Children Born of War in Northern Uganda: Kinship, Marriage, and the Politics of Post-Conflict Reintegration in Lango Society
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University of Birmingham Children Born of War in northern Uganda: Kinship, Marriage, and the Politics of Post-conflict Reintegration in Lango society By Apio Eunice Otuko A Thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History and Cultures School of Law and Arts, University of Birmingham January 2016 ABSTRACT ii University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. This thesis is about the experiences of children born as a result of sexual violence in war and armed conflict. It explores how children conceived in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are perceived and how those perceptions affect their everyday lives once they left the LRA and joined the families and communities of their mothers in post-war northern Uganda, and particularly in Lango. These children are offspring of forced wives - girls and young women who were forced into sexual relationships with LRA militiamen. Kony used fear and mysticism to manipulate his followers and control their sex life and hence, re-organise their reproductive choices. Yet, Kony’s approach to sexuality and procreation was perceived as incompatible with Lango norms and institutions regulating sex, marriage and motherhood. This gave rise to tensions over the reintegration of formerly abducted women and their children. This study explores the circumstances under which these children were conceived and what happened to them when they left the LRA and joined their mothers’ natal families and communities. Moreover, it explores related fields – such as ideas and practices of kinship and gender - influencing the treatment of children conceived in the LRA. iii DEDICATION In memory of my father Dr. John Baptist Otuko (RIP). To my companion Fred Ebil and my children Jesse, Venus, Noah and Innocent Ebil. To my precious mum Grace Otuko. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Throughout my study, I have been filled with great admiration at the level of resilence exhibited by the women and children whose lives are the subject of this thesis. I also have great respect for all other former LRA recruits and members of their families and communities who accepted to take part in this journey. I very much enjoyed learning with them, as they unreservedly embraced my project and delved deep into their personal lives and memories. It is my humble hope that through their generosity, this work has opened a new page in the understanding of the lives of thousands of children conceived from sexual violence during war. Second, without the sponsorship from the School of Law and Arts of the University of Birmingham, this entire project would not have taken off and survived to its completion. I also relied heavily on materials I collected in the course of carrying out my research on ‘Children and War: Resilience Beyond Programmes’ as a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow at the University of Birmingham – an initiative of the European Commission. I am forever indebted to these two institutions. In a special way, I thank Prof. Sabine Lee at the Department of History and Cultures and Dr. Benedetta Rossi at the Department of African Studies and Anthropology for all of their support to this project, which remains unmatched. I was extremely lucky to benefit from your expertise as my supervisors. Your patience and dedication in helping me understand and shape my perceptions and ideas about the broader world has brought me this far. I know now better how to listen to sights and sounds, and tell about life. As my mentors, I still continue looking to you for inspiration. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Monica Betty Adong and Daphne Christine Egwar, two dedicated happy people who offered to support me as research assistants during the entire duration of my fieldwork in northern Uganda. I also thank, profoundly, Mr. Jonathan Odur and his entire team at Facilitation for Peace and Development (FAPAD) for their endless encouragement during the fieldwork and the writing-up process in v Uganda. Through them, I also got access to their programme records, reports and field- based contacts, which became really valuable to the overall project. I cannot forget many other individuals who were part of this; encouraging me in one way or another so I could continue till the end. Even without mentioning your names individually, I am truly indebted to you all. In yet another special way, I thank my family for their encouragement throughout the project life. Thank you Fred Ebil, for taking care of our four children so I could be away to attend to my studies for years. I also thank my sister Peace Otuko for her dedicated support to the children in their respective schools – it gave me the much needed peace of mind to know that all was always well with my family. A similar gratitude goes to my mother Grace Otuko. Mum, I know I was always part of your thoughts. vi NOTE ON LANGUAGE Unless otherwise stated, all foreign language citations in this thesis are in Lango, a Luo dialect, largely spoken by the Langi in northern Uganda at the time of the study. All translations are my own, except where specified. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 1.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Thesis’ focus and objectives .................................................................................. 5 1.3. Sexual and Gender Based Violence during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict .......................................................................................................................... 8 1.4. How gender ideologies shape women’s experience ............................................ 12 1.5. Children born of war in northern Uganda ........................................................... 15 1.6. Lango society: the case study .............................................................................. 24 1.7. Methodology ........................................................................................................ 31 1.8. Doing research with children ............................................................................... 44 1.9. Reflexivity: learning how to see .......................................................................... 47 1.10. Organisation of the thesis .................................................................................. 52 CHAPTER 2. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE WAR AND THE REGION 55 2.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 55 2.2. Pre-colonial and Colonial Uganda ....................................................................... 56 2.3. Post-colonial Uganda ........................................................................................... 63 2.4. The Lord’s Resistance Army ............................................................................... 70 2.4.1. Abduction ..................................................................................................... 81 2.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER 3. GENDER AND MOTHERHOOD IN RURAL LANGO .................... 90 3.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 90 3.2. Family, lineage and clan ...................................................................................... 91 3.3. Marriage (nyom) ................................................................................................ 100 3.4. Brideprice (lim) .................................................................................................. 105 3.5. Illegitimate sexual intercourse (luk) .................................................................. 112 3.6. Blood payment (culo kwor) ............................................................................... 126 3.7. War and its effects on social institutions in Lango ............................................ 130 3.8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 134 CHAPTER 4. GENDER, MOTHERHOOD AND ETHNICITY IN THE LRA ...... 138 4.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 138 4.2. Social organisation in the LRA: settlement ....................................................... 138 4.3. Affiliation in the LRA ....................................................................................... 146 4.4. Gender terror in the making of motherhood in the LRA ................................... 151 4.5. The locking and unlocking of the wombs of girls in the LRA .......................... 159 4.6. War and the social dilemma of the LRA in Sudan ............................................ 167 4.7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................