Research among Acholi women formerly associated with the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda has documented that the reintegration outcomes over time have been positive, but...Show moreResearch among Acholi women formerly associated with the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda has documented that the reintegration outcomes over time have been positive, but that challenges emerging from the post-conflict environment continue to exist, affecting their psychosocial wellbeing. This research was conducted in 2017, eleven years after the ending of the armed conflict in Northern Uganda. The focus of this thesis was to identify which factors had contributed to the processes of reintegration, seen from the personal perspective of formerly abducted Acholi women. Previous research supports the finding that marriage influences positive reintegration outcomes because marriage should offer the needed social and economic security in women’s reintegration process, based on the traditional institution of marriage. This hypothesis was confirmed in focus groups of both married and unmarried formerly abducted Acholi women. Subsequently, ten semi-structured interviews with formerly abducted Acholi women were used to assess to what extent marriage contributed to their material and psychosocial wellbeing, seen from the women’s personal perspectives. The results indicate that both variables are mediated by the quality of the marriage itself as a ‘primary support system’. Low quality of marriage could partly be compensated by the quality of the social network of the women and their own resiliency. One of the main (and remaining) problems of the women was the persistent ‘shaming’ in the community. Even though all of their husbands had been aware of their past at the time of marriage, the issue was permanently raised in internal marital conflicts and interaction with the family of husbands, especially in case of (family) conflicts. Furthermore, the internal marital conflicts seriously jeopardized the abilities of the women to support themselves economically and to guarantee the education of their children. In sum, this study demonstrates that being able to marry as a formerly abducted woman does not naturally guarantee successful reintegration. It is the quality of marriage based on the relationship between husband and wife, and the relationship between the wife and extended family members, that determine the marital levels of social and economic security which ultimately influences the women’s psychosocial wellbeing.Show less
