Rejection and Resilience: Returning from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda

Abstract

This article focuses on young people who returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda, mostly as children, over ten years ago. They are, by definition, resilient, because they have survived, but there are important variations. For the most part, those who managed to gain status in the LRA, are those most likely to present themselves as ‘resilient’ according to notions of self-reliance and entrepreneurialism. The majority are not in this position. They are mainly living in rural locations, and commonly face social rejection and extreme poverty. Supporting normative models of resilience has exacerbated deprivation of the most vulnerable.