Interconnections between children's upbringing, camps, and post‐war villages: caregivers' lived experiences in northern Uganda

Abstract

Since the end of the Second World War in 1945, the erection of camps within and across state borders has become the most common response to the influx of displaced persons. Based on empirical evidence from northern Uganda, this paper aims to provide answers to two main questions: (i) how does the camp influence and frame the upbringing of children?; and (ii) how do caregivers shape and adjust upbringing within this setting and when they return to their ‘former homes’ ? Interviews and focus‐group discussions were conducted with 48 caregivers living in Kitgum District, northern Uganda. Deductive thematic analysis was employed to structure participants' accounts of past and present interconnections between upbringing and (previous) encampment. By paying close attention to their (counter‐)narratives, people's agency and coping are emphasised through the simultaneous forging of new interconnections (that is, discontinuities) and holding on to old interconnections (that is, continuities) between upbringing, the camp, and the post‐war village.