bad things. Plato detested comedy because it is often at the expense of another person. Epictetus is said never to have laughed; he saw it as a mark of weakness. Over time, humour has come to attract special attention in Philosophy and Literature as a mode of thought, existential expression, and communication. Works of great philosophers such as Bertrand Russell and Slovaj Žižek are clothed in wit and playfulness, something that has significantly contributed to their appeal. Satire has become one of the predominant ways of speaking truth to power and convention. It is a weapon of the weak; a vessel through which otherwise unacceptable views are relayed to the powerful. It is like pressing boils while blowing them with cool air.

This book endeavours to cover the major areas of language study as they relate to Runyakitara. They range from phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, translation and interpretation, including the orthography of Runyakitara.

In Uganda, the mutually intelligible languages or dialects that make up Runyakitara include:

• Runyankore, to which should be associated sub-dialects such as Ruhima, Ruhororo, Runyaruguru, Rutagwenda and to some extent Rukooki.
• Rukiga, to which should be associated such sub-dialects as Runyaifo, Runyangyezi, Rusigi, Ruhimba, Rugyeri, Ruheesi, and Runyabutumbi.
• Runyoro, to which should be associated such sub-dialects as Ruruuli, Runyara, and Rugangaizi.
• Rutooro, to which should be associated such sub-dialects as, Rusongora, Rutuku, Runyakyaka, Orutooro rwa Hansozi and Lubwisi.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), we have Ruhuma and Ruhema. In Tanzania we have Runyambo, Ruhaya and Kikerewe.

This important collection demonstrates the possibilities of rethinking heritage and memory in Africa, not as fixed marketable products but as living parts of contested pasts, presents and futures. The chapters skillfully illuminate how novelists, artists, activists and ordinary people have continuously unsettled, and even subsumed, the categories that were imposed and naturalized in colonial archives. This wonderful multidisciplinary group of scholars show how engagement with the continuities of knowledge over time, beyond the academy or the state, remains critical to the possibility of justice.” (Edgar C. Taylor, Lecturer in History, Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Makerere University).

This is a timely response to the calls for both the decolonizing of the syllabus and of African renaissance. I cannot think of any book in the market which has this approach and depth of a variety of articles.” (John Blackings Mairi, Professor of Literary Linguistics, University of Juba).

This book essentially poses the question: Are there lessons to draw from Africa’s rich past to steer through the present into the future? It is a riveting effort at reincarnating the rich diversity, accumulated and tested cultural heritage, with in situ logics of existence. Identities, tested philosophies, practices and aesthetics of communities are embedded on every page the reader turns. A timely and relevant book at this juncture when Africa seems to have culturally thrown the baby out with the bathwater.” (Godfrey Asiimwe, Associate Professor of Development Studies, Makerere University).

“This book is exciting! Finally, someone that knows and lived the Ugandan success story is writing about it and is doing so with passion and fervor! … The book provides for a Ugandan (African) context in understanding health campaigns in general and HIV/AIDS campaigns in particular. It will be a good reference for both organizations interested in creating health campaigns and the academia, for instruction in health campaigns. … Although other people have written about HIV/AIDS campaigns in Uganda, Dr. Kiwanuka provides a robust, almost  one stop experience. He dives deep into issues of research, campaign planning and execution.” (Dr. Angella Napakol, Uganda Christian University, Mukono)

A common thread that runs throughout this book is that violent extremism has affected many parts of the world. Moreover, extremist groups are changing their tactics as well as their targets. Violent extremism has continued to become non-linear and more fluid. As countries and states continue to find the effective ways of countering violent extremism, they need to keep in mind that there is no single pathway into violent extremism. Likewise, there is no single strategy for countering violent extremism since extremist groups and organisations are adapting other strategies to advance their violent activities. Henceforth, nations and other actors involved in countering violent extremism will not only need to address extremist threats using a wider range of interventions; but they have to be contingent in nature.

This book further points out that interventions aimed at countering violent extremism must use security measures and simultaneously addressing underlying conditions that drive individuals to commit violent acts. For instance, countries and states addressing the socioeconomic marginalisation, political and governance challenges, corruption, negative religious beliefs, demography and human rights abuse are more likely to minimise incidences of radicalisation and individuals joining extremist groups. Furthermore, actors must build resilient communities so that those communities desist from embracing dangerous narratives and propaganda of extremist individuals and groups, which often drive and attract individuals into joining violent groups.