Bio

Stanley Elias Kiswaga is a PhD student at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR), Makerere University, Uganda. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Education from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, an MA in Literary and Cultural Studies from Airlangga University, Indonesia, and an MPhil in Social Studies from Makerere University. His research interests lie at the intersection of popular culture, nationalism, literature, and the question of the nation in postcolonial Africa. Drawing from political, historical, and cultural perspectives, his work explores how narratives of nation-building are constructed, contested, and performed through artistic forms.  Mr. Kiswaga is currently working on his dissertation project titled “Theatre for Development and the Nation: Rethinking Nation-Building in Post-Socialist Tanzania.” The project investigates the dynamics and complexities of mobilizing bottom-up approaches to nation-building, focusing on the roles of both state and non-state actors within the evolving socio-political landscape of “post-socialist Tanzania.” Mr. Kiswaga is also a faculty member at the University of Dar es Salaam, where he teaches courses in literature and cultural studies. Looking ahead, he plans to explore further the nexus between political culture and the inventive aesthetic strategies that communities use to negotiate and claim public space in Africa.