NPR's Book of the Day Mahmood Mamdani’s 'Slow Poison' centers politics of belonging in postcolonial Uganda
Dec 22, 2025
Mahmood Mamdani, a Columbia University professor and author of Slow Poison, draws on his experiences as a Ugandan of Indian origin to explore colonial legacies in Uganda. He discusses the rise of autocrats Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni, highlighting Amin's troubling recruitment and Museveni's compromises with Western powers. Mamdani delves into the complexities of cultural identity and political belonging, linking his family's discussions to his son's campaign in New York, and reflects on signs of political change that resonate across continents.
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Personal Experience Of Statelessness
- Mahmood Mamdani recounts being defined as a migrant and treated as nonindigenous under colonial Uganda.
- He describes how that status deprived people of full rights and belonging in the country they lived in.
Colonial Legacy Shaped Uganda's Autocrats
- Mamdani argues Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni inherited an intractable British colonial legacy shaping Uganda's autocrats.
- He links Amin's counterinsurgency training and racialized politics to that colonial inheritance.
Power Forces Compromise Of Principles
- Mamdani explains Museveni compromised his anti-imperial stance to secure resources and stay in power.
- He frames this as choosing to make peace with a reborn colonial system led by new global powers.