In literature examining climate change as a potential factor in violent conflict, violence is generally conceived as a readily-apparent, time-bound event. Conversely, the ontologies of slow violence emphasize the insidious ways in which environmental change can, itself, impart violence. This chapter examines how the impacts of climate change acts as a form of slow violence in Karamoja, Uganda. Karamoja is simultaneously recovering from years of violent conflict while experiencing intensifying impacts of climate change – most clearly, extreme climatic variability and longer, more intense dry seasons. Drawing upon mixed-methods, I demonstrate that the impacts of climate change are contributing to new forms of localized conflict while also threatening measures of human security. Reflecting the severity of these manifestations of slow violence, residents of Karamoja regularly drew direct comparison between past incidence of deadly armed conflict and the attritional, insidious threats of climate change on individuals’ agency, identity, and overall security.
Book Chapter
