TY - JOUR
T1 - Of justice and the grave
T2 - The role of the dead in post-conflict Uganda
AU - Kim, Jaymelee
AU - Hepner, Tricia Redeker
N1 - Funding Information:
The research for this article is part of a larger team project led by Tricia Redeker Hepner, a cultural anthropologist; Dawnie Wolfe Steadman, a board-certified forensic anthropologist; and Jaymelee Kim, cross-trained in both biological/forensic anthropology and cultural anthropology. Integral participation and collaboration with Hugh Tuller, Julia Hanebrink, and Wilfred Komakech have made the research possible. The team also received assistance from Okot Komakech Deo, Yohana Temesghen, Chris Moore, Lucia Elgerud, Joshua Oballim Jr., Jeffrey Opiyo, Willy Okeny, and Godfrey Okot. We are grateful to our colleagues at the Refugee Law Project and the Justice and Reconciliation Project for their encouragement and support. Funding for this research was provided by the University of Tennessee, nih / nimhd Grant#T37MD001378, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation Grant #9075. The analysis herein is the sole responsibility of the co-authors.
Publisher Copyright:
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - In the aftermath of war, survivors' definitions of justice are often in tension with those of governments and international actors. While post-war northern Uganda has been the site of high-profile prosecutions of Lord's Resistance Army rebels, our research in rural Acholiland highlights how survivors define justice largely in terms of material compensation for both the living and the dead. These priorities are linked to the omnipresence of improperly buried human remains as evidence of physical and structural violence. Mass graves, burials in former displacement camps, and unidentified remains become focal points around which survivors articulate ongoing socioeconomic suffering and demands for redress. A 'thanatological approach' that centres the role of the dead and critically explores the possibilities presented by forensic science in a transitional justice context reveals survivors' prioritisation of reparative and restorative justice despite the international and national focus on retributive justice through institutions like the icc.
AB - In the aftermath of war, survivors' definitions of justice are often in tension with those of governments and international actors. While post-war northern Uganda has been the site of high-profile prosecutions of Lord's Resistance Army rebels, our research in rural Acholiland highlights how survivors define justice largely in terms of material compensation for both the living and the dead. These priorities are linked to the omnipresence of improperly buried human remains as evidence of physical and structural violence. Mass graves, burials in former displacement camps, and unidentified remains become focal points around which survivors articulate ongoing socioeconomic suffering and demands for redress. A 'thanatological approach' that centres the role of the dead and critically explores the possibilities presented by forensic science in a transitional justice context reveals survivors' prioritisation of reparative and restorative justice despite the international and national focus on retributive justice through institutions like the icc.
KW - Acholi
KW - International Criminal Court (icc)
KW - Mass graves
KW - Socioeconomic justice
KW - Thanatological
KW - Transitional justice
KW - Uganda
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U2 - 10.1163/15718123-01905004
DO - 10.1163/15718123-01905004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073825135
SN - 1567-536X
VL - 19
SP - 819
EP - 843
JO - International Criminal Law Review
JF - International Criminal Law Review
IS - 5
ER -