Women of Northern Uganda

For over thirty years the country of Uganda has been held up in a bitter conflict between the Ugandan government and battling guerilla warfare armies. The Ugandan guerilla war is one of the bloodiest of Africa’s history, where tens of thousands of Ugandan civilians have been captured, maimed, mutilated, raped, and killed. Because warfare has historically been instigated and fought by men, based upon what is thought to be masculine ideals of power and conquest, it is very easy to see how militarism can be solely equated with the male population. But the military forces that invade and fight, while mostly governed by men, have had a vast impact on the lives of the women that inhabit the war zones. The conflict in northern Uganda is no different, and while women are not the ones leading the warring groups, women are deeply affected. Issues of displacement, economics, familial destruction, education, and environmental degradation have all plagued the female population of Acholiland. This audio slideshow aims to expore these issues and highlight the strength and resilience of women living in internally displaced persons camps in Northern Uganda.

Nora Chovanec is a photographer based in Boston, MA. Her past work includes documentary stories from Uganda, Ukraine, Mexico, and across the United States. Currently she is finishing her fifth year of the combined-degree B.A./B.F.A. program with Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, majoring in Photography and Women’s Studies. Nora can be reached at nora.chovanec@gmail.com.

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