The teaching of languages, including foreign languages in Uganda and at Makerere University in particular contends with the challenge of relying on western epistemic traditions in the quest for new knowledge, translating and disseminating this knowledge. Anglo-American scholars dominate not only the reading lists, but so do their theories and methodologies. For example, while the teaching of African languages (Kiswahili, Luganda, Luo, Runyakitara) has been brought on board at Makerere University, the theoretical and methodological approaches tend to replicate the “Eurocentric epistemic canon[s]” (Mbembe, 2016), which prioritizes Anglo-American scholarship at the expense of other knowledge systems. Whereas there are efforts to decolonize the curriculum, there is need to examine and interrogate the challenges of African languages scholarship whose knowledge and research frames are steeped in western epistemic traditions. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore and re-examine the basis and significance of languages scholarship at Makerere University. It will reflect on the position of languages scholarship and explore attempts to localize knowledge production at Makerere University and Uganda. It will further explicate the challenges that academics in languages scholarship at Makerere University encounter and argue for rethinking of the epistemological transformation of the languages scholarship in Uganda and Africa in general.
