Cultural Profiling During Passport Control: Ugandan Migration Officers’ Informal Selection Practices

Sociologus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
Katrin Sowa
Keyword(s):  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Security Policies ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Cultural Stereotypes ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
African Immigration ◽  
Cultural Profiling ◽  
Passport Control ◽  
Selection Practices

Abstract Recently, northern Uganda has become a destination for inner-African immigration. As a result of new security policies, passport controls are intensifying at border posts and are being expanded across the country. During passport checks, officers often refer to natio­nal-cultural stereotypes in order to verify statements in identity documents. Stereotyping and profiling of ‘Somalian terrorists’ or ‘militant South Sudanese’ are used as pre-selection tools. At the same time, officers try to establish informal networks with immigrants as informants to make use of their cultural and linguistic expertise. The article is based on an ethnographic study of Ugandan police and immigration officers in 2014. Keywords: Uganda, South-South migration, profiling, citizenship, passport

The impact of alcohol misuse on fathering in Northern Uganda: An ethnographic study of fathers

2020 ◽  
pp. 136346152094331
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Mehus ◽  
Elizabeth Wieling ◽  
Okot Thomas Oloya ◽  
Achan Laura ◽  
Verena Ertl
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Alcohol Misuse ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Drinking Alcohol ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Entire Family ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews

The Acholi people of northern Uganda experienced decades of conflict. Alcohol misuse is high among northern Ugandan men. This is common in displaced or post-war communities. Because parents are often the most significant and proximal influence in a child’s development, it is important to understand the relationships between parental behavioral health and parenting. The purpose of this ethnographic study was to understand the impact of alcohol misuse on fathering, from fathers’ perspectives. We collected qualitative data from several sources, including in-depth interviews with 19 fathers. Informants identified three ways in which a father can “overdrink”: drinking to drunkenness, spending too much money on alcohol, or spending too much time drinking alcohol. Fathers described the specific ways in which overdrinking impacted each of the three primary roles of a father, which were identified as providing, educating, and creating a stable home. Of the negative effects of overdrinking, a compromised ability to provide for basic needs was described as the most salient. The findings suggest that support for families in this region should include support for father’s substance misuse, as a father’s overdrinking is widely understood to be problematic for the entire family.

scholarly journals Can we normalise developmentally appropriate health care for young people in UK hospital settings? An ethnographic study

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. e029107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Rapley ◽  
Albert Farre ◽  
Jeremy R Parr ◽  
Victoria J Wood ◽  
Debbie Reape ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Developmentally Appropriate ◽  
Young Person ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Adolescent And Young Adult ◽  
Normalisation Process Theory ◽  
Care Hospital ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
The Right

ObjectiveThe WHO has argued that adolescent-responsive health systems are required. Developmentally appropriate healthcare (DAH) for young people is one approach that could underpin this move. The aim of this study was to explore the potential for DAH to become normalised, to become a routine, taken-for-granted, element of clinical practice.DesignQualitative ethnographic study. Analyses were based on procedures from first-generation grounded theory and theoretically informed by normalisation process theory.SettingTwo tertiary and one secondary care hospital in England.Participants192 participants, health professionals (n=121) and managers (n=71) were recruited between June 2013 and January 2015. Approximately 1600 hours of non-participant observations in clinics, wards and meeting rooms were conducted, alongside 65 formal qualitative interviews.ResultsWe observed diverse values and commitments towards the care of young people and provision of DAH, including a distributed network of young person-orientated practitioners. Informal networks of trust existed, where specific people, teams or wards were understood to have the right skill-mix, or mindset, or access to resources, to work effectively with young people. As young people move through an organisation, the preference is to direct them to other young person-orientated practitioners, so inequities in skills and experience can be self-sustaining. At two sites, initiatives around adolescent and young adult training remained mostly within these informal networks of trust. At another, through support by wider management, we observed a programme that sought to make the young people’s healthcare visible across the organisation, and to get people to reappraise values and commitment.ConclusionTo move towards normalisation of DAH within an organisation, we cannot solely rely on informal networks and cultures of young person-orientated training, practice and mutual referral and support. Organisation-wide strategies and training are needed, to enable better integration and consistency of health services for all young people.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing Illness: Nodding Syndrome in Northern Uganda

Afrika Focus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Van Bemmel
Keyword(s):  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Main Stage ◽  
Stunted Growth ◽  
Nodding Syndrome ◽  
Head Nodding ◽  
Causative Agents ◽  
Political Problem

This paper presents an ethnographic study of conceptualizations of nodding syndrome (NS) in Uganda. NS is a poorly understood condition characterized by repetitive nodding of the head, mental retardation and stunted growth, which affects thousands of children in northern Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania. Although extensive research for causative agents has been conducted, no convincing single cause has been reported. This study establishes an understanding of different representations of NS and argues that the episodes of head nodding are related to the socio-political body in which they are manifested. Three interwoven approaches towards NS take main stage whereby the syndrome is presented as a biomedical, spiritual and/or political problem. The conceptualizations are linked to different notions of healing and affected families combine various forms of therapy. Through the examination of different narratives, this study disrupts the idea of a singular perspective on illness and pleads for a focus on motion and plurality. KEY WORDS: NODDING SYNDROME, UGANDA, HEALTH, CONCEPTUALIZATION, ANTHROPOLOGY

scholarly journals Mental health and psychosocial support for South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda: a needs and resource assessment

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Adaku ◽  
James Okello ◽  
Blakeley Lowry ◽  
Jeremy C. Kane ◽  
Stephen Alderman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
Sudanese Refugees

scholarly journals Translation, adaptation, and pilot of a guided self-help intervention to reduce psychological distress in South Sudanese refugees in Uganda

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. Tol ◽  
J. Augustinavicius ◽  
K. Carswell ◽  
F. L. Brown ◽  
A. Adaku ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Process Evaluation ◽  
Cognitive Interviewing ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Current Form ◽  
Facilitator Training ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Pilot Implementation ◽  
Sudanese Refugees

Background.In this period of unprecedented levels of displacement, scalable interventions are needed to address mental health concerns of forced migrants in low-resource settings. This paper describes the adaptation and piloting of a guided, multi-media, self-help intervention, Self-Help Plus (SH+), which was developed to reduce psychological distress in large groups of people affected by adversity.Methods.Using a phased approach that included community consultations, cognitive interviewing, facilitator training, pilot implementation, and a qualitative process evaluation, we adapted SH+ for use among South Sudanese refugees in a refugee settlement in northern Uganda.Results.The SH+ materials, including audio-recorded sessions and an accompanying illustrated manual, were translated into Juba Arabic. Cognitive interviewing primarily resulted in adaptations to language with some minor adaptations to content. Facilitator training and supervision led to further suggested changes to delivery methods. An uncontrolled pilot study (n = 65) identified changes in the expected direction on measures of psychological distress, functional impairment, depression, wellbeing, and psychological flexibility. The process evaluation resulted in further adaptations to intervention materials and the decision to focus future effectiveness evaluations of the intervention in its current form on South Sudanese female refugees.Conclusions.We found that this potentially scalable, guided self-help intervention could be adapted for and feasibly implemented among female South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda. These findings lay the groundwork for a future rigorous evaluation of SH+ in this context.

COVID-19 puts pressure on South Sudanese refugees

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Desert Locust ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
Return Home ◽  
The Government ◽  
Sudanese Refugees

Subject The situation of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda. Significance When South Sudan’s warring parties signed a peace agreement in September 2018, there was hope that some of the country’s 4.5 million displaced people might begin to return home. Almost two years on, 4.3 million remain displaced. However, for communities such as the South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda, the COVID-19 crisis is creating new sets of pressures, which could prompt new returns, albeit in undesirable circumstances. Impacts Uganda and South Sudan both face a rising risk of new desert locust infestations, which could further exacerbate food insecurity. COVID-19 restrictions have left many refugee camps with major staffing shortages, which will further impact on service delivery. COVID-19 in crowded UN protection of civilians sites will increase pressures from the government and UN for residents to return home.

scholarly journals South Sudanese Refugee Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Torture: Health and Justice Service Responses in Northern Uganda

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Liebling ◽  
Hazel Barrett ◽  
Lilly Artz
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

This British Academy/Leverhulme-funded research investigated the health and justice service responses to the needs of South Sudanese refugees living in refugee settlements in Northern Uganda who had been subjected to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and torture. It involved the collection and thematic analysis of the narratives of 20 men and 41 women who were refugee survivors of SGBV and torture, including their experiences in South Sudan, their journeys to Uganda and experiences in refugee settlements, in particular their access to health and justice services. Thirty-seven key stakeholders including international, government, non-government organisations and civil society organisations were also interviewed regarding their experiences of providing health and justice services to refugees. All refugees had survived human rights abuses mainly carried out in South Sudan but some had also occurred on route to Uganda and within Uganda. Despite the significant impact of their experiences, the analysis indicated that there was limited service response in refugee settlements in Northern Uganda once the immediate humanitarian crisis ended. The thematic analysis indicated five main themes coming from the interviews. These included: the nature of refugee experiences of SGBV and torture, including domestic violence and child abduction and forced marriage; issues associated with service provision such as lack of adequate screening and under resourcing of health and justice services; a lack of gender sensitivity and specialist services, particularly for men; the sustained involvement of civil society organisations and local non-governmental organisations in providing counselling and offering emotional support and hope to survivors; and enhancing health and justice responses and services to improve refugee recovery, dignity and resilience. The authors recommend that integrated gendered and culturally sensitive service provision should be adopted, which brings together formal and informal health, justice services and survivor support programmes.

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