Imagined futures, mobility and the making of oil conflicts in Uganda

In this paper, we examine how oil-related activities in the Albertine region have the potential to influence conflicts of different forms and intensity in Uganda, a new African oil producer in the making. We view this through the lens of the future, for which we propose the ‘in-the-making’ perspective. Through this approach we identify three geographies of conflict, framed around three local narratives on mobility, namely: the peripatetic tradition of a social group commonly known as ‘Balaalo’, speculative labour mobility and ensuing narratives about oil-induced pressure on fishing, and the link between elephant mobility and community grievances. With this paper we seek to contribute to the growing body of empirical research on Uganda’s oilscape, and add a case to the existing work on the interface between oil exploitation and social practices across various oil-producing world regions. We conclude that in Uganda’s pre-oil situation, the emergence of complex local narratives, resulting from a combination of lack-or inadequacy-of information, pre-existing but low-lying ethnic sentiments, and institutional challenges, are important indicators of how materialities of the future frame relationships within societies today.