On Waiting Willfully in Urban Uganda: Toward an Anthropology of Pace

Women in Uganda strategically time their entry into married motherhood in relation to others with whom they want to be connected. Although much of the burgeoning literature on “waithood” laments global youth’s delayed entry into social adulthood, I show that women in urban Uganda intentionally pause, slowing down their movement through the life course to cultivate networks of interdependence that will propel them not only forward through the life course but also upward socioeconomically. The logics and practices by which they pace themselves point beyond a neoliberal conception of time and agency, instead highlighting the heightened importance of divine connections and social coordination under increasingly capitalist and urban conditions. The lens of pace helps bring into view the situated, multilayered, relational projects of moving through life with others. EKIHANDIIKO OMUBUGUFU Abakazi omuri Uganda nibetebekanisiza gye obwiire bw’okutaaha omubushweere n’obuzaire waaba n’ogyeragyeranisa naabo abubarikweenda kwegaita/kuba nabo. N’obu ebihaandiiko ebirikweyongyera kukanya ebirikukwaata aha bunyeeto biraabe nibyooreka okutoonzya ahabw’eminyeeto kukyerererwa kukura, ninyoreka ngu abakazi omumyaanya ekurakureine omuri Uganda nibariindaho bakigyendereire, bakyeendeeza ahamigyendere omumituurire yaabo kwenda ngu babaase kwombeka emikago y’okuhweerahweerana etarikubayaamba kwongyera kubutuura emituurire yaabo kwonka kureka na n’okwongyera kubatunguura omubyentaatsya. Enteekateeka hamwe n’emitwaarize eyibarikutwaazamu n’ehingura ahanyetegyereza y’obweire hamwe n’obugabe bw’okwehitsyaho ebyetaago eya abakurakureine, beitu byongyera kumurika ekyetaago kihaango ky’okumanya ebyenyikiriza hamwe n’okutuuragye n’abaantu omumbeera z’obushuubuzi hamwe n’entunguuka ebiriyo nibikanya. Ekitangaazo ky’emitwarize nikiyaamba kureeba omubury’obuhikire, entebekanisa zitarikushushwana z’okubaasa kutuuragye nabaandi.