Abstract
The Eastern and the Horn of Africa are both the source and home of the world’s biggest chunk of refugees and internally displaced people. The world’s biggest refugee camp, Daadab, is in the North-Eastern Kenya. The refugee scenario is evidence that the East African region has been severely scarred by upheavals of various kinds, which range from hostile physical environments wrought by nature, such as floods, pestilence or drought. Physical conflicts in Africa have often involved ethnic groups, individuals and political systems, but there have also been conflicts between individuals and cultures that lead in alienation or physical expulsion from one’s community. The later causatives are the concern of this paper. The paper critically examines John Ruganda’s perspective of cultural exile in his play, Covenant with Death (1973). The period when this play was written is significant in the history of his native country, Uganda. The country had attained political independence in 1962, a year before the publication of the play. The ancient kingdoms had not broken off from traditional cultures. In fact the text addresses the problems brought by colonization on the cultural fabric on the Baganda people. The paper adopts a structural approach to the analysis of exile proposed by Anne Gagiano. This approach is complemented by the linear model of Isaac Yetiv.