ABSTRACT
The encounter of the first five female missionaries with Baganda men and women was one of different belief systems, of people of different backgrounds, language and education, one group on their home ground and the other in foreign territory. Holly Hansen's analysis of nineteenth-century Baganda social structure focusing on clans and their relation to the Kabaka and the Namasole throws fresh meaning on the scenes. The scenes illustrate the encounters, missionaries getting to know the 'other' and the Baganda getting to know them. A synopsis sets the scene, portraying missionary perceptions of Ugandan women and how gender operated within Baganda society, which while still a pre-colonial society had been influenced by the outside world and mission culture. Missionary perspectives on women were in part determined by circumstances at court. The extension of teaching to women however had commenced as early as 1882–1883 during the closing years of Kabaka Mutesa's life when the missionary Philip O'Flaherty started women's classes.
