An Uncertain Future - Anticipating Oil in Uganda

Abstract

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends who indirectly contributed to this project. I am fortunate to have had a supportive family and caring friends who helped me go even through the more trying times with humour. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their continuing support and love during the nerve-racking and uncertain but also joyous and inspiring times of my Ph.D. Figure 1: A shop selling agricultural produce in Hoima town (2013).

Making Cultural Heritage Claims on Profitable Land: The Case of the Ngassa Wells in Uganda’s Oil Region

“…In August 2015, the well and the sand road that led there were closed and the “natural” or former state was restored or simulated. Overall, the oil industry had started slowing down and a drop in global oil prices has meant also a decline for Tullow, a company that is heavily dependent on the financial market (Witte, 2018: 202).…”

“…Oil deposits were discovered along the Albertine Graben in the Western parts of Uganda, especially in the Hoima and Buliisa districts. Unlike many extractive projects, the pace of development has been slow, as the oil project is caught in an enduring latency or "not-yet-ness" (Witte, 2017(Witte, , 2018. More than a decade after the first discoveries in 2006, no oil has yet been produced.…”

“… 9. CSR and financialisation have been embraced by the oil industry, more particularly, Tullow Oil, which is heavily dependent on international financial markets (Witte, 2018: 202). CSR is also relevant as part of oil companies’ “dis/entanglement” from/with the oil producing countries (see Schritt and Witte, 2018).…”

“…CSR is also relevant as part of oil companies’ “dis/entanglement” from/with the oil producing countries (see Schritt and Witte, 2018). Tullow Oil had CSR programmes in Uganda that included employing Ugandan workers (under so-called national or local content) and it followed a rather old-fashioned philanthropic approach of building infrastructure like schools and boreholes in communities close to oil exploration activities (Schritt and Witte, 2018; Witte, 2018: 186–189).…”

Rumours as Anticipatory Knowledge in a Future Petro-State

“…If or when the oil comes as well as what societal, political and economic repercussions this would have remain uncertain. Uganda's oil is in a state of not-yet-ness, a liminal and uncertain phase in which the future is still being made (Witte 2018). The stories people tell each other about the oil and about the developments surrounding the search for oil in this not-yet-ness are part of what has been called resource-making.…”