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3 - Arts-based methods to co-create knowledge and reconstruct power relations with marginalised women in and through research
- Edited by Ephrat Huss, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, Eltje Bos
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- Book:
- Social Work Research Using Arts-Based Methods
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 13 October 2022
- Print publication:
- 28 April 2022, pp 33-44
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Summary
Academic and professional knowledge have dominated the history of social work research and practice. As a result, new knowledge has been grafted predominantly onto an existing base of professional authority and expertise. Arts-based research is emerging as an alternative approach to knowledge production, broadening the understanding of how scientific evidence is created and who is in the position to create it (Boydell et al., 2012). It is intended to open space for deliberately engaging with voices from the margin, hence rendering it a meaningful approach to advance social inclusion and social justice in and through social work research. In this chapter, we draw on our experience with arts-based research projects to contemplate this potential and to contribute to a critical dialogue regarding the impact of arts-based research on power relations and structures in social work academia and practice. We start by briefly introducing our research collective, explaining our rationale for working with arts-based methods, and describing two projects in which visual arts were used. We continue this chapter by elaborating on the merits and challenges of this methodology in relation to co-creating knowledge and altering power relations, derived from our own experiences in relation to the strand of literature on artsbased research.
Introduction
Background of the research collective and arts-based research projects
EQUALITY//ResearchCollective, embedded in Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, member of the Ghent University Association (AU GENT) seeks to respond to social inequality and exclusion by initiating research from within a human rights and quality of life framework. Specific attention is directed towards involving people in socially vulnerable situations and their perspectives, as well as to establishing participatory approaches whereby co-creation with participants is key to addressing power relations in society. In several projects we employ arts-based methodology to pursue this objective.
This choice is grounded in the understanding that research plays a crucial part in knowledge production and dissemination, but also risks being an elitist structure in which social inequalities and (mis)representations are (re)produced by voices from the centre. The experiences and stories of citizens living in socially vulnerable situations are rarely sought in research, hence excluding their perspectives from knowledge frameworks (Mizock et al., 2014).
13 - Life in Rebel Captivity and its Challenges for the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers: The Case of Northern Uganda
- Edited by Ilse Derluyn, Cindy Mels, Stephan Parmentier, Wouter Vandenhole
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- Book:
- Re-Member
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 20 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 21 February 2012, pp 307-328
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
CHILD SOLDIERING IN NORTHERN UGANDA
In northern Uganda, a civil war has been waging for more than two decades between the rebel faction Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan Government. Although, the roots of this conflict reach back to the colonial era and the conflict has known many episodes; an intensification occurred when Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda, seized power in 1986 and Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA, set up his guerrilla campaign.
The battlefield of this conflict is situated in the northern districts of the country, where the Acholi population resides. The LRA adopted various civiliantargeting strategies from a political and operational aim, resulting in numerous civilian casualties. Attacks on villages, the maiming of civilians, ambushes, massacres and other atrocities were countless during this emergency. It is estimated that over a million and a half had to flee their homes and reside in internally displaced persons camps4 and that thousands of children sought protection as night commuters in town each night. Furthermore, the conflict limited their access to security, food, employment, education and health services.
One of its adopted strategies, mainly targeting children, is the violent abduction and forced recruitment of minors to serve as child soldiers. It is estimated that so far about 25,000 children have been forcibly involved as child soldiers in the LRA. These children are used to empower the LRA by filling its ranks and are thereby actively engaged in the battle against the government and people of Uganda.
In captivity, abducted children live in harsh circumstances, are exposed to several potentially traumatising events and are made perpetrators of atrocities against their own people. There can be no doubt that these experiences affect the child's well-being and development. Research has found that they are psychologically distressing, resulting in high rates of post-traumatic stress symptoms among former child soldiers. These in turn pose serious threats to the long-term rehabilitation and reintegration of the former child soldiers.
14 - Psychosocial Care in Rehabilitation Centres for Former Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda
- Edited by Ilse Derluyn, Cindy Mels, Stephan Parmentier, Wouter Vandenhole
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- Book:
- Re-Member
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 20 January 2021
- Print publication:
- 21 February 2012, pp 329-362
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
This chapter aims to outline an overview of psychosocial caretaking activities organised by rehabilitation centres (RCs) for former child soldiers in northern Uganda. The conflict in northern Uganda is sometimes referred to as ‘one of the most forgotten conflicts in the world’ or ‘one of the worst violations of children's rights anywhere in the world’. For over 20 years this country has suffered from a cruel and bloody war between the government army (Ugandan People's Defence Force, UPDF) and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group under the command of Joseph Kony. The LRA had a tremendous impact on daily life as it concentrated its terror on the civilian population by looting and attacking villages, burning houses, and, worst of all, by mutilating, killing and abducting children and adults. It is estimated that over the course of the conflict, Kony and his army were responsible for the deaths of about one million people, while nearly two million people were forced to live in camps for internally displaced persons (IDP) for several years.
The abduction or use of children for the purpose of forced conscription and sexual exploitation is even today an important problem, as it is estimated that between 250,000 and 300,000 children are deployed as child soldiers in 17 conflicts worldwide. Northern Uganda had its share, with estimations ranging from 24,000 to 38,000 children to as many as 66,000 children and young adults between 14 and 30 years old. Even more striking, Annan et al. found that more than one third of male youths and one fift h of female youths questioned in their study reported being abducted. Once abducted by the LRA, children were confronted with very difficult living conditions and without doubt life became a true struggle for survival. It started at the moment of abduction, when many children were tied, beaten and/or given heavy loads to carry.