Abstract

Ethnography and portraiture, as combined methods, inform academic and cultural data in this paper about teaching, learning, and vivacious life in Uganda, East Africa. A teacher, and researcher, embarked upon ethnographic research in Uganda and amalgamated socio-cultural events with data collected from classes that she taught in Kampala. Consequently, this ethnography about teaching and learning experiences with students, teachers, headmasters, and citizens in Uganda is weaved into narrative portraiture episodes. This paper is organized with the socio-cultural episodes appearing first and the academic episode appearing immediately before the last episode. Learning is socially constructed (Bruner, 1966; Vygotsky, 1978); therefore, the people are introduced before academics are presented. The six portraiture episodes are titled getting acquainted with Uganda, arrival into Kampala, sojourn abode—home away from home, unique Ugandan idiom, teaching and learning in Uganda, and leaving Uganda.