Youth in the Aftermath of Conflict: Perspectives from Yumbe District, North-Western Uganda

While the research takes place in Yumbe District in North Western Uganda, a region beyond the immediate scope of the CTD project, the themes of her research link up with those of the project. The focus is on how youth as a generation born and raised during conflict, relate to the past and how that influences their social navigation (Vigh 2006, 2009) in the present.

In this research the focus is on ‘intergenerational connections’, rather than on ICTs. But also on the connections and disconnections with the outside world: for example how do people from a remote region try to connect to NGO’s and their programmes in the aftermath of conflict? And how do they try to connect to the Ugandan government and its poverty reduction programmes? Duress plays an important role in this project when studying how people in Yumbe are trying to come to terms with a prolonged history of conflict and insecurity, with victimization and political marginalization.

Reflecting on themes that are of great importance in young men’s life in Yumbe; growing up in a border region, migration, khat use, early fatherhood and low levels of education, we gain a deeper insight into how duress influences the lives of young people in Yumbe.

CTD publications by Jonna Both:

Articles:

• Both, J. & M. E. de Bruijn (2017), ‘Youth Between State and Rebel (Dis) Orders: Contesting Legitimacy from Below in Sub-Sahara Africa’, Small Wars & Insurgencies 28(4-5): 779-798.
• Both, J. & M. E. de Bruijn (2017), ‘The mobile phone and society in South Sudan: A critical historical-anthropological approach’, Journal of African Media Studies 9(2): 323-337.

Books:

• Both, J. (2017), Conflict Legacies. Understanding youth’s post-peace agreement practices in Yumbe, north-western Uganda, Amsterdam University/ Leiden University: doctoral dissertation.

Papers:

• Both, J. & M. E. de Bruijn, ‘(re)New(ed) claims on citizenship/belonging in sub-Sahara Africa’. Paper presented during the conference ‘From Disorder to Order: Conflict and the Resources of Legitimacy’, Leiden, 20-21 October 2016.

Blogs:

• Blog for The Broker (with Abdoulaye Adoum Souleymane): Conflicts connected and disconnected: where do we place the problem of governance in Chad?