ABSTRACT
Formerly abducted women reunited with communities in northern Uganda that attach violence mainly to masculinity, and their personal histories of military recruitment challenged numerous social, cultural and spiritual norms. Communities viewed them as having violated traditional gender norms and as a threat to the patriarchal order. They were characterised as lacking personal and feminine qualities of purity, innocence, peacefulness and obedience. Their communities now viewed and classified them as having lower social status, suggesting that abduction and sexual violence placed them outside the Acoli social harmony. They experienced exclusion from community life. This chapter examines stigma as a significant mediator between formerly abducted women and their re-establishment of social relations. It shows that the time spent by formerly abducted Acoli women with the Lord’s Resistance Army did not lead to smooth reintegration into society, as a result of problems associated with their history and a new identity as formerly abducted persons. Stigma fundamentally informs their exclusion from community life in the Acoli region. The chapter identifies coping strategies that the women used to challenge ostracism and stigma associated with their past activities and to seek alternative pathways towards inclusion.
