A study of post-war Acholi people: How to cope with stress in an environment of ongoing conflict?

White, Ashley Solange ; Andersen, Helle

4. term

Global Refugee Studies, Master

2017

2017-07-28

89 pages

As the dust has settled on the battlefield in Northern Uganda, it seems relevant to shift the focus away from the suffering and trauma of the immediate consequences of the war, to the prolonged effects of the conflict on the struggles of everyday life. Upon conducting fieldwork in Gulu, we discovered that the post-conflict has evolved to a place where coping has become a priority due to the multitude of stress stimuli impacting the life of the Acholi. By looking through the lens of the Acholi people’s hardships, this thesis has attempted to grasp the predominant stress stimuli present in Acholi society, and to explore how the people are coping with them in the post-conflict setting. We wish to investigate not only the prolonged effects of war, by studying stress stimuli and coping strategies, but also to question the post in post-conflict. The aim of the study is not to find ways to resolve the hardships and struggles the Acholi encounter everyday, but rather the theoretical concepts are applied within the state, the community, and the household to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the current context the Acholi people find themselves in. Examining the predominant stress stimuli and the coping provokes an interrogation of whether the post in post-conflict is accurate, or if instead the Acholi are situated within an ongoing conflict. Overall, we wish to convey the stories, experiences, and perceptions of everyday life that we learned through social interactions with Acholi people. The thesis will be arranged into four sections of analysis. The first will take its departure from a macro perspective, analyzing the stress stimuli emerging from state level practices. The second will investigate the meso perspective of stress stimuli at community level, and finally the micro perspective at household level. The hierarchical structure not only allows the stress stimuli to become more clear within their allocated spheres but also to better determine if Acholi people are employing active coping, avoidance strategy, or giving up. The fourth section will use the stress stimuli and coping to demonstrate a notion of ongoing conflict.

Northern Uganda ; Acholi ; conflict ; stress ; stress stimuli ; coping strategies ; corruption ; brutality ; land disputes ; crisis in masculinity ; ongoing conflict

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