Belonging After Exile: Ugandan Asians and the Reconstruction of National Identity

This project examines the return of Ugandan Asians after 1986 and the reconstruction of national belonging following the 1972 expulsion. Rather than treating citizenship as a legal status restored through formal policy alone, the paper argues that belonging in post-expulsion Uganda was rebuilt through contested negotiations over property, economic participation, and everyday social interaction. Drawing on legal statutes, parliamentary debates, government reports, newspaper coverage, and oral history sources from Uganda, Britain, and Canada, the study shows how restitution and reintegration unfolded in practice. The Ugandan case contributes to broader debates on postcolonial citizenship by demonstrating that reintegration after mass displacement depends not only on law, but on the gradual rebuilding of trust, recognition, and shared social life.