From Citizen to Refugee

In a gripping personal account of the Asians’ last days in Uganda following their expulsion by Idi Amin in 1972, this book interweaves an examination of the country’s colonial history with the subsequent evolution of postindependence politics. Expelled from Uganda and arriving in a cold and overcast London, Mahmood Mamdani shares his experiences in a camp run by the UK government’s resettlement board and explores the theme of political identity—the politicization of racial identity and its reproduction after independence. A telling and gripping story that will be familiar to refugees and those seeking asylum in Britain, this vivid autobiography is as pertinent today as when it was first published in 1973.