The conjugal order and long-term reintegration in Northern Uganda. How ideas of sexuality and patrilineality shape reintegration processes of men, women and children born in captivity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research on the reintegration of ex-combatants has mostly focused on a short period after the end of conflict. Building on this observation, I analyse the long-term reintegration processes of formerly abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda from a feminist perspective. Specifically, I explore how long-term reintegration differs for returning men, women and children born in captivity (CBC). To understand these long-term processes, it is crucial to analyse the wider societal order into which returnees reintegrate. I argue that in Northern Uganda a conjugal order centred around ideas of sexuality/marriage and patrilineality shapes the different reintegration experiences of returning women, men and CBC. I find that gender affects both short-term and long-term reintegration, with returning women and their children encountering significantly more difficulties than returning men. Interestingly, male CBC transitioning into adulthood are confronted with more problems related to the conjugal order than female CBC. Overall, my findings suggest that reintegration is an open, dynamic, and intergenerational process that cannot be confined to a fixed time frame.