ABSTRACT
In 2010, Uganda implemented a citizenship training program known as patriotism clubs in secondary schools throughout the country. With a curriculum designed by the President’s Office and the military, the clubs represent a renewed interest by Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Movement in the political uses of historical revision. This chapter examines history teachers’ responses to patriotism clubs and the strategies they are using to address the legacies of Uganda’s conflict history in their classrooms. Despite curricular challenges and fears of censorship, individual educators are using creative pedagogy, discourse, and critical analysis to create fragile but vital spaces for historical dialogue. The chapter argues that while still in their infancy, these subterranean dialogues have the potential to reinterpret political narratives in ways that mitigate risks for future violence, even in the absence of curricular reform and institutionalized mechanisms to address conflict.
