PhD Defence Jonna Both: Conflict legacies: Understanding youth’s post–peace agreement practices in Yumbe, north-western Uganda

Jonna Both (Leiden University) will defend her PhD, entitled Conflict legacies: Understanding youth’s post–peace agreement practices in Yumbe, north-western Uganda

A dissertation about research in Yumbe District in north-western Uganda is likely to start with reference to the ruins that are found scattered across Yumbe’s landscape, and by narrating past episodes of violence. These physical legacies that stem from the time of Amin’s presidency in the 1970s (a time in which many men from the region fought alongside Amin, for which the population was later collectively punished) are powerful and speak to the imagination. However, they are not innocent images that circulate. They risk reinforcing the stereotypes that have so long dominated the image of the region and its people as violent, the roots of which go much farther back in time, to colonial and pre-colonial times. In this dissertation, Jonna Both questions the legacies of decades of conflict for the younger generation in Yumbe. Jonna Both has looked at how young people (age 20 to 35) who themselves grew up in times of conflict now engage with this particular past and with the peace that was signed in Yumbe in 2002. The ruins are an important reference point for the younger generation who grew up next to such ruins and now pose proudly in front of the dilapidated buildings when they have their own pictures taken. The results of this ethnographic research lay bare intricate dynamics and show, through a focus on young people’s practices, how legacies of conflict still operate in present-day Yumbe’s social, economic, and political fabric.

Promotores: Prof. Ria Reis (UvA) and Prof. Mirjam de Bruijn (ASCL/Leiden University)

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