‘The Cooling of Hearts’: Community Truth-Telling in Northern Uganda

Anyeko, Ketty; Baines, Erin; Komakech, Emon; Ojok, Boniface; Ogora, Lino Owor; Victor, Letha

doi:10.1007/s12142-011-0202-2

Cited by 37 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The Survey for War Affected Youth (SWAY) found that only 22% of females had accessed a traditional cleansing ceremony [ 26 ], however the SWAY study was conducted in 2005 and it is possible that the current findings reflect the temporal trends in DDR programming over the evolution of the conflict beyond 2005 and perhaps increased effort to include women and girls in DDR programming. An important barrier for traditional ceremonies are the associated costs, particularly for orphans who lack basic resources [ 19 , 32 ]. It is encouraging to see that, despite the large proportion of female single or double orphans (>85%) in this study, many still had access to traditional ceremonies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

After abduction: exploring access to reintegration programs and mental health status among young female abductees in Northern Uganda

et al. 2014

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BackgroundReintegration programs are commonly offered to former combatants and abductees to acquire civilian status and support services to reintegrate into post-conflict society. Among a group of young female abductees in northern Uganda, this study examined access to post-abduction reintegration programming and tested for between group differences in mental health status among young women who had accessed reintegration programming compared to those who self-reintegrated.MethodsThis cross-sectional study analysed interviews from 129 young women who had previously been abducted by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). Data was collected between June 2011-January 2012. Interviews collected information on abduction-related experiences including age and year of abduction, manner of departure, and reintegration status. Participants were coded as ‘reintegrated’ if they reported ≥1 of the following reintegration programs: traditional cleansing ceremony, received an amnesty certificate, reinsertion package, or had gone to a reception centre. A t-test was used to measure mean differences in depression and anxiety measured by the Acholi Psychosocial Assessment Instrument (APAI) to determine if abductees who participated in a reintegration program had different mental status from those who self-reintegrated.ResultsFrom 129 young abductees, 56 (43.4%) had participated in a reintegration program. Participants had been abducted between 1988–2010 for an average length of one year, the median age of abduction was 13 years (IQR:11–14) with escaping (76.6%), being released (15.6%), and rescued (7.0%) being the most common manner of departure from the LRA. Traditional cleansing ceremonies (67.8%) were the most commonly accessed support followed by receiving amnesty (37.5%), going to a reception centre (28.6%) or receiving a reinsertion package (12.5%). Between group comparisons indicated that the mental health status of abductees who accessed ≥1 reintegration program were not significantly different from those who self-reintegrated (p > 0.05).ConclusionsOver 40% of female abductees in this sample had accessed a reintegration program, however significant differences in mental health were not observed between those who accessed a reintegration program and those who self-reintegrated. The successful reintegration of combatants and abductees into their recipient community is a complex process and these results support the need for gender-specific services and ongoing evaluation of reintegration programming.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

After abduction: exploring access to reintegration programs and mental health status among young female abductees in Northern Uganda

et al. 2014

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“…Mato Oput broadly translates as "drinking (mato) of the bitter root (oput). " As summarized by Anyeko et al (2012), mato oput is a voluntary process that begins with negotiations and mediation between the families involved to develop trust and establish the truth. Thereafter negotiations are held about the amount of compensation to be paid.…”

Section: Revisiting Assumptions Ab Out Gender C Onflict Violence mentioning

confidence: 99%

Male Survivors of Wartime Sexual Violence

Schulz¹

2020

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“…In its modern form, the ritual can also be seen as the outcome of a voluntary restorative traditional justice process involving a confession of truth that will eventually lead to compensation (Angucia, 2010; Baines, 2007; cf. Anyeko et al., 2012).…”

Section: A Ritual Repositorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In social worlds dominated by the belief that evil lurks in human relationships, children may also be implicated in the diagnostic and curative processes aimed at Reis redressing social wrongs. In Northern Uganda, Acholi children complain of cen, spirits of people who died during the war and who haunt the living until they are appeased Akello, Reis, & Richters, 2010;Akello, Richters, & Reis, 2009;Angucia, 2010;Anyeko et al, 2012;cf. Liu Institute, Gulu District NGO Forum, and Ker Kwaro Acholi, 2005;Neuner et al, 2012).…”

Section: Children Spirits and Witchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children enacting idioms of witchcraft and spirit possession as a response to trauma: Therapeutically beneficial, and for whom?

Reis

2013

Transcult Psychiatry

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This article examines children's enactment of spirit possession idioms and witchcraft in Africa including the meanings such idioms provide and the local healing resources they mobilize. Idioms of haunting spirits in Northern Uganda and witch-children elsewhere in Africa can be interpreted as manifestations of social crises and mass traumatic stress. On the other hand, such idioms also allow children to articulate, reflect upon, and communicate the complex feelings resulting from their precarious positions within families and communities under duress. With the help of Dow's transactional model of symbolic healing, this article explores obstacles to the effectivity of the rich variety of symbolic healing available for haunting spirits in Uganda and points to the generational gap between children and their families and communities. Elsewhere, witchcraft idioms may act as a healing resource at the group level, but at the expense of the accused child. The idioms of evil spirits and witchcraft speak of these children's navigation of the moral universe of their postconflict communities. Given that children's appraisal of their experiences through these notions may also exacerbate their anxiety, interdisciplinary research examining the microprocesses that lead to children being haunted or accused, including emotional and physiological levels effects, is urgently needed.

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‘The Cooling of Hearts’: Community Truth-Telling in Northern Uganda

Cited by 37 publications

References 9 publications

After abduction: exploring access to reintegration programs and mental health status among young female abductees in Northern Uganda

After abduction: exploring access to reintegration programs and mental health status among young female abductees in Northern Uganda

Male Survivors of Wartime Sexual Violence

Children enacting idioms of witchcraft and spirit possession as a response to trauma: Therapeutically beneficial, and for whom?

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