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Thesis
Lugbara “Religion” Revisited: A Study of Social Repair in West Nile, North-West Uganda
This thesis explores processes of transitional justice as post-war social repair. It interrogates the multifarious quests through which Lugbara people of north-west Uganda seek to rebuild their intimate relationships and social lives, with recourse to explanations and therapies for suffering…
Briefing
MONUSCO’s Mandate and the Climate Security Nexus
If we translate the debate on the climate security nexus to a more operational level, we inevitably arrive at the question of whether and to what extent the fight against climate change should be included in the mandate of current…
Research paper
Patchwork States: The Localization of State Territoriality on the South Sudan–Uganda Border, 1914–2014
This paper takes a localized conflict over a non-demarcated stretch of the Uganda–South Sudan boundary in 2014 as a starting point for examining the history of territorial state formation on either side of this border since its colonial creation in…
Research paper
‘Who Can Sing the Song of MSF?’ The Politics of ‘Proximity’ and Performing Humanitarianism in Eastern DRC
This article explores the complexities of the brokerage work conducted by Congolese MSF staff working in a ‘field’ that is not a distant, liminal space, but their country (and region) of origin. They have complicated and heterogeneous political and social…
Blog
Lord’s Resistance Army hierarchies survive in peace time
Recent research suggests that the lives of women who have returned from extended periods with the Lord’s Resistance Army greatly vary. This blog post describes how these differences often depend on what kind of authority they commanded with the LRA…
Blog
Returning from the LRA: obedience, stoicism and silence
Research with Ugandan women and their children, fourteen years after their return from life with the Lord’s Resistance Army, highlights the inter-generational dimensions of war and conflict. Obedience, stoicism and silence enabled their survival, and now shapes their day-to-day lives.…
Research paper
Moral Spaces and Sexual Transgression: Understanding Rape in War and Post Conflict
Evocative language describing rape as a ‘weapon of war’ has become commonplace. Although politically important, overemphasis on strategic aspects of wartime sexual violence can be misleading. Alternative explanations tend to understand rape either as exceptional — a departure from ‘normal’…
Research paper
Reintegration of Amnestied LRA Ex-Combatants and Survivors’ Resistance Acts in Acholiland, Northern Uganda
This article examines the social dynamics among survivors and amnestied Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ex-combatants living together in Acholiland, asking how and if Acholi survivors have forgiven Acholi LRA returnees, forgotten past violence and moved on, as stated in northern…
Book chapter
Colonial Encounters in Acholiland and Oxford: The Anthropology of Frank Girling and Okot p’Bitek
The work of Frank Girling on the Acholi of Uganda and the prose works of Okot p’Bitek about Acholi customs should be recognised as seminal. Written at the time when the classic texts were being published about other Ugandan groups,…
Working paper
Civil Wars and State Formation: Violence and the Politics of Legitimacy in Angola, Côte d’Ivoire and South Sudan
Civil wars destroy existing political orders, shape new ones, and play crucial roles in the dynamics of state formation. This working paper is based on a 2-year research project reflecting on the social construction of order and legitimacy during and…
Briefing
Rebels and the City: Urban dimensions of armed mobilization in the eastern Congo
Despite focusing the bulk of their operations on rural areas, armed groups in the eastern Congo have long-standing connections with urban centres. Technological progress, such as mobile communication, and enhanced movement, especially through motorcycle taxis, have intensified these connections. These…
Report
Insecurity In Goma: Experiences, Actors and Responses
Since the start of 2019, a series of murders, violent robberies and kidnappings have taken place in peripheral neighbourhoods of Goma. The rapid rise in violent crime has alarmed city residents and led to calls for the local government and…
