Suffering, Struggle, and the Politics of Legitimacy in Uganda, 1958-1996

FAIN: FT-279035-21

Abigail Clare Meert
Texas A & M International University (Laredo, TX 78041-1920)

Archival research in Uganda and the United Kingdom, as well as conducting semi-structured follow-up interviews with previous informants, and writing one academic article as part of a book on the Ugandan Civil War in 1981-1986.

This project investigates the relationship between violence, fear, and political decision-making during the 1981-1986 Ugandan Civil War. In January 1986, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) took power in Uganda after a brutal civil war in which hundreds of thousands of Ugandans died. This project investigates the circumstances and motivations that drew civilians to the NRM during the 1981-1986 Ugandan Civil War. It does this to understand how communities understand and confer political legitimacy in moments of intense and protracted violence. Although based on my doctoral dissertation research, this project goes beyond the dissertation to provide the first comprehensive history of the Ugandan Civil War. An NEH Summer Stipend will support the final oral and archival research necessary for the completion of a book manuscript in the fields of African Studies and History, tentatively titled Suffering, Struggle, and the Politics of Legitimacy in Uganda, 1958-1996.