Embedded meaning of traditional art forms used in cultural practices of Baganda of central Uganda

Abstract

Art forms play a pivotal role in strengthening community connections through open dialogue and can help in bridging cultural distinctions. They are used extensively by societies for creativity, imagination and moderating complexities of globalization. Art forms in different communities continue to evolve and increase the sense of collective identity and efficacy. In Africa art forms used by different communities are embedded with meaning that communicate specific messages to the users. In Buganda there were and are several art forms used in traditional practices. However, globalization continues to threaten cultural diversity due to technological advances which change the artforms’ embedded meaning. This study establishes how traditional art forms used in Baganda cultural practices historically developed; it goes on to analyze the embedded meaning of traditional Baganda art forms used in cultural practices in reference to their application; it evaluates how globalization has influenced the perceptions of Baganda People towards art forms used in their cultural practices; it examines how visual narratives have developed which are enlivened by the embedded meaning of selected art forms used in Baganda cultural practices. This work adopts an ethnographic study design guided by the theory of culture and behavior developed by Triandis; it also relies upon the hybridity advanced by Bahbah as amalgamated with other theories. Seventy participants using purposive and snowball techniques participated in this study. Findings indicate that the embedded meaning in traditional art forms which, in earlier times enabled communities to function, is today continuously neglected in favour of eurocentric ideologies. This modernity traumatizes communities such that they lose their long-standing identity, creativity and imagination. Despite these trends, communities in Buganda still consult long-standing cultural practices and inhabit cultural art forms. Since Buganda communities attach importance to these art forms it is important that they not be neglected. Upholding and recording our cultures for posterity through the visual arts will ensure that traditional cultural objects are promoted as tools embedded with meaning that address the concerns of particular communitie