'The girl is the core of life’: social reintegration, communal violence, and the sacred in Northern Uganda

Abstract

This chapter explores diverse community perspectives related to girls and young women formerly associated with the Lord’s Resistance Army, some of whom returned with children, in particular focusing on the use of cultural resources in social reintegration. The methodology consisted of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with fifty participants—including Acholi Elders, Ajwakis (spiritual healers), local leaders and displaced never-abducted girls, women and men. A Grounded Theory analysis identified the following three categories; (1) Things Fall Apart—examining cultural constructions of ‘girlhood’ and the communal meanings of violence against girls, (2) Identity tensions presented by young mothers and their babies to the community of return, contributing to stigma enacted within specific social contexts and (3) The use of cultural resources in social reintegration. Culturally rooted community routines and practices are often overlooked but are central to a full understanding of social reintegration.