Cultural Astronomy Study in Ugandan Refugee Settlements: Feasibility Report

Possible venue for focus group discussions

The “Knowledge Access and Sharing Through Cultural Astronomy” project has concluded its feasibility study on gathering indigenous astronomy knowledge from people at the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in Uganda.

The Space Technology Agency in Uganda has received a grant from the OAD through the annual call for proposals. The grant was approved for its project entitled “Knowledge Access and Sharing Through Cultural Astronomy in Refugee Settlements and Host Communities“. The aim of this project is to gather indigenous cultural and social knowledge about astronomy, such as local names of celestial bodies and their meanings in day to day lives, from the general public of the refugee settlement zones in the camp. The project will catalogue and provide a formal structure for storing and sharing this knowledge. And it will also facilitate the introduction of astronomy in the camps. Data gathered from this project will be incorporated in a mobile astronomy lab for replication in other regions of Uganda.

The project is currently awaiting approval before commencement of data collection.