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Living with Bad Surroundings: War, History, and Everyday Moments in Northern...

by Finnström, Sverker | PB | Good
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Item specifics

Condition
Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including scuff marks, but no holes or tears. The dust jacket for hard covers may not be included. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with minimal creasing or tearing, minimal pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
Seller Notes
“Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ...
Binding
Paperback
Weight
1 lbs
Product Group
Book
IsTextBook
Yes
ISBN
9780822341918
Book Title
Living with Bad Surroundings : War, History, and Everyday Moments in Northern Uganda
Book Series
The Cultures and Practice of Violence Ser.
Publisher
Duke University Press
Item Length
9.3 in
Publication Year
2008
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Illustrator
Yes
Item Height
0.7 in
Author
Sverker Finnström
Genre
Social Science, History
Topic
Sociology / General, Africa / General, Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Customs & Traditions
Item Weight
15.3 Oz
Item Width
6.1 in
Number of Pages
304 Pages

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Duke University Press
ISBN-10
0822341913
ISBN-13
9780822341918
eBay Product ID (ePID)
63648373

Product Key Features

Book Title
Living with Bad Surroundings : War, History, and Everyday Moments in Northern Uganda
Number of Pages
304 Pages
Language
English
Topic
Sociology / General, Africa / General, Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Customs & Traditions
Publication Year
2008
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Social Science, History
Author
Sverker Finnström
Book Series
The Cultures and Practice of Violence Ser.
Format
Trade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height
0.7 in
Item Weight
15.3 Oz
Item Length
9.3 in
Item Width
6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2007-033637
Reviews
This book is rich in detail and nuance, and challenges dominant discourses on the war in northern Uganda. It links the historical, international dimension to the lived experiences of the Acholi people. . . . [A] major book on everyday lived experiences in wartime. It adds to scholarship that interrogates colonial orthodoxies as well as academic writings that have produced stereotypes inimical to nation building. Finnstrom's book is necessary reading for students of the Acholi, African wars, and Uganda., "[An] insightful, compelling ethnography. . . . Finnstrm has important things to say about ethnographic intimacy, the phenomenology of fieldwork, and the universality of culture as human existence. The book offers a fine example of the merits of local, detailed ethnographic knowledge for understanding civilian life in a warzone, as well as glimpses of the emotional connections an anthropologist forms with informants and collaborators." - Catherine Besteman , American Ethnologist, "I recommend it to anyone wanting to understand the problematic side of Africa. It reads more like the writing of a good and thoughtful war correspondent rather than a traditional social scientist. It what is useful and appropriate for understanding the world of contemporary northern Ugandans whom the author clearly liked and cared about." - T.O. Beidelman , Anthropos, "Riveting. Powerful. Evocative. Anthropology at its best. Sverker FinnstrÖm is a gifted researcher and writer: in his hands the Acoli become a lens for understanding very twenty-first-century forms of violence and survival. This is a book about one of the more destructive and bitter wars on the African continent and its global connections. But it is also a book about hope, about facing and overcoming crises-of every culture being all cultures in the opus of experience, of mango trees surviving the tides of war and global ignorance. About sorrow and laughter and moments of coevalness in northern Uganda and beyond." Carolyn Nordstrom, author ofGlobal Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World"Living with Bad Surroundingsis a lucid, compelling, in-depth, and detailed exploration of the vexed position of youth in poverty-stricken Africa; a painstaking and authoritative account of one of the most refractory and long-running wars on that continent; and a demonstration of how imperative it is to complement historical and political-economic explanations of Africa's conflicts with ethnographic perspectives that encompass local symbolic reality, local readings of history and tradition, local expectations and desires, and local understandings of power, morality, and reconciliation." Michael Jackson, author ofIn Sierra Leone"FinnstrÖm describes the complexity of living in a war zone where there is neither social order nor safety and where even the idea of peace is problematic since it never lasts long enough to allow the construction of any dependable relations or resources...FinnstrÖm listened to what concerned the Acholi he met and that was the issue of survival itself, both as it related to the present and how it could relate to what future Acholi may expect in war-torn Uganda...It is a narrative of violence, flight, loss, resettlement, poverty, misunderstanding, distrust, and disbelief, as well as of hope and survival. Through all the chaos, Acholi have survived and struggled to construct a reality and identity that will help them...FinnstrÖm's picture of contemporary Acholi life is grim, as is his picture of what the future holds for them. Yet he portrays Acholi as tenacious survivors, remarkably resourceful in making use of past traditions as well as new means to manage their lives...it is a readable and absorbing report of a chaotic, difficult, and dangerous part of Africa...I am glad I read it. I recommend it to anyone wanting to understand the problematical side of Africa. It reads more like the writing of a good and thoughtful war correspondent rather than a traditional social scientist. It is what is useful and appropriate for understanding the world of contemporary northern Ugandans whom the author clearly liked and cared about." T. O. Beidelman,Anthropos, 2009, "Riveting. Powerful. Evocative. Anthropology at its best. Sverker Finnström is a gifted researcher and writer: in his hands the Acholi become a lens for understanding very twenty-first-century forms of violence and survival. This is a book about one of the more destructive and bitter wars on the African continent and its global connections. But it is also a book about hope, about facing and overcoming crises-of every culture being all cultures in the opus of experience, of mango trees surviving the tides of war and global ignorance. About sorrow and laughter and moments of coevalness in northern Uganda and beyond."- Carolyn Nordstrom , author of Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World, [ Living with Bad Surroundings ] combines rich ethnographic detail with sharp theoretical acumen. . . . [A]n important text.:|9780822341918|, "This is a moving, politically engaged and penetrating study. It has . . . page-turning qualities. . . . If you are going to read just one book on northern Uganda, this is the one to go for." - Tim Allen , Africa, "Riveting. Powerful. Evocative. Anthropology at its best. Sverker Finnstrm is a gifted researcher and writer: in his hands the Acholi become a lens for understanding very twenty-first-century forms of violence and survival. This is a book about one of the more destructive and bitter wars on the African continent and its global connections. But it is also a book about hope, about facing and overcoming crises--of every culture being all cultures in the opus of experience, of mango trees surviving the tides of war and global ignorance. About sorrow and laughter and moments of coevalness in northern Uganda and beyond."-- Carolyn Nordstrom , author of Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World, This is a highly accessible anthropological study of Northern Uganda and the LRA. It is useful in part because it establishes the colonial legacies though which the Acholi came to be marginalized in Uganda and stereotyped by the international community. Rather than basing his account on simplistic explanations like 'ancient ethnic hatreds' between the Acholi and other Ugandans, Finnström provides a rich array of interviews with Northern Ugandans that touch on cultural, historical, and political aspects of the war. In particular, he highlights the voices of young people, whom he says 'did not passively wait for outside solutions; rather, in everyday life they built for a future despite displacement and social unrest.', "Riveting. Powerful. Evocative. Anthropology at its best. Sverker Finnstrm is a gifted researcher and writer: in his hands the Acoli become a lens for understanding very twenty-first-century forms of violence and survival. This is a book about one of the more destructive and bitter wars on the African continent and its global connections. But it is also a book about hope, about facing and overcoming crises--of every culture being all cultures in the opus of experience, of mango trees surviving the tides of war and global ignorance. About sorrow and laughter and moments of coevalness in northern Uganda and beyond." Carolyn Nordstrom, author of Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World " Living with Bad Surroundings is a lucid, compelling, in-depth, and detailed exploration of the vexed position of youth in poverty-stricken Africa; a painstaking and authoritative account of one of the most refractory and long-running wars on that continent; and a demonstration of how imperative it is to complement historical and political-economic explanations of Africa's conflicts with ethnographic perspectives that encompass local symbolic reality, local readings of history and tradition, local expectations and desires, and local understandings of power, morality, and reconciliation." Michael Jackson, author of In Sierra Leone "Finnstrm describes the complexity of living in a war zone where there is neither social order nor safety and where even the idea of peace is problematic since it never lasts long enough to allow the construction of any dependable relations or resources...Finnstrm listened to what concerned the Acholi he met and that was the issue of survival itself, both as it related to the present and how it could relate to what future Acholi may expect in war-torn Uganda...It is a narrative of violence, flight, loss, resettlement, poverty, misunderstanding, distrust, and disbelief, as well as of hope and survival. Through all the chaos, Acholi have survived and struggled to construct a reality and identity that will help them...Finnstrm's picture of contemporary Acholi life is grim, as is his picture of what the future holds for them. Yet he portrays Acholi as tenacious survivors, remarkably resourceful in making use of past traditions as well as new means to manage their lives...it is a readable and absorbing report of a chaotic, difficult, and dangerous part of Africa...I am glad I read it. I recommend it to anyone wanting to understand the problematical side of Africa. It reads more like the writing of a good and thoughtful war correspondent rather than a traditional social scientist. It is what is useful and appropriate for understanding the world of contemporary northern Ugandans whom the author clearly liked and cared about." -T. O. Beidelman, Anthropos, The International Review of Anthropology and Linguistics , 2009" Living with Bad Surroundings . . . [is] a very good book, perhaps the best written on northern Uganda since the 1970s. It will be an ideal text for courses dealing with Africa and the local realities of modern armed conflicts." - TLS, 26th March 2010 " . . . a moving, intimate account of everyday life... a heartbreaking portrait" American Ethnologist, "Finnström's analysis of the factors involved in the devastating conflict in Northern Uganda between the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a valuable contribution to the literature on contemporary armed conflicts. . . . Finnström's careful examination is essential for students, scholars, and practitioners who want to understand the political, economic, historical, cultural, and religious complexities involved in ay armed conflict." - Joanne Corbin , African Studies Review, Through a more explicit engagement with the ambiguities and unfinishedness of lived experience, ethnographies like Finnström's Bad Surroundings may thus offer more than philosophy alone in making sense of governmentalization and subjectification as they unfold through individual, collective, and political life., "Finnstr m's analysis of the factors involved in the devastating conflict in Northern Uganda between the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a valuable contribution to the literature on contemporary armed conflicts. . . . Finnstr m's careful examination is essential for students, scholars, and practitioners who want to understand the political, economic, historical, cultural, and religious complexities involved in ay armed conflict." - Joanne Corbin , African Studies Review, “ Living with Bad Surroundings is a lucid, compelling, in-depth, and detailed exploration of the vexed position of youth in poverty-stricken Africa; a painstaking and authoritative account of one of the most refractory and long-running wars on that continent; and a demonstration of how imperative it is to complement historical and political-economic explanations of Africa’s conflicts with ethnographic perspectives that encompass local symbolic reality, local readings of history and tradition, local expectations and desires, and local understandings of power, morality, and reconciliation.â€�- Michael Jackson , author of In Sierra Leone, "Riveting. Powerful. Evocative. Anthropology at its best. Sverker Finnström is a gifted researcher and writer: in his hands the Acholi become a lens for understanding very twenty-first-century forms of violence and survival. This is a book about one of the more destructive and bitter wars on the African continent and its global connections. But it is also a book about hope, about facing and overcoming crises--of every culture being all cultures in the opus of experience, of mango trees surviving the tides of war and global ignorance. About sorrow and laughter and moments of coevalness in northern Uganda and beyond."-- Carolyn Nordstrom , author of Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World, " Living with Bad Surroundings . . . [is] a very good book, perhaps the best written on northern Uganda since the 1970s. It will be an ideal text for courses dealing with Africa and the local realities of modern armed conflicts." - Tim Allen, Times Literary Supplement, " Living with Bad Surroundings is a lucid, compelling, in-depth, and detailed exploration of the vexed position of youth in poverty-stricken Africa; a painstaking and authoritative account of one of the most refractory and long-running wars on that continent; and a demonstration of how imperative it is to complement historical and political-economic explanations of Africa's conflicts with ethnographic perspectives that encompass local symbolic reality, local readings of history and tradition, local expectations and desires, and local understandings of power, morality, and reconciliation."- Michael Jackson , author of In Sierra Leone, [An] insightful, compelling ethnography. . . . Finnström has important things to say about ethnographic intimacy, the phenomenology of fieldwork, and the universality of culture as human existence. The book offers a fine example of the merits of local, detailed ethnographic knowledge for understanding civilian life in a warzone, as well as glimpses of the emotional connections an anthropologist forms with informants and collaborators., " Living with Bad Surroundings is a lucid, compelling, in-depth, and detailed exploration of the vexed position of youth in poverty-stricken Africa; a painstaking and authoritative account of one of the most refractory and long-running wars on that continent; and a demonstration of how imperative it is to complement historical and political-economic explanations of Africa's conflicts with ethnographic perspectives that encompass local symbolic reality, local readings of history and tradition, local expectations and desires, and local understandings of power, morality, and reconciliation."-- Michael Jackson , author of In Sierra Leone, [T]he book is still impressive in its historical and analytical scope, and is not only very readable, but also moving. The narrative voice vividly evokes the inter-subjectivity of the ethnographic experience. Living with Bad Surroundings is an essential reference for studies on northern Uganda, and is also accessible to a wider, non-specialist readership. The work also provides a valuable contribution to the ethnography of conflict as well to literature challenging the 'breakdown' paradigm of displacement., "Riveting. Powerful. Evocative. Anthropology at its best. Sverker Finnström is a gifted researcher and writer: in his hands the Acoli become a lens for understanding very twenty-first-century forms of violence and survival. This is a book about one of the more destructive and bitter wars on the African continent and its global connections. But it is also a book about hope, about facing and overcoming crises-of every culture being all cultures in the opus of experience, of mango trees surviving the tides of war and global ignorance. About sorrow and laughter and moments of coevalness in northern Uganda and beyond."-Carolyn Nordstrom, author of Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World"Living with Bad Surroundings is a lucid, compelling, in-depth, and detailed exploration of the vexed position of youth in poverty-stricken Africa; a painstaking and authoritative account of one of the most refractory and long-running wars on that continent; and a demonstration of how imperative it is to complement historical and political-economic explanations of Africa's conflicts with ethnographic perspectives that encompass local symbolic reality, local readings of history and tradition, local expectations and desires, and local understandings of power, morality, and reconciliation."-Michael Jackson, author of In Sierra Leone, At times poetic, often philosophical, Finnström brings the reader to a new level of insight into war and its effects on the lived realities of affected persons--and how and why it is possible for people to survive the impossible day by day. Equally important, he vividly connects these personal stories to the political domain, unveiling, as each chapter evolves, the politics that divide people. . ., “Riveting. Powerful. Evocative. Anthropology at its best. Sverker Finnstr m is a gifted researcher and writer: in his hands the Acholi become a lens for understanding very twenty-first-century forms of violence and survival. This is a book about one of the more destructive and bitter wars on the African continent and its global connections. But it is also a book about hope, about facing and overcoming crises-of every culture being all cultures in the opus of experience, of mango trees surviving the tides of war and global ignorance. About sorrow and laughter and moments of coevalness in northern Uganda and beyond.â€�- Carolyn Nordstrom , author of Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World, "[An] insightful, compelling ethnography. . . . Finnstr m has important things to say about ethnographic intimacy, the phenomenology of fieldwork, and the universality of culture as human existence. The book offers a fine example of the merits of local, detailed ethnographic knowledge for understanding civilian life in a warzone, as well as glimpses of the emotional connections an anthropologist forms with informants and collaborators." - Catherine Besteman , American Ethnologist, "Finnstrm's analysis of the factors involved in the devastating conflict in Northern Uganda between the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a valuable contribution to the literature on contemporary armed conflicts. . . . Finnstrm's careful examination is essential for students, scholars, and practitioners who want to understand the political, economic, historical, cultural, and religious complexities involved in ay armed conflict." - Joanne Corbin , African Studies Review, "[An] insightful, compelling ethnography. . . . Finnström has important things to say about ethnographic intimacy, the phenomenology of fieldwork, and the universality of culture as human existence. The book offers a fine example of the merits of local, detailed ethnographic knowledge for understanding civilian life in a warzone, as well as glimpses of the emotional connections an anthropologist forms with informants and collaborators." - Catherine Besteman , American Ethnologist
Dewey Edition
22
Dewey Decimal
303.6/60996761
Table Of Content
Acknowledgments ix Orientations: War and culture in Uganda 1 1. Acholi worlds and the colonial encounter 29 2. Neocolonial legacies and evolving war 63 3. Rebel manifestos in context 99 4. Displacements 131 5. Wartime rumors and moral truths 167 6. Uprooting the pumpkins 197 Reorientations: Unfinished realities 233 Notes 245 Acronyms 253 References 255 Index 277
Synopsis
Since 1986, the Acholi people of northern Uganda have lived in the crossfire of a violent civil war, with the Lord's Resistance Army and other groups fighting the Ugandan government. Acholi have been murdered, maimed, and driven into displacement. Thousands of children have been abducted and forced to fight. Many observers have perceived Acholiland and northern Uganda to be an exception in contemporary Uganda, which has been celebrated by the international community for its increased political stability and particularly for its fight against AIDS. These observers tend to portray the Acholi as war-prone, whether because of religious fanaticism or intractable ethnic hatreds. In Living with Bad Surroundings , Sverker Finnstr m rejects these characterizations and challenges other simplistic explanations for the violence in northern Uganda. Foregrounding the narratives of individual Acholi, Finnstr m enables those most affected by the ongoing "dirty war" to explain how they participate in, comprehend, survive, and even resist it. Finnstr m draws on fieldwork conducted in northern Uganda between 1997 and 2006 to describe how the Acholi--especially the younger generation, those born into the era of civil strife--understand and attempt to control their moral universe and material circumstances. Structuring his argument around indigenous metaphors and images, notably the Acholi concepts of good and bad surroundings, he vividly renders struggles in war and the related ills of impoverishment, sickness, and marginalization. In this rich ethnography, Finnstr m provides a clear-eyed assessment of the historical, cultural, and political underpinnings of the civil war while maintaining his focus on Acholi efforts to achieve "good surroundings," viable futures for themselves and their families., Since 1986, the Acholi people of northern Uganda have lived in the crossfire of a violent civil war, with the Lord's Resistance Army and other groups fighting the Ugandan government. Acholi have been murdered, maimed, and driven into displacement. Thousands of children have been abducted and forced to fight. Many observers have perceived Acholiland and northern Uganda to be an exception in contemporary Uganda, which has been celebrated by the international community for its increased political stability and particularly for its fight against AIDS. These observers tend to portray the Acholi as war-prone, whether because of religious fanaticism or intractable ethnic hatreds. In Living with Bad Surroundings , Sverker Finnström rejects these characterizations and challenges other simplistic explanations for the violence in northern Uganda. Foregrounding the narratives of individual Acholi, Finnström enables those most affected by the ongoing "dirty war" to explain how they participate in, comprehend, survive, and even resist it. Finnström draws on fieldwork conducted in northern Uganda between 1997 and 2006 to describe how the Acholi--especially the younger generation, those born into the era of civil strife--understand and attempt to control their moral universe and material circumstances. Structuring his argument around indigenous metaphors and images, notably the Acholi concepts of good and bad surroundings, he vividly renders struggles in war and the related ills of impoverishment, sickness, and marginalization. In this rich ethnography, Finnström provides a clear-eyed assessment of the historical, cultural, and political underpinnings of the civil war while maintaining his focus on Acholi efforts to achieve "good surroundings," viable futures for themselves and their families., An ethnographic examination of how northern Ugandans understand and attempt to control their moral universe and material circumstances in the midst of civil war.
LC Classification Number
DT433.245.A35F54
Copyright Date
2008
ebay_catalog_id
4

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