Love and Care in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6146901
AutoresPhilipp Schulz (0000-0002-9388-0080, University of Bremen), Eunice Otuko Apio (Independent Researcher , Uganda), Robin Oryem (Independent Researcher , Uganda)
Ano2024
Volume4
Fascículo2
Data de publicação2024-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoGlobal Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2634-3797 • E-ISSN: 2634-3797
EditoraOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/isagsq/ksae013
OpenAlexW4394594753
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas50

Dominant storylines about armed conflicts and rebel groups, such as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group in Uganda, typically focus on violence, suffering, harm, and abuse. Without a doubt, life within insurgency groups, including in the LRA, is characterized by immense social suffering, typically portrayed to be beyond the pale of humanity. Yet, what of the connections of compassion, joy, love, and care that emerged in the context of cohesion and alongside these aspects and experiences of violence, suffering, and abuse? Over the years, our interlocutors narrated to us what can be understood as meaningful forms of kinship, social connections, or intimacy during and after their time with the group; in the context of conjugal spousal relations, among fellow recruits, or between abductees and their families and communities. This article focuses on these practices of love and care within and in the wake of life in the LRA, and how they are entangled with and sit alongside experiences of violence. The simultaneities of care and suffering constitute a key aspect of this analysis; not intending to negate, downplay, ignore, or trivialize the detrimental impact of violence within rebel groups in general, nor to idealize the relations of compassion, love, or care that emerged within this context. This dual focus, we maintain, is important for unearthing the complexities, intricacies, and nuances of peoples’ lived realities in the context of insurgency movements, and in the context of armed conflict more broadly, holding important analytical and ethical implications

Agronomy · Biology · Political science · Resistance (ecology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Religion, Society, and Development