Acholi Without Roots

Abstract

This chapter interrogates historical processes with war and displacement resulting from armed rebellion between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the government of Uganda between 1987-2007 that created contesting notions of being Acholi. The chapter shows how Acholi war trajectories experienced through taking refuge amongst other societies, conscription into warfare of mainly child abductees, and encampment divided the current Acholi into new imaginaries and solidarities. Lasting for over two decades, the LRA war led to the emergence of different cultures based on the different life pathways that Acholi took during violence and displacement: the culture of camps or IDPs (donation, food aid, governmental/humanitarian organizations' assistance) and the culture of war (forceful abduction of children and recruitment into rebel forces and militias).

African Studies Keyword: The Bush

“…The country's longtime president still derives his claims to legitimacy for having prevailed in a guerilla struggle known as the Bush War (1980War ( -1986. In northern Uganda, former abductees of the 1986-2006 LRA conflagration have faced bigotry since they have come out of the bush and returned to Acholi civilian life (Oloya 2013;Odongoh 2021). In Uganda and elsewhere, the bush is both material space and the space of human and non-human agency.…”

“…In recent literature of Acholi meanings of the bush, scholars both foreign and Acholi-born seek to understand and explain Acholi cosmology as well as how experiences in the bush impact the fates of former combatants and erect a barrier to belonging (Finnström 2008;Oloya 2013;Dubal 2018;Victor 2018;Porter 2020;Odongoh 2021). This literature shows ordinary people's trauma due to the 1986-2006 armed insurgency.…”

“…In contrast to literature from elsewhere, in which the bush is usually urban, in recent literature of Acholi it is often conceived of as a rural place without human habitation. It encroaches on home (Porter 2020;Odongoh 2021) as a continual threat.…”