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Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation

Victimcy, girlfriending, soldiering, tactic agency in a young woman's social navigation of the Liberian war zone

Upphovsperson: Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics
År: 2005
Ämnesord:
This study aims to collapse the often gendered opposition of agency and victim-hood that typically characterizes the analysis of women's coping strategies in war zones. The term victimcy is proposed to describe the agency of self-staging as victim of war and explore how it is deployed as one tactic-amongst others-in one young Liberian woman's "social navigation" of war zones. Victimcy is thus revealed as a form of self-representation by which a certain form of tactic agency is effectively exercised under the trying, uncertain, and disempowering circumstances that confront actors in warscapes. However the story of Bintu also reveals the complexity of women's strategies, roles, and options as they confront conflicting challenges and opportunities in war zones. While in some circumstances women may take humanitarian aid, in others they may also take up arms. An ethnography of social tactics thus counters reductionist portrayals of women in war zones as merely the passive victims of conflict.

Sexual abuse survivors and the complex of traditional healing : (G)local prospects in the aftermath of an African war

Upphovsperson: Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2009
Ämnesord: Civil war, sexual abuse, Women, victims, Humanitarian assistance, Traditional medicine, healing, Post-conflict reconstruction, Reconciliation, Sierra Leone, Peace and conflict research, Freds- och konfliktforskning
In its efforts to assist post-conflict societies in africa the international aid community has acitvely promoted projects of psycho-social healing among people traumatized during wars and violent conflict. To a large degree these projects have been established in the tradtion of Western psychology. More recently, however, it has been realized in order to help survivors of war effectivley it is necessary to adapt projects and enhance “local” psycho-social healing. This policy report locates the structures – with local legitimacy – that are available to young people who experienced sexual abuse during the Sierra Leone civil war (1991–2002). To this end, this booklet discusses a healing complex that comprises a number of overlapping actors, including herbalists, Zoe Mammies (heads of the female secret societies), Mori-men (Muslim healers); Karamokos (Muslim teachers) and Christian pastors. CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Scope of the study 2.1 Methods 2.2 Research ethichs 3. Limitations of the study 4. War-related sexual abuse 4.1 Quantitative findings 4.2 Qualitative findings 4.3 Turning a page? Sexual abuse in post-war reality 5. Variations of traditional healing 5.1 Notes on mental illness in Sierra Leone 5.2 The healing complex6. Traditional healing of sexual abuse 6.1 From the girls’ and young women’s perspective 6.2 The herbalist 6.3 The Karamoko and the Mori-man 6.4 The Soweh mammy and female herbalist (Kuntumoi musu) 6.5 Cleansing the bush 6.6 The pastor 6.7 Talking trauma – notes on counselling 7. Findings and recommendations 7.1 Social approaches towards the sexually abused 7.2 Girls’ and young women’s practices related totraditional healing 7.3 Findings on traditional healers 7.4 Recommendations Appendices

Perspectives on Côte d'Ivoire : between political breakdown and post-conflict peace

Upphovsperson: Obi, Cyril
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: Civil war, conflicts, political development, Economic conditions, Peaceful coexistence, Peace building, Post-conflict reconstruction, Citizenship, Côte d'Ivoire, Political science, Statsvetenskap
The three articles in this Discussion Paper explore different perspectives to the complex causes of the civil war that broke out in Côte d’Ivoire in September 2002. They are written against the background of the signing of yet another peace agreement between the Ivorian government and the former rebel New Forces (NF) in March 2007. This volume also provides a context where the prospects for post-conflict peace, national reconciliation and democracy in Côte d’Ivoire could be critically analysed.

Conflict as integration : youth aspiration to personhood in the teleology of Sierra Leone's 'senseless war'

Upphovsperson: King, Nathaniel
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: Civil war, conflicts, attitudes, public opinion polls, social surveys, youth, child soldiers, Sierra Leone, Peace and conflict research, Freds- och konfliktforskning
The rebel war in Sierra Leone has been given various characterisations. One of the most commonplace of them brands it a ‘senseless war’. In this study the author examines the views of the Sierra Leoneans themselves on this notion, and through a sociological lens he explores the “youthscape“ of the war. The study also revisits some of the central works on the Sierra Leonean war by authors such as Paul Richards, Ibrahim Adbdullah and Yusuf Bangura.

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