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Post-conflict initiatives and the exclusion of conflict-affected young people in northern Uganda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2021

Alina Dixon
Alina Dixon*
Affiliation:
Queens University, 68 University Ave, Mackintosh-Corry B401, KingstonON, K7L 3N9, Canada
*
Email: a.dixon@queensu.ca
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Abstract

Young people are among the most severely impacted by conflict and as such many post-conflict initiatives are aimed at assisting them. Yet the impacts of these initiatives on young people's ability to successfully overcome the adversity they faced during conflict are not fully understood. This paper attempts to examine these impacts by conceptualising post-conflict initiatives as enmeshed within young people's social environments. It argues that post-conflict initiatives are intimately connected to broader processes of exclusion from social systems such as the family. While these systems had previously served to protect young people against adversity, conflict and post-conflict initiatives have disrupted their ability to continue this mission. In particular, the structure and function of the family system are examined to demonstrate the types of disruptions that have taken place that have ultimately negatively impacted the landscape in which young people develop.

Keywords

Youthpost-conflict initiativesyouth exclusionNorthern Uganda
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 21 - 39
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This research is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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