Okello Oculi


Okello Oculi is a Ugandan novelist, poet, and chronicler of rural African village life. Currently, he is a private political and social consultant based in Abuja, Nigeria. Before that, he served as Professor of Social & Economic Research at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria.

Background

He was born in 1942, in Dokolo District, Northern Uganda, back when the district was still part of Lira District.

Education

He was educated at Soroti College, in Soroti, and St. Peter's College Tororo, both in Eastern Uganda. He then attended St. Mary's College Kisubi for his A-Level education. He entered Makerere University, Uganda's oldest university, where he studied political science, graduating in 1967, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. During his undergraduate studies at Makerere, he spent one year, from 1964 until 1965, as an exchange student at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States. In 1968, he obtained the degree of Master of Arts, from the University of Essex, in the United Kingdom. His Doctor of Philosophy, was obtained in 1972, from the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin, United States.

Professional work

His writing is filled with authentic snatches of conversation, proverbs, and folk wisdom. His poetry, like that of Okot p'Bitek and Joseph Buruga, seeks to re-assert the cultural heritage of Africa with a critique of foreign influences in East Africa.

Selected bibliography