Liebling, Helen (2004) A gendered analysis of the experiences of Ugandan women war survivors. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis provides an investigation into the experiences of Ugandan women and men during the civil war in Luwero between 1981 and 1986, and analyses the effects of violence, rape and torture, in terms of the resulting needs of the people and future policy implications. It is based on in-depth analysis of twenty-four focus groups and individual interviews with thirty-four women and thirteen men, who were survivors of the violence. Interviews were also held with seven workers in non-government organisations, thirteen health workers, two human rights activists, three local community leaders, two research assistants and a male University lecturer. Inevitably, research of this nature is extremely harrowing, and due to the sensitivities involved, every attempt was made to conduct the study in the most ethical way possible.

It has been argued that the civil war was a planned strategy for a military power struggle (Allen, 1996). Drawing upon a gendered analysis of Bourdieu’s (1984) concepts of economic, social and cultural capital, the thesis relates how the Acholi soldiers were systematically directed to destroy the material power and entitlement to power of the Baganda, using forms of violence which can be interpreted as a gendered form of genocide. Acholi violence was directed against economic, social and cultural targets to destroy the power base of the Baganda. Women’s reproductive roles were reshaped through sexual violations; multiple rapes, impregnation and destruction of foetuses, and acts of sexual transgression have been attributed to causing a crisis of identity in Bagandan women and men (Said, 2003).

In this context war trauma can be understood as a breakdown in cultural identity, manifested in psychological, social, cultural and physical effects, which are integrated and inseparable, not split between mind/body and society (Bendelow, 2000; Sideris, 2003). However, this study reveals how women war survivors reconstructed their identities by taking on male roles as well as engaging in collective activities. Their ability to voice their experiences in the current study, as a political act of resistance, resulted in a shared identity and a decrease in reported levels of depression. In contrast the men in the study largely turned their trauma inwards, using strategies such as alcohol misuse to deal with their distress.
This study concludes that the specific war crimes against women and men in Luwero can indeed be understood as attempted genocide. There are also policy implications arising from the findings in the need to involve women survivors in developing a national ‘women and health’ policy which should include specific provision of specialist reproductive and gynaecological services for women war survivors in Luwero and other war-torn areas of Uganda. There is also a pressing need for gender-sensitive psychological support, health, welfare, and legal services for women and men war survivors and their families utilising empowerment principles and building on local community initiatives (Musisi et al. 1999; Liebling and Kiziri-Mayengo, 2002; Liebling, 2003; 2004a; 2004b).

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Women -- Crimes against -- Uganda, Women and war -- Uganda
Official Date:	August 2004
Dates:	Date Event August 2004 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for the Study of Women and Gender
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bendelow, Gillian, 1956- ; Liddle, Joanna
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xviii, 320 pages : maps
Language:	eng

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