ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines some of the failings of the nationalist interpretation of protest, first by examining the views of the school and second by a case study in anti-colonial protest: The Nyangire Rebellion of 1907 in Bunyoro, Uganda. He suggests a new hypothesis on the nature of protest in colonial Africa to fill the threatened void. Instead of examining anti-colonial resistance, protest and liberation movements through the distorting lens of nationalist mythology, people must create a better "myth," one better suited to interpreting the reality of African protest. The meaning of nationalism must be stretched too far to accommodate protests such as Nyangire. By focusing on the leadership, the communicators, be the chiefs or political party leaders, have accepted an interpretation of anti-colonialism as "African nationalism, a movement to expel the aliens and restore "national" independence.
