Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the history of the Madhvani family in Uganda as part of the wider Indian community in the Great Lakes region from the 19th to the 21st c. It focuses on their localisation through the establishment of economic enterprises, philanthropy, and cultural practices, including local burial places.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the history of the Madhvani family in Uganda as part of the wider Indian community in the Great Lakes. It focuses on their localisation through the establishment of economic enterprises, social philanthropy, and cultural practices.

Muljibhai Madhvani (1894-1958) came to East Africa in the early 1900s. After working with relatives in the 1940s he set up a business that became one of the largest economic enterprises in Uganda. Particularly important was the sugar factory at Kakira near Jinja, where the Madhvanis lived. Madhvani built schools and hospitals open to all his employees irrespective of race, caste, or creed, and extended his philanthropic work across Jinja and Kampala districts. After his death, his son Manubhai Madhvani (1930-2011) took over the company, which is now directed by his grandsons.

In 1972, the Madhvanis were expelled from Uganda, but returned in the 1990s after Museveni invited Asians to come back. The Madhvanis perceived Kakira to be their home. Their localisation and sense of belonging was underlined by the burial ground and monument, by Lake Victoria, that was established in 1958 at the time of the founder's death, and where Manubhai Madhvani was buried in 2011 - reflecting the deep roots the family established in the Great Lakes region.

The paper uses archival and oral history as well as participant observation and argues that the rootedness of the Madhvani family has remained despite the dramatic shifts and transformations of the political landscape, the economic set-up, and personal lives that characterized twentieth-century Uganda.