The Present

During Rowan’s 100th anniversary year, 2023-24, six students (Joy Acheampong, Anna Cherian, Abbie Ealer, Kayla Maharaj, Oju Odusanya, Erwin Wambi), and three faculty (Kelly Duke Bryant, William Carrigan, and Chanelle Rose) formed the Operation Uganda Renewed executive committee.  We have begun working on several initiatives to commemorate the original project, highlighting the idealism and altruism of those involved as well as the project’s long-lasting impact on the students involved and on the teaching of African history at GSC.  However, we also seek to complicate this narrative with additional contexts, such as the influence of the Cold War, the troubled history of “development” during and after the colonial period, and the paternalism that was so often inherent in these sorts of initiatives.