School of Languages, Literature and Communication (SLLC) Collections
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ItemAn analysis on the usage of artificial intelligence for public relations in Uganda(Makerere University, 2025)This study examined the use of AI within public relations practice in Uganda. Given the limited body of scholarship on this subject in the Ugandan context, the study sought to address this gap by exploring how AI is utilized in the country’s public relations and communication management sector: Specifically, the AI tools used, its effectiveness, and the challenges faced by public relations practitioners in employing AI for PR work. The study was quantitative in nature and guided by the Domestication Theory and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The Domestication Theory offered insights into how these AI technologies are appropriated, adapted, and integrated into everyday professional routines within specific cultural and organizational contexts, while TAM provided a framework for understanding how perceived usefulness and ease of use influence practitioners’ attitudes and intentions toward adopting AI tools for public relations. The survey method was used, and the data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire developed and administered using Google Forms and analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS V25). Study findings indicate that PR practitioners were familiar with using AI in public relations, though they lacked formal training in its application. It was found that AI has helped to enhance the efficiency of public relations tasks, improve the accuracy of data analysis in PR campaigns, and aid decision-making. However, challenges related to high costs associated with acquiring tools and software, lack of technical knowledge, limited availability of AI tools tailored for PR work, and resistance from colleagues and management, among others, affect its use. The study recommended that to enhance the effectiveness of AI usage, organizations should provide formal training programs specifically tailored for PR practitioners to bridge the knowledge gap. Since a significant portion of PR practitioners use AI tools daily, it is recommended that firms incorporate continuous learning and up-skilling initiatives to help PR professionals keep pace with the rapid advancements in AI technology.
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ItemNewsroom culture and female journalists’ attrition in Ugandan media: a case of The Daily Monitor Newspaper(Makerere University, 2025)This study, titled “Newsroom Culture and Female Journalists’ Attrition in Ugandan Newsrooms: A Case of the Daily Monitor Newspaper,” explores the perceived relationship between newsroom culture and the attrition of female journalists in Uganda. The study focuses on Daily Monitor as a case study, which allowed the researcher to have an in-depth analysis of the subject since it generates a wealth of knowledge in social scientific fields. The study is anchored on the perceived aspects of newsroom culture that affect female journalists’ performance and cause them to leave the newsroom. Despite near gender parity in the media, research has found that more women are leaving the newsroom the world over, including Uganda. The study sought to find answers to the following questions: i) What are the perceived aspects of newsroom culture that affect the performance of female journalists, leading to attrition? ii) What is the perceived nature of female journalists’ attrition in Ugandan newsrooms? and iii) In what ways can newsroom culture be improved to attract and retain more female journalists? Data was collected through qualitative methods, which offered the researcher an opportunity to participate actively in data collection and respond accordingly. The study was guided by the Feminist Media Theory, the Sarah Longwe Empowerment Framework and the Hierarchy of Influences model. The key findings of the study indicate that the culture of working long hours and violence, physical and online, drives female journalists’ decision to leave newsrooms. The study revealed that female journalists are most likely to leave newsrooms due to family pressures associated with work-life balance, thus those with children or married are most likely to leave. The study also noted that there are gaps in the response of news organisations to the challenges faced by female journalists in the newsrooms and that news organisation owners and leaders can and should play a critical role in the retention of female journalists in newsrooms. The study concludes that there is an urgent need for news organisations to address and transform their organisational cultures if they are to retain and empower more female journalists in the newsrooms.
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ItemExploring strategies used by the office of the auditor general to sustain media relations(Makerere University, 2025)This study explored the strategies employed by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) to maintain effective media relations. It was grounded in the public relation theory and information theory. It adopted a mixed methods research approach, utilizing in-depth interviews and structured interviews for data collection. The findings show that the OAG employs strategies such as press conferences, distribution of hard copy reports, and media facilitation to maintain media relations and that these strategies promote transparency and accountability by exposing corruption, gathering corruption-related information, and increasing public denunciation of corrupt acts. The study also found that greater access to information, empowerment of public relations officers, more one on one interviews, and enhanced use of social media were some of the ways the OAG could improve their media relations practice. The study concluded that institutions need several efforts to study media relations, and that there are still challenges those public institutions such OAG need to address to improve and sustain good media relations.
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ItemImaging the urban in Uganda’s written poetry anthologies 1960 – 2020(Makerere University, 2025)This thesis interrogates the notion of urbanity as depicted in Uganda’s written poetry anthologies published between the 1960s and 2020. The aim of the study is to examine how poetry responds to critical nuances of Ugandan urbanity and how it contributes to the larger debate on urban literary and cultural discourse. The thesis proceeds from the presumption that while Uganda is promoting urbanity, for example, as seen in the creation of new cities, there is a need for an engaged and critical debate of the peculiar nuances of urbanity. The study focuses on the ways in which poets envisage the dynamics within the urban space in reference to contexts and people’s identities, notions of self and community, rural urban interactions, and how Ugandan urbanity has changed over the years. This is a qualitative study and it employs textual analysis to read 70 poems selected from the different anthologies. These poems are read within the framework of planetary theory that sees the urban as a fabric that stretches to envelope everywhere. The study also anchors on new historicism literary theory that encourages the reading of a literary text beyond the words on the page, and Augustine Nwoye’s ideas of the African self. The readings reveal several patterns in the construction of urbanity. In terms of the dynamics and people’s identities within the context of street, market and taxi parks, the poetic voice focuses on the fluid nature of everyday encounters depicting the urban as dominated by ambivalence and the quest for survival. The study further reveals that people’s identities are inherently defined by power discourses. Besides, the study shows that self and community within the urban space are unstable and ever shifting often based on the prevailing conditions and circumstances. I conclude that the urban can be perceived as fluid and the poets depict it as a complex space that handles both individualism and community life as multi-faceted and composite. Furthermore, the rural urban interaction revealed a paradoxical relationship because of the whole notion of the two spaces being distinct yet having asymmetrical and unconfined relationships. Finally, the readings suggest that poetic constructions of the Ugandan urban align with the actual development experienced in Uganda from the 1960s to 2020. On the whole, poets adopt both nostalgic and ironic tones to reflect on the past and offer critical nuances of the contemporary urban Uganda. Based on the selected poems, the study concludes that Ugandan poetry offers emblematic and monumental images of urbanity.
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ItemLe rôle de l'anglais et du français dans la promotion du commerce transfrontalier entre l'Ouganda et la République démocratique du Congo : une étude de cas des postes-frontières de Mpondwe et Lhubiriha(Makerere University, 2025)This study examines the role of English and French in promoting cross-border trade between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), focusing on the Mpondwe and Lhubiriha border crossings. It explores how language use affects communication, trade efficiency, and cooperation, emphasizing the importance of multilingual competence for smoother trade relations. Language is essential for cross-border trade, serving as both a communication tool and a catalyst for regional integration and economic development. Uganda is predominantly English-speaking, while the DRC is French-speaking, creating potential barriers at border points. Traders often face misunderstandings, translation errors, and delays, although bilingual traders and interpreters help bridge these gaps (Okombo & Rubagumya, 2013). Regional organizations like the East African Community (EAC) and COMESA advocate multilingualism as a means of facilitating trade (EAC, 2018). Understanding how English and French are used in negotiations, documentation, and relationship-building can inform policies to improve cross-border commerce (Mazrui & Mazrui, 1998). Despite regional integration initiatives, the role of language in trade facilitation remains under- explored. Communication barriers, limited bilingual skills among officials, and the vulnerability of small-scale traders hinder efficient trade processes (Ndhlovu, 2013; OECD, 2019). There is limited empirical evidence on how English and French influence trade dynamics at Mpondwe and Lhubiriha, creating a knowledge gap this study seeks to address.