Arthur Gakwandi
{{Infobox writer
| birth_name = Arthur Gakwandi
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1943
| birth_place = Uganda
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer, diplomat, story teller
| nationality = Ugandan
| education =
| alma_mater =
| genre = Fiction
| subject =
| notableworks =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = Commonwealth Writers Prize 2008
| Twitter =
| website =
}}
Arthur Gakwandi is a novelist, short story writer and diplomat.[http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26251:writers-are-mirrors-of-society-says-prof-arthur-gakwandi "Writers are mirrors of society, says Prof Arthur Gakwandi"] observer.ug. Retrieved December 3, 2014. He wrote "Kosiya Kifefe",[http://www.africabookclub.com/?p=2689 "Kosiya Kifefe (by Arthur Gakwandi)"] africabookclub.com. Retrieved December 3, 2014. the fifth work of literature written by a Ugandan to feature on the Ugandan syllabus since independence.[http://allafrica.com/stories/200407261048.html "Uganda: Kosiya Kifefe Guide Launched"] allafrica.com. Retrieved December 3, 2014. He is a lecturer in the Literature Department at Makerere University.[http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/-/691232/900436/-/jeuwa6z/-/index.html "BOOKS THEY READ: Prof Arthur Gakwandi "] monitor.co.ug.Retrieved December 3, 2014. He was Commonwealth Writers Prize judge for Africa in 2008.[http://www.peepaltreepress.com/whappen_display.asp?id=35 "The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2008 "] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423071123/http://www.peepaltreepress.com/whappen_display.asp?id=35 |date=April 23, 2013 }} peepaltreepress.com. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
Early life and education
Gakwandi was born in Kajara.{{Cite web|last=nevender|date=2017-02-13|title=Who Are The Male Heroes of Ugandan Literature?|url=https://writivism.org/2017/02/13/who-are-the-male-heroes-of-ugandan-literature/|access-date=2021-04-04|website=Writivism|language=en}} He attended Ntare School in Mbarara and later Makerere University college where he earned his BA. He later received an MLit degree from the University of Edinburgh. After years of teaching literature at Makerere, he joined the Ugandan diplomatic service in 1998 and served in various capacities as an ambassador.{{cite book|last1=Simon Gikandi, Evan Mwangi|title=The Columbia Guide to East African Literature in English Since 1945|date=Aug 13, 2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231500647|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywEKyvOO_S0C&q=the+novel+and+contemporary-arthur+Gakwandi&pg=PT151|accessdate=3 December 2014}}
Pan-Africanism
Gakwandi theorized a re-imagined African continent, due to his belief that "political restructuring of the continent is a more important priority that needs to be addressed before economic restructuring can bring about the desired results."{{cite journal|last=Nesther Nachafiya|first=Alu|title=Between New Challenges in African Literature and Contemporary Realities: the Case Study of Opanachi's Eaters of the Living|url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/afrrev/article/download/69288/57317|journal=African Research Review|issn=2070-0083|volume=5 (4)|issue=21|pages=342–353|date=July 2011}}{{failed verification|date=July 2022}} Moreover, Gakwandi argues that the colonially-inherited borders are the source of the small size of the majority of African states, causing the levels of poverty, dependency, underdevelopment, and ethnic conflict that is currently experienced in the region. Thus, Gakwandi proposed the creation of a new political map of Africa{{Cite book|last=Martin|first=Guy|title=Pan-Africanism and African unity|publisher=Routledge Handbooks Online|year=2012|isbn=9780367030667}} that would eliminate landlocked countries, as a way to mitigate border disputes, reunite African nationalities currently divided by the colonial borders, provide new states with an adequate resource base, ease existing intrastate ethnic tensions, enhance Africa's world standing, and reduce inter-ethnic tensions. With these critical objectives in mind, Gakwandi proposed a new political map of Africa consisting of seven African conglomerate states to represent the critical regions of Africa. These seven new states consisted of the Sahara Republic, Senegambia, Central Africa and Swahili Republic, Ethiopia, Swahili Republic, Mozambia, and Madagascar. The Sahara Republic state would encompass North Africa, Senegambia would encompass West Africa, the Central Africa and Swahili Republic would encompass Central Africa, Ethiopia would encompass modern-day Ethiopia as well as Eritrea, the Swahili Republic would include East Africa and art of Central Africa, Mozambia would include Southern Africa. In Gakwandi's imagining, Madagascar would remain as it currently stands and would not be incorporated into a new republic.{{Cite book|last=Falola|first=Toyin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJ0H12tCCXUC&q=arthur+gakwandi%2C+sahara+republic+state&pg=PA138|title=Nationalism and African Intellectuals|date=2004|publisher=University Rochester Press|isbn=978-1-58046-149-8|language=en}}
Published works
=Novels=
- {{cite book|title=Kosiya Kifefe| publisher= East African Education Publishers| year= 1997| isbn= 9789966468383}}
=Commentary=
- {{cite book|title=Uganda Pocket facts| publisher= Fountain Publishers| year= 1997| isbn= 9970-02-145-1}}
=Literary Criticism=
- {{cite book|title=The novel and contemporary experience in Africa| publisher= London : Heinemann| year= 1977| isbn= 9780841903067 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/story.php?id=2000090572&pageNo=2 "We can’t run away from urban literature as part of setbooks "]
- [http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/654271-prof-challenges-gov-t-on-role-of-humanities.html "Prof. challenges gov’t on role of humanities"]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gakwandi, Arthur}}
Category:Ugandan male novelists
Category:Makerere University alumni
Category:Ugandan male short story writers
Category:Ugandan short story writers