The spiritual space of Mubende Hill in Uganda: rethinking “awaka w’ensi aw’omweyimirize, Maama Nakayima” as a symbol of ritual and spiritual performance
Authors:   , Nalukenge Claire 
Published: December 2024

This doctoral dissertation in art history investigates the dynamic relationships between ritual objects, rituals, spiritual performances, and their representations in specific cultural contexts. The main research question is: How do the ritual objects at Mubende Hill shape and communicate the meanings of the rituals, considering their performative contexts and embodied interactions? This thesis examines the ritual objects at the spiritual space of Mubende Hill in Uganda, which have various meanings and associations for different groups of people. It critically analyses how related objects are interpreted and represented by select Ugandan contemporary artists, including the 2019 history students of Margaret Trowell of Industrial and Fine Arts and the Uganda Museum. The difference between the above components is that the spiritual space, the artists, and the students represent objects as animate, whereas the Museum represents objects as obsolete. The spiritual space of Mubende Hill is a living space where people engage with ritual objects such as calabashes, clay pots, bowls, milk containers, and coffee beans in performative ways. Some of these objects are placed in various partitions of the sacred Omweyimirize tree at the spiritual space, and the objects become efficacious when engaged with through spiritual and ritual performance. In contrast, the Uganda Museum exhibits objects as inanimate, static, and enclosed in glass compartments. As such, the objects are rendered inactive. I examine the way the museum exhibits, frames, and labels these objects, and how this shifts people’s relationships with ritual objects. In contrast, I also analyze how selected Ugandan contemporary artists and the 2019 history students represent similar objects through their artistic practices, thereby opening up the meaning of these objects. This thesis addresses the critical need for a comprehensive reading and representation of objects within their living social and cultural contexts, a focus often overshadowed by museums. In trying to grapple with questions of representations of objects, I employed qualitative research methodologies, including extensive fieldwork, analysis of primary and secondary sources, participant observation, interviews, and photographic documentation The primary information was gathered from individuals at the spiritual space of Mubende Hill, Uganda, specifically the ritual specialists and the Balyammere, select contemporary Ugandan artists, and final year 2019 art history students from the Makerere Art School and select individuals from the Uganda museum. By comparing objects within their original contexts to decontextualized objects in museums and artistic and scholarly representations of objects, I analyze various art historical approaches to objects that grapple with issues of object representation, functionality, purpose, performance, and the movement of objects. I utilize this analysis of objects to critique colonial and contemporary neo-colonial approaches to ritual objects and develop decolonial understandings of objects that are embedded in personal experiences, stories, and narratives of text accompanied with visuals from the Balyammere’s object-ritual and spiritual performances. The study argues that ritual objects possess active agency, extending beyond mere aesthetic appreciation, and they are intertwined within their performative spiritual and cultural contexts. Analyzing these objects and their roles in rituals and spiritual performances allows us to deeply comprehend their meanings and significances as embedded in cultural, spiritual, and social fabrics. The study emphasizes a need for art histories that prioritize African-based scholars at the forefront of knowledge production and appreciate diverse, non-Eurocentric perspectives, suggesting a multidisciplinary approach to understanding art. A deeper understanding of the relationship between objects, rituals, and spiritual performances cannot only expand the knowledge in art history but also suggest alternatives to conventional object perspectives and practices, arguing for a comprehensive, culturally sensitive, and inclusive approach to understanding objects and art within their performative contexts.