The Family: At the heart of managing diversity.

Pluralism Working Paper no. 8

Conversations with 35 Ugandan leaders and rural women and men. By Emily Drani, Santa I Kayonga and John de Coninck.

This paper explores the role of the family in nurturing the value of pluralism in Uganda. It presents a new and interesting perspective on pluralism in the knowledge program network. The paper is based on empirical research conducted by Emily Drani, who is the Director of the Cross Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU), and coordinator of the Pluralism Knowledge Program in Uganda, as well as Santa I Kayonga, who is researcher of CCFU. As a civil society based organization, CCFU promotes the recognition of culture as vital for equitable and sustainable development. It carries out studies in this domain which incorporate cultural dimensions and uses its research output to create more awareness among policy makers and practitioners about the role of culture in development.
 
The authors research the significance of the family as “a space for nurturing the value of pluralism in Uganda”. They argue that there may be “good reasons to study the role of the family and the broader community when attempting to understand the meaning and the challenges of pluralism within African contexts, especially since collectivity may play a different role than assumed in the Western world, where many of the pluralism concepts originate”. As a point of departure, they refer to the description of pluralism as formulated by the Harvard Program on Pluralism at Harvard University, which is one of the notions of pluralism used in the knowledge program. Central to the Harvard definition is the idea that pluralism requires more than passive tolerance, but instead involves people’s active engagement with difference. The authors state that – given Uganda’s history of strife – even tolerance should be regarded as an achievement, but that a notion of ‘active engagement with difference’ potentially introduces new and viable perspectives to manage the complex diversity that exists in the country.
The research focused on two categories of respondents. The first group consisted of Kampala based urban professionals who were selected because of their personal and professional experience in dealing with religion, ethnicity and politics. They were asked to share their personal experiences within their families and their perception of pluralism in the broader society. A second group was identified in the rural districts of Mayuge and Moyo. Mayuge, in Eastern Uganda, was included because its communities have remained ethnically relatively homogenous. In addition, there is a high rate of polygamy which, as the authors suggest, could be an important element to understand managing conflict and diversity at the family level. The Moyo district, on the border with Sudan, experiences high levels of migration and hosts refugees. This situation too challenges families in particular ways to deal with the differences among the communities in the area.
The research addressed the subjective views of the respondents, drawing  on their personal  perceptions and lived experiences of tolerance and pluralism. Four broad interview topics were identified which revolved around (1) pluralism in respect to the manifestation of and dealing with difference in the family; (2) the inculcation of values within the family; (3) the evolving concept of family; spaces and drivers of pluralism in a family environment and finally (4) the influence of the workplace on promoting pluralism in the family.
The authors notice that the family in Uganda is changing. They state that “circumstances, such as civil strife and displacement, terminal illness (AIDS), education, and religion have resulted in mobility and a shift in roles and power relations, which challenges the traditional family”. New emerging types of families go beyond those with parents of similar ethnic, religious, occupational, social background, and include those with “single parents, parents of mixed ethnicity, mixed religions, diverse political affiliation, polygamous families, “modern” urban well-travelled and exposed families, as well as less travelled rural ones”. The paper concludes that while the family remains an important point of reference, source of identity and space for nurturing values in Uganda, it is also evolving. New types of families emerge in which “participation, consultation, negotiation, equality and freedoms – principles that foster pluralism”, increasingly play a role.
 
The final part of the paper offers a number of recommendations to civil society organizations which are involved in pluralism and development concerns.
With this paper we hope to encourage a new dialogue on pluralism from a different and fresh angle. We wonder how the ideas on the relationship between family and pluralism as expressed in the paper, compare with those in the other regions in the Knowledge Program network and beyond and certainly welcome your comments and questions in this regard.
Caroline Suransky
Chief editor of the Pluralism Working Paper series for the Pluralism Knowledge Program.