Background:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recent global pandemic associated with multidimensional health-related effects. In the fight against the spread of this novel pandemic, the... Show moreBackground:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recent global pandemic associated with multidimensional health-related effects. In the fight against the spread of this novel pandemic, the majority have been living under restrictive conditions during its related lockdown that has created a conducive environment for gender-based violence (GBV). Our study aimed to ascertain the burden and determinants of GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown and curfew (CPLC) in Uganda.Methods:We conducted a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study in Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality, southwestern Uganda in May, 2020. This study involved 339 adult participants regardless of their gender or ethnicity. Only 12 potential respondents declined to participate in this survey.Results:The prevalence of GBV during the CPLC was 42 per cent. The majority (57%) of victims were women. More than half (54%) of the victims and survivors of GBV attributed the violence to the lockdown. The determinants of GBV included being married, using substances of abuse and having financial problems.Conclusion:The prevalence of GBV skyrocketed during the CPLC in Uganda when compared to the period prior to the pandemic. Women were significantly more affected in all aspects of GBV. Therefore, we recommend developing targeted behavioural change communication strategies based upon our findings. Show less
War ravaged northern Uganda for over two decades after its start in 1986. During this time, over 80 per cent of the Acholi population living there was internally displaced. This occurrence has... Show moreWar ravaged northern Uganda for over two decades after its start in 1986. During this time, over 80 per cent of the Acholi population living there was internally displaced. This occurrence has disrupted social life in more ways than often acknowledged in policymaking and discourse surrounding displacement. This book draws focus on the personal experiences of people who moved to Pabo – the former site of one of the displacement camps – during the war, and who have not left this place since. Using data from life histories collected in Pabo during seven months of fieldwork, it explores motivations for non-return and shows that displacement is more than a forced move from one geographical location to another; it involves economic, social, and cosmological considerations and touches upon identity and belonging. This book also explores the long-term effects of displacement on life by zooming in on social relations within the household. Using the concept of anomie, it is argued that, in this particular post-conflict context, social guidance on desirablegoals and accepted behaviour is diminished and there is a discrepancy between goals that are still valued and the means available to achieve them. Building upon the life histories, the argument is constructed that the situation of anomie has contributed to intergenerational friction and to families breaking up. The goal of this book is to lay bare the interface between structure and agency, and to counter the trend of turning internally displaced people as well as refugees into abbreviations and subjects without a voice.Dutch summary: Meer dan twee decennia lang is het noorden van Oeganda geteisterd door de oorlog die daar in 1986 begon. In deze periode raakte meer dan 80 procent van de Acholi-bevolking in deze regio ontheemd. Ondanks dat dit niet altijd erkend wordt in het beleid en de discussies omtrent ontheemding, laat dit werk zien dat deze gebeurtenis het sociale leven in vele opzichten heeft ontwricht. Dit boek vraagt aandacht voor de persoonlijke ervaringen van mensen die naar Pabo – de locatie van één van de vele voormalige vluchtelingenkampen – zijn getrokken tijdens de oorlog en die hier niet meer weg zijn gegaan. Door middel van tijdens veldwerk verzamelde levensverhalen worden motivaties om niet terug te keren blootgelegd. Dit laat zien dat ontheemding meer is dan een gedwongen geografische verplaatsing; ontheemding betreft economische, sociale en kosmologische overwegingen en raakt aan identiteit en een gevoel van verbondenheid. Hiernaast onderzoekt dit boek de langetermijn effecten van ontheemding door in te zoomen op de sociale relaties binnen huishoudens. Door het concept ‘anomie’ te gebruiken, wordt beargumenteerd dat er, in deze specifieke context, een verzwakt sociaal kader is wat betreft levensdoelen die nagestreefd zouden moeten worden en wat acceptabel gedrag is om deze doelen te verwezenlijken. Bovendien laat het zien dat er een gat is ontstaan tussen doelen die worden gezien als belangrijk en de middelen die beschikbaar zijn om deze doelen te behalen. De levensverhalen tonen aan dat deze situatie van anomie heeft geleid tot intergenerationele wrijving en tot het uiteenvallen van families. Dit boek legt het spanningsveld tussen structuur en zelfbeschikking bloot, en gaat in tegen de trend die vluchtelingen maakt tot nummers of mensen zonder stem. Show less
Ruzibiza, Y.; Berckmoes, L.H.; Neema, S.; Reis, R. 2021
This paper explores how Burundian adolescents in the Nakivale refugee settlement, Uganda, experience umwidegemvyo, loosely translated as “freedom”, with regard to their sexuality. We draw on... Show moreThis paper explores how Burundian adolescents in the Nakivale refugee settlement, Uganda, experience umwidegemvyo, loosely translated as “freedom”, with regard to their sexuality. We draw on ethnographic research conducted between August and November 2017 with adolescents aged 13–19 years. Our research included in-depth individual interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation. We present a context-sensitive appreciation of “freedom” and its social implications for adolescents’ sexual and love relationships. We show how adolescents attribute their sexual experiences and practices, including experimental sex, stress-relief sex and transactional sex, to the freedom experienced in the refugee context. Yet they also view this freedom with ambivalence: while some degree of freedom is desirable, too much is referred to in terms of kutitabwaho n’ababyeyi, loosely translated as “parental neglect”, implying a lack of parental involvement, care and provisioning. Show less
This paper presents a comparative study on conceptualizations of the poorly understood nodding syndrome (NS) in Uganda and Tanzania. NS has been constructed as a biomedical category to serve global... Show moreThis paper presents a comparative study on conceptualizations of the poorly understood nodding syndrome (NS) in Uganda and Tanzania. NS has been constructed as a biomedical category to serve global health discourse as well as national contexts of managing the condition. The paper looks into the shifting meanings and conceptualizations of NS in the affected areas of Kitgum (UG) and Mahenge (TZ) district. The perceived universality of biomedical classifications is problematized as conflicting with the specific contexts of lucluc and kifafa cha kusinzia. Reconciliation proves to be challenging, poignantly evoking the cultural construction as such of any medical condition. Show less
This essay investigates the historical background of ethnic disunity in today’s Western Uganda as part of the Great Lakes Region of East Africa. In general, there are two opposing views with... Show moreThis essay investigates the historical background of ethnic disunity in today’s Western Uganda as part of the Great Lakes Region of East Africa. In general, there are two opposing views with respect to the existence of ethnicity in precolonial times. On the one hand, social scientists state that the existence of ethnic groups is an invention of the joint work of colonial administrators and professional ethnologists. On the other hand, several scholars argue that ethnicity is an ancient phenomenon predating colonial times. In the past decades, the study into the ancient history of the Great Lakes Region has made great progress. The interdisciplinary approach of historical linguistics, history and anthropology revealed a fascinating and complex history of languages and cultures. However, the history of the different peoples who spoke these languages and built up these cultures is much less known, in particular about how they interacted with each other and how they judged socio-cultural differences. For example, what names they gave each other. This essay tries to give an impetus for further interdisciplinary research about the existence of ethnicity in precolonial times. Identity formation within and between groups is related to power structures in societies. Therefore, investigating ethnicity in precolonial times has to be carried out in the context of developing power structures. Show less
This paper presents a comparative study on conceptualizations of the poorly understood nodding syndrome (NS) in Uganda and Tanzania. NS has been constructed as a biomedical category to serve global... Show moreThis paper presents a comparative study on conceptualizations of the poorly understood nodding syndrome (NS) in Uganda and Tanzania. NS has been constructed as a biomedical category to serve global health discourse as well as national contexts of managing the condition. The paper looks into the shifting meanings and conceptualizations of NS in the affected areas of Kitgum (UG) and Mahenge (TZ) district. The perceived universality of biomedical classifications is problematized as conflicting with the specific contexts of lucluc and kifafa cha kusinzia. Reconciliation proves to be challenging, poignantly evoking the cultural construction as such of any medical condition. Show less
Nodding syndrome is an unexplained affliction that has affected thousands of children in post-conflict northern Uganda, South Sudan and in Tanzania. This study focuses on the sudden rise of... Show moreNodding syndrome is an unexplained affliction that has affected thousands of children in post-conflict northern Uganda, South Sudan and in Tanzania. This study focuses on the sudden rise of nodding syndrome in the Ugandan public discourse, based on 369 newspaper reports over a timespan of 4.5 years and interviews with journalists, politicians, caretakers and health workers during 15 months of fieldwork in Kitgum district. The news coverage of nodding syndrome follows a non-linear trajectory, increasing at the end of 2011 and declining a year later. Attention is paid to the conceptualization of nodding syndrome in media reports, linked to the formation of public opinion and management of the affliction. Different settings elicit different concepts and it is therefore necessary to contextualize illness and focus on processes of formation. Show less
This book brings together studies on the broad theme of elections and democratization in Africa since roughly 1989. It is based on a seminar held in The Netherlands in February 1997, and includes... Show moreThis book brings together studies on the broad theme of elections and democratization in Africa since roughly 1989. It is based on a seminar held in The Netherlands in February 1997, and includes chapters on both electoral processes, especially the role of foreign observers therein, and the historical and sociocultural backgrounds or contexts of democratization, elections and political legitimacy. Part 1 deals with elections and election observation in Africa in general (contributions by O. van Cranenburgh, S. Ellis, I. van Kessel, B. de Gaay Fortman). Part 2 consists of country studies (M. Doornbos on Uganda, D. Foeken en T. Dietz on Kenya, J. Abbink on Ethiopia, R. van Dijk on Malawi, R. Buijtenhuijs on Chad, and M.-F. Lange on Mali). Part 3 includes a chapter that reflects the discussions held at the seminar between observers, academics and policymakers in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (W. van Binsbergen en J. Abbink); a review of Dutch policies on election observation in Africa during the period 1992-1997 (O. van Cranenburgh); and a discussion of the 1997 general elections in Kenya, where a new approach of election observation was introduced (M. Rutten). Show less
Nutrition education is widely accepted as an important means of improving the health of young children in developing countries. Based on research carried out in Uganda in 1971-1972, this book... Show moreNutrition education is widely accepted as an important means of improving the health of young children in developing countries. Based on research carried out in Uganda in 1971-1972, this book shows how studies of changes in knowledge and attitudes can provide unique insights into both the educational process and its success or failure. It also demonstrates that the social circumstances of the individual families play an important part in determining the effects of the teaching. It contributes to the information needed for planning nutrition programmes so as better to meet the actual needs of individual families of groups Show less
Three groups of Ugandan children (20 in each group) and one comparison group of 20 children were examined between 11 and 17 years of age. The children in the first three groups had suffered from... Show moreThree groups of Ugandan children (20 in each group) and one comparison group of 20 children were examined between 11 and 17 years of age. The children in the first three groups had suffered from energy-protein malnutrition 10 to 16 years previously when they were hospitalised at different ages (between 8-15) months, 16-21 months, 22-27 months). The comparison group consist of children who had not suffered from clinical malnutrition during infancy. All the children came from one tribe and were individually matched for sex, age, education and home environment. The three groups malnourished in infancy fell significantly below the comparison group in tests performance at the later age. Further analysis showed that the deficit is not related to the severity of acute malnutrition, but rather to the degree of chronic undernutrition at admission. No evidence was found for a relationship between impairment and the age at admission. Show less
This study is concerned with the relation between protein-energy malnutrition and the intellectual abilities of children in Uganda. The findings are based on the investigation of a group of 60... Show moreThis study is concerned with the relation between protein-energy malnutrition and the intellectual abilities of children in Uganda. The findings are based on the investigation of a group of 60 Ugandan boys and girls who became severely malnourished during the first 27 months of their life, resulting in their admission to the hospital in Kampala. At the time of the study, in 1970-1971, the children were between 11 and 17 years old. The relation between malnutrition and intellectual abilities is explored in two ways: by comparison with a matched group of children who were not severely malnourished during the first years of their life; and by relating the present intellectual abilities of each child to its condition on admission to the hospital. The findings are discussed against the evidence from other psychological studies Show less
