Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T21:40:35.763Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From the border to the bedroom: changing conflict dynamics in Karamoja, Uganda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2019

Elizabeth Stites  and
Kimberly Howe
Elizabeth Stites*
Affiliation:
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, 114 Curtis Street, Somerville, MA, 02144, USA
Kimberly Howe*
Affiliation:
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, 114 Curtis Street, Somerville, MA, 02144, USA
*
Email: elizabeth.stites@tufts.edu; kimberly.howe@tufts.edu
Email: elizabeth.stites@tufts.edu; kimberly.howe@tufts.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

For the latter decades of the last century, the Karamoja region of north-eastern Uganda was infamous as a place of violent cattle raids and road ambushes, populated by fierce warriors. Using primary data, this article examines the shifts from large-scale raiding to opportunistic theft as well as the profound transformation in the security environment over the past 10 years. We argue that the combination of a top-down sustained disarmament campaign and grassroots peace resolutions have created relative stability for the first time in decades. This stability has allowed for the expansion of markets, investments by national and international actors, and the rejuvenation of livelihoods for many residents. However, while large-scale violent cattle raids are largely a thing of the past, violence and insecurity have shifted to the domestic sphere in the form of small-scale but pervasive thefts and rampant domestic violence.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 137 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The authors greatly appreciate the generous project funding from a range of donors, including the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), UNICEF Kampala, Save the Children in Uganda (SCiUG), the European Union, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Irish Aid (IA), the World Bank, and Mercy Corps International.

References

REFERENCES

Adan, M. & Pkalya, R.. 2005. ‘Closed to progress: an assessment of the socio-economic impacts of conflict on pastoral and semi pastoral economies in Kenya and Uganda.’ Practical Action, May 2005.Google Scholar
Akabwai, D. & Ateyo, P.. 2007. ‘The scramble for cattle, power and guns in Karamoja.’ Medford, MA: Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. 1986. ‘Stock theft and moral economy in colonial Kenya’, Africa 56, 4: 399–416.Google Scholar
Bevan, J. 2008. ‘Crisis in Karamoja: armed violence and the failure of disarmament in Uganda's most deprived region.’ Geneva: Small Arms Survey.Google Scholar
Broch-Due, V. 1999. ‘Remembered cattle, forgotten people: the morality of exchange and exclusion of the Turkana poor’, in Broch-Due, V. & Anderson, D.M., eds. The Poor are not Us: poverty and pastoralism in Eastern Africa. Oxford: James Currey, 50–88.Google Scholar
Burns, J., Bekele, G. & Akabwai, D.. 2013. ‘Livelihood dynamics in Northern Karamoja: a participatory baseline study for the Growth, Health and Governance Program (Mercy Corps).’ Somerville, MA: Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.Google Scholar
Caravani, M. 2018. ‘“De-pastoralisation”’ in Uganda's Northeast: from livelihoods diversification to social differentiation’, Journal of Peasant Studies. doi: 10.1080/03066150.2018.1517118.Google Scholar
Carr, C. 2008. Kalashnikov Culture: small arms proliferation and irregular warfare. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Praeger Security International.Google Scholar
Catley, A. & Aklilu, Y.. 2012. ‘Moving up or moving out? Commercialization, growth and destitution in pastoral areas’, in Catley, A., Lind, J. & Scoones, I., eds. Pastoralism and Development in Africa: dynamic change on the margins. London: Routledge, 85–97.Google Scholar
Dyson-Hudson, N. 1966. Karimojong Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Eaton, D. 2008. ‘The business of peace: raiding and peace work along the Kenya–Uganda border (part I)’, African Affairs 107: 89–110.Google Scholar
Eaton, D. 2010. ‘The rise of the ‘traider’: the commercialization of raiding in Karamoja’, Nomadic Peoples 14, 2: 106–22.Google Scholar
Ellis, J.E. & Swift, D.M.. 1988. ‘Stability of African pastoral ecosystems: alternate paradigms and implications for development’, Journal of Range Management 41, 6: 450–9.Google Scholar
Fleisher, M.L. 1998. ‘Cattle raiding and its correlates: the cultural-ecological consequences of market-oriented cattle raiding among the Kuria of Tanzania’, Human Ecology 26, 4: 547–72.Google Scholar
Fleisher, M.L. 1999. ‘Cattle raiding and household demography among the Kuria of Tanzania’, Journal of the International African Institute 69, 2: 238–55.Google Scholar
Fleisher, M. L. 2000a. ‘Kuria cattle raiding: capitalist transformation commoditization and crime formation among an East African agro-pastoral people’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 42, 4: 745–69.Google Scholar
Fleisher, M.L. 2000b. Kuria Cattle Raiders: violence and vigilantism on the Tanzania/Kenya frontier. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Fleisher, M.L. & Holloway, G. J.. 2004. ‘The problem with boys: bridewealth accumulation, sibling gender, and the propensity to participate in cattle raiding among the Kuria of Tanzania’, Current Anthropology 45, 2: 284–8.Google Scholar
Gray, S. J. 2000. ‘A memory of loss: ecological politics, local history, and the evolution of Karimojong violence’, Human Organization 59, 4: 401–18.Google Scholar
Gray, S. 2010. ‘Crimes, punishment and customary law among Matheniko and Bokora Karimojong. Kampala, Uganda.’ Danida, Program Paper for meeting in Kampala on 27 and 28 September.Google Scholar
Gray, S., Leslie, P. & Akol, H.A.. 2002. ‘Uncertain disaster: environmental instability, colonial policy, and resilience of East African pastoral systems’, in Leonard, W. R. & Crawford, M. H., eds. Human Biology of Pastoral Populations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 99–130.Google Scholar
Gray, S., Sundal, M., Wiebusch, B., Little, M., Leslie, P. & Pike, I.. 2003. ‘Cattle raiding, cultural survival, and adaptability of East African pastoralists’, Current Anthropology 44, Suppl.: S3–40.Google Scholar
Gulliver, P.H. 1953. ‘The age set organization of the Jie tribe’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 83, 2: 147–68.Google Scholar
Hendrickson, D., Armon, J. & Mearns, R.. 1998. ‘The changing nature of conflict and famine vulnerability: the case of livestock raiding in Turkana District, Kenya’, Disasters 22, 3: 185–99.Google Scholar
Howe, K., Stites, E., Akabwai, D. with Corps, Mercy. 2015. ‘“We now have relative peace”: changing conflict dynamics in northern Karamoja, Uganda.’ Somerville, MA: Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2007. ‘“Get the gun!”: human rights violations by Uganda's national army in law enforcement operations in Karamoja region.’ New York: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
Knighton, B. 2003. ‘The state as raider among the Karimojong: “where there are no guns, they use the threat of guns”’, Africa 73: 439–46.Google Scholar
Knighton, B. 2005. The Vitality of the Karamojong Religion: dying tradition or living faith? Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Krätli, S. & Swift, J.. 2003. ‘Understanding and Managing Pastoral Conflict in Kenya: a literature review.’ Falmer: Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.Google Scholar
Lamphear, J. 1976. The Traditional History of the Jie of Uganda. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Markakis, J. 2004. ‘Pastoralism on the margin.’ London: Minority Rights Group International.Google Scholar
Mirzeler, M. & Young, C.. 2000. ‘Pastoral politics in the northeast periphery in Uganda: AK-47 as change agent.’ Journal of Modern African Studies 38, 3: 407–29.Google Scholar
Mkutu, K.A. 2003. ‘Pastoral conflict and small arms: the Kenya–Uganda border region.’ London: Saferworld.Google Scholar
Mkutu, K.A. 2007. ‘Small arms and light weapons among pastoral groups in the Kenya-Uganda area’, African Affairs 106, 102: 47–70.Google Scholar
Mkutu, K. A. 2008. Guns and Governance in the Rift Valley: pastoralist conflict and small arms. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Muhereza, F.E., Ossiya, D. & Ovonji-Odida, I.. 2008. ‘A study on options for enhancing access to justice, and improving administration of law and order in Karamoja (Revised Report).’ Kampala: Danida, Human Rights and Good Governance Program.Google Scholar
Ocan, C.E. 1992. ‘Pastoral crisis in northeastern Uganda: the changing significance of cattle raids.’ Kampala, Centre for Basic Research, Working Paper 21.Google Scholar
Ocan, C. 1994. ‘Pastoral resources and conflicts in north-eastern Uganda: the Karimojong case’, Nomadic Peoples 34/35: 123–35.Google Scholar
Oloka-Onyango, J., Zie, G. & Muhereza, F.. 1993. ‘Pastoralism, crisis and transformation in Karamoja.’ CBR Pastoralism Workshop, Makerere University.Google Scholar
Otim, P.O. 2002. ‘Scarcity and conflict in pastoral areas: a look at the other side of the coin.’ Regional Workshops on East African Drylands. Khartoum and Addis Ababa, Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA).Google Scholar
Schilling, J., Akuno, M., Scheffran, J. & Weinzierl, T.. 2011. ‘On arms and adaptation: climate change and pastoral conflict in Northern Kenya.’ Working Paper CLISEC-15. Hamburg: University of Hamburg, Research Group Climate Change and Security.Google Scholar
Simala, K.I. & Amutabi, M.. 2005. ‘Small arms, cattle raiding and borderlands: the Ilemi triangle’, in van Schendel, W. and Abraham, I., eds. Ilicit Flows and Criminal Things: states, borders and the other side of globalization. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Spencer, P. 1976. ‘Opposing streams and the gerontocratic ladder: two models of age organisation in East Africa’, Man (NS) 11, 2: 153–75.Google Scholar
Stites, E. 2013a. ‘Identity reconfigured: Karimojong male youth, violence and livelihoods.’ Somerville, MA: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. PhD dissertation.Google Scholar
Stites, E. 2013b. ‘A struggle for rites: masculinity, violence and livelihoods in Karamoja, Uganda’, in Tripp, A., Ferree, M. Marx & Ewig, C., eds. Gender, Violence and Human Security: critical feminist perspectives. New York, NY: New York University Press, 132–62.Google Scholar
Stites, E. & Akabwai, D.. 2009. ‘Changing roles, shifting risks: livelihood impacts of disarmament in Karamoja, Uganda.’ Medford, MA: Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.Google Scholar
Stites, E. & Akabwai, D.. 2010. ‘“We are now reduced to women”: impacts of forced disarmament in Karamoja, Uganda’, Nomadic Peoples 14, 2: 24–43.Google Scholar
Stites, E., Mazurana, D. & Carlson, K.. 2006. ‘Movement on the Margins: livelihoods and security in Kitgum District, northern Uganda.’ Medford, MA: Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.Google Scholar
Stites, E. & Marshak, A.. 2016. ‘Who are the lonetia? Findings from southern Karamoja, Uganda’, Journal of Modern African Studies 54, 2: 237–62.Google Scholar
Stites, E., Howe, K., Redda, T. & Akabwai, D.. 2016. ‘“A Better Balance”: revitalized pastoral livelihoods in Karamoja, Uganda.’ Somerville, MA, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.Google Scholar
Wiens, J. 1999. ‘Hundreds of people are dead in Uganda after three-days of ethnic clashes.’ Voice of America (VOA). East Africa Bureau.Google Scholar