Academic literature on the topic 'New Vision (Uganda)'

Analysing competing visions of Uganda’s future with oil, this article off ers a new perspective on the resource curse as a risk discourse. Political and civil society actors in Uganda create and negotiate visions of the future that are framed by the resource curse thesis: oil could be a blessing or a curse. Connecting this discourse to prevalent notions of uncertainty in Uganda’s oil region, I argue that for the people, knowledge of the resource curse increases their uncertainty about the future.

Background and context: The 70th World Health Assembly Cancer Resolution was passed in May 2017. In Uganda, there is a clear need for social mobilization and to involve all stakeholders in the process of implementing the Cancer Resolution. The National Cancer Symposium (NCS) was launched on the 28th February 2018 to create an inclusive process where all sectors and stakeholders are engaged in the dialogue and processes leading to effective cancer control in Uganda. Aim: To build a systematic and impactful response to cancer epidemic in Uganda through a multisectoral approach. Strategy/Tactics: These included but not limited to; partnership through the TWG, media campaigns, lobbying, team meetings and panel/plenary discussions. Program/Policy process: NCS is an annual joint stakeholder event that will foster stakeholders' discussion and stock taking of progress made toward implementation of cancer control efforts. A Technical Working Group (TWG) comprised of representation from government, WHO, civil society, academia, professional bodies and international partners, has been constituted to lead the planning, coordination and execution. Outcomes: Increased collaboration and partnerships built among partners as demonstrated in commitment for joint cancer control efforts. A total of over 300 participants attended the event representing different agencies including religious groups, private sector, media, policy makers, government ministries and departments, civil society, development partners, cancer survivors and patients, and the general public. Wider publicity gained as over 3 national level newspapers ( New Vision, The Observer, and The Monitor publications) run the story about NCS. A total of 1028 people reacted to our posts on Facebook with 41 likes, 40 post clicks and 2 shares. The Prime Minister re-echoed the restoration of radiotherapy services and made commitment on the procurement of more radiotherapy equipment as the construction of the new bunker progresses. The panel discussion led to the recognition that cancer control requires a multisectoral approach if interventions are to become more effective. Deliberations at the panel discussions re-echoed the need for the population to be sensitive to the risk factors including tobacco usage, body activity, proper diet with emphasis on vegetables and fiber, among others. What was learned: We learned that through coalescing with stakeholders, we are able to come up with a much stronger voice. The working of the TWG of this symposium is a clear testimony to this. We also learned that the media is an important partner for greater visibility to be realized. There is great need for continuous engagement among stakeholders to influence policy decisions and general intervention in the fight against cancer.

Abstract Leadership capacity needs development and nurturing at all levels for strong health systems governance and improved outcomes. The Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) is a professional, interdisciplinary terminal degree focused on strategic leadership capacity building. The concept is not new and there are several programmes globally–but none within Africa, despite its urgent need for strong strategic leadership in health. To address this gap, a consortium of institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, UK and North America have embarked on a collaboration to develop and implement a pan-African DrPH with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. This paper presents findings of research to verify relevance, identify competencies and support programme design and customization. A mixed methods cross sectional multi-country study was conducted in Ghana, South Africa and Uganda. Data collection involved a non-exhaustive desk review, 34 key informant (KI) interviews with past and present health sector leaders and a questionnaire with closed and open ended items administered to 271 potential DrPH trainees. Most study participants saw the concept of a pan-African DrPH as relevant and timely. Strategic leadership competencies identified by KI included providing vision and inspiration for the organization, core personal values and character qualities such as integrity and trustworthiness, skills in adapting to situations and context and creating and maintaining effective change and systems. There was consensus that programme design should emphasize learning by doing and application of theory to professional practice. Short residential periods for peer-to-peer and peer-to-facilitator engagement and learning, interspaced with facilitated workplace based learning, including coaching and mentoring, was the preferred model for programme implementation. The introduction of a pan-African DrPH with a focus on strategic leadership is relevant and timely. Core competencies, optimal design and customization for the sub-Saharan African context has broad consensus in the study setting.

AbstractThis article contributes to recent scholarship on an emergent public political visual culture in Africa. Through an ethnographic study of political billboards and other government-sponsored public political imagery in Uganda, it argues that this new visual culture is primarily characterized by African states’ extensive use of post-photographic techniques as a means for projecting fantastic visions of their future development goals. However, drawing on recent insights from the ‘material turn’ in visual theory, it finds that – in Uganda's case at least – the potency of these new public visual artefacts may stem less from what they show than from how they invoke in their citizen-viewers an embodied sense of future possibilities. Once generated, this affective response can be mobilized by the state and its agents in the ‘here and now’, for political gain. The article looks at how this worked in the run-up to Uganda's 2016 presidential elections, when, in the context of major new spending on national infrastructure projects, the images and artefacts of this new visual culture served to greatly amplify the sense that all citizens would benefit from an emergent global capitalism. This inflated aspiration was mobilized in turn by the National Resistance Movement government as an integral part of its election campaign, and played a key role in returning the government to power.

Abstract Introduction This article examines recent moral panics over sex education in Uganda from historical perspectives. Public outcry over comprehensive sexuality education erupted in 2016 over claims that children were being taught “homosexuality” by international NGOs. Subsequent debates over sex education revolved around defending what public figures claimed were national, religious, and cultural values from foreign infiltration. Methods This paper is grounded in a survey of Uganda’s two English-print national newspapers (2016–2018), archival research of newspapers held at Uganda’s Vision Group media company (1985–2005), analyses of public rhetoric as reported in internationally and nationally circulating media, textual analysis of Uganda’s National Sexuality Education Framework (2018), formal interviews with Ugandan NGO officers (3), and semi-structured interviews with Ugandan educators (3). Results Uganda’s current panic over sex education reignited longstanding anxieties over foreign interventions into the sexual health and rights of Ugandans. We argue that in the wake of a 35-year battle with HIV/AIDS and more recent controversies over LGBT rights, both of which brought international donor resources and governance, the issue of where and how to teach young people about sex became a new battleground over the state’s authority to govern the health and economic prosperity of its citizens. Conclusions Ethno- and religio-nationalist rhetoric used to oppose the state’s new sexuality education policy was also used to justify sex education as a tool for economic development. Policy Implications Analyzing rhetoric mobilized by both supporters and detractors of sex education reveals the contested political terrain policy advocates must navigate in Uganda and other postcolonial contexts.

Amid growing interest in China’s role in financing and building infrastructure in Africa, there is still little research on how Chinese-financed infrastructures are negotiated and realised at the city and metropolitan scale. We compare the Light Rail Transit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the expressway linking Kampala to Entebbe airport in Uganda, examining the processes of bargaining behind these transport infrastructures and their emergent effects on urban land use and city-dwellers’ mobility. We find that both projects were designed and implemented through opaque negotiations between African national elites and Chinese agencies, with little or no engagement from city authorities, leading to haphazard outcomes that are poorly integrated with broader planning. Yet we also suggest that despite being enabled and mediated by Chinese agencies, such projects do not embody a Chinese global vision. They instead reflect the entrepreneurial activities of Chinese contractors and the varying ways in which these connect with African national governments’ shifting priorities. Moreover, as they are subsumed into the urban context, these transposed infrastructures have been rapidly repurposed and their ‘Chineseness’ diluted, with one morphing into an infrastructure for the poor and the other into a site of private value extraction. We thus argue that, far from representing a domineering or neo-colonial influence, Chinese-financed infrastructures that land in institutionally complex African city-regions can be rapidly swallowed up into the political-economic landscape, producing contingent benefits and disbenefits that are far removed from the visions of any planners – Chinese or African, past or present.

Photo by Finding Dan | Dan Grinwis on Unsplash We who grew up texting, instant messaging, and emailing are blessed with native fluency in internet slang that varies according to country and language. Growing up in Sub-Saharan Africa, my schoolmates and I particularly loved to say TIA or, “This Is Africa.”[1] Largely popularized through the 2006 film, “Blood Diamond”,[2] TIA was the answer to all of the idiosyncrasies that accompanied living in the middle of the second-largest continent. Pulled over by local traffic police who demand a “cold drink”? TIA. Helped push the school bus out of a massive pothole during monsoon season? TIA. Reached for your Nokia brick only to pull a similarly sized cockroach from your purse? TIA. Largely isolated from the rest of the world, disease hysteria triggered by bird flu, SARS, and MERS passed by Sub-Saharan Africa as a far- off echo – my community was preoccupied with more imminent threats like malaria and cholera. The 2013 Ebola epidemic was the first time I was exposed to the narrow focus and broad indifference with which the wider world regards Africa. Mass hysteria over an “African disease” that threatened US shores exhibited narrow focus[3] while broad indifference manifested as radio silence following the resolution of cases in the US and Europe. The outbreak lasted until 2016 but coverage waned after 2015, when the only Ebola patients outside of Africa were expats shipped home for recovery.[4] As a freshman in college, my new British friends asked whether my family was at risk (they were not) and whether it was safe for me to go home for the holidays (it was). The 2013 outbreak primarily affected West Africa, on the opposite side of the continent. But to my college friends, Africa was a disease-ridden monolith. TIA, that is Africa. To the indifferent journalist, Africa is a convenient narrative device. By refusing to think of parts of Africa as anything other than the whole, we reduce a continent of 54 nations to a single entity – smaller and more manageable. The same occurred at the height of COVID-19 anxieties. As the healthcare systems of “more developed” countries threatened imminent collapse, a cry rattled across the globe: what will the Africans do?[5] Military-enforced lockdowns?[6] Will we have to take care of their citizens again?[7] While catching up with some friends in July 2020, I resisted an eyeroll as an acquaintance, grinning smugly, announced a new Ebola outbreak plaguing Congo.[8] (He probably meant DRC but he did not specify, and I am not sure he knew the difference.) A quick Google search confirmed the news, reported with glee in all major news media.[9] The Zoom call erupted in a flurry of sighs as my friends contemplated the new threat to US soil. Ever the party pooper, I emphasized that the outbreak was nothing new. The Ebola virus takes its name from its eponymous river in the DRC and the Congolese government had only just announced the end to a two-year struggle with Ebola in April.[10] Soon afterwards, the world lost interest; Al-Jazeera posted its last Ebola article on July 25.[11] Concurrently, coverage on ‘Africa’s COVID-19 crisis’ dwindled, eclipsed by worldwide #BLM protests, unrest in Belarus, and the US elections. As the attention on other world events settled, the “developed” world checked in with “poor, underdeveloped” Africa.[12] Despite concerns about cramped South African townships and the veracity of disease reports in Nigeria,[13] the number of COVID-19 cases and death rates in the continent have stayed low.[14] Citing a young population, existing contact-tracing infrastructure, and cross-immunity from other coronaviruses, several published articles analyze Africa’s mortality statistics.[15] Some, as pointed out by Ghanaian journalist, Karen Attiah, strive to paint the successes of African COVID-19 responses with stereotypical images of poverty and instability. After all, TIA. But while the world was not looking, African healthcare systems rallied. Wild poliovirus was completely eradicated from the continent in August.[16] Uganda began developing its own COVID-19 testing kits in May.[17] COVID-19 cases were limited to ten of Africa’s 54 countries while the DRC’s leading Ebola expert[18] reported that the new outbreak was under control.[19]Though there are still economic concerns due to reduced import-export activity between countries, Africa stands strong as second waves in Europe threaten to overrun hospitals.[20] A year from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO shared concerns of a lack of justice and equality in global vaccine distribution.[21] Higher income countries have had enough stock to vaccinate one fourth of their population, on average, while low income countries are limited to around 1 in 500.[22] However, a headline in CBS News implies that the low vaccination rate in South Africa is due to a domestic class struggle between the rich and poor citizens,[23] rather than an issue of vaccine nationalism. There are some reporters in Western news media, like Peter Mwai who reports for the BBC, who portray African healthcare systems in a balanced way. Seeking out unbiased writers’ articles is the best way to ensure exposure to balanced news. However, this is an exercise that many readers overlook because they depend on headlines for information. The bias is systematic, and the reliability of a few reporters is outweighed by countless examples of careless copy editing. As evidenced by the CBS News clip, quick turnaround time for publishing live television broadcast clips online leads to sloppy research, injecting prejudices in news media. Perhaps it is too early to celebrate. But as Western media spotlights claims that Africa was spared due to herd immunity from previous coronaviruses blazing through poverty-stricken neighborhoods, it does not seem so bad to rebuff the stereotype.[24] The US currently leads in total COVID-19 cases, followed by India, Brazil, and France. South Africa does not even break the top ten. Morocco, next in line, resides comfortably at 32.[25] For the moment, we can be proud. Decades of experience building infrastructure around highly contagious diseases paid off. Many public health officials in African governments acknowledged and addressed COVID-19’s potential early. Aggressive lockdowns were effective in reducing community transmission. This is Africa. [1] Abdullah, Kia. “‘This Is Africa’: Useful Mantra or Ugly Prejudice?” Atlas & Boots. Atlas & Boots, December 24, 2019. https://www.atlasandboots.com/tia-this-is-africa/. [2] Blood Diamond. Blood Diamond Archer Meets Maggie (TIA) This Is Africa. United States: Warner Bros., 2006. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3frHm9hw5bI. [3] Lupkin, Sydney. “Ebola in America: Timeline of the Deadly Virus.” ABC News. ABC News Network, November 17, 2014. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/ebola-america-timeline/story?id=26159719. [4] BBC. “Ebola: Seventh British Health Worker Sent Home.” BBC News. BBC, March 16, 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-31908301. [5] Nyenswah, Tolbert. “Africa Has a COVID-19 Time Bomb to Defuse.” World Economic Forum. World Economic Forum, April 6, 2020. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/africa-covid-19-time-bomb-defuse/. [6] Noko, Karsten. “The Problem with Army Enforced Lockdowns in the Time of COVID-19.” Opinions | Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera, April 2, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/4/2/the-problem-with-army-enforced-lockdowns-in-the-time-of-covid-19/. [7] Picheta, Rob. “Coronavirus Pandemic Will Cause Global Famines of 'Biblical Proportions,' UN Warns.” CNN. Cable News Network, April 22, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/africa/coronavirus-famine-un-warning-intl/index.html. [8] WHO. “Ebola Virus Disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo.” World Health Organization. World Health Organization, July 9, 2020. https://www.who.int/csr/don/26-June-2020-ebola-drc/en/. [9] Fisher, Nicole. “New Ebola Outbreak In Congo Creates Unparalleled Challenges During A Pandemic.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, August 10, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2020/08/10/new-ebola-outbreak-in-congo-creates-unparalleled-challenges-during-a-pandemic/?sh=4f4a88015877.; BBC World Service. “Ebola Virus.” BBC News. BBC, July 17, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cjnwl8q4qj1t/ebola-virus.; Al Jazeera. “'Great Concern' as New Ebola Outbreak Grows in Western DR Congo.” Democratic Republic of the Congo | Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera, July 14, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/7/14/great-concern-as-new-ebola-outbreak-grows-in-western-dr-congo. [10] Yeung, Peter. “'Enormous Relief' as Ebola Outbreak in DRC to Be Declared Over.” Democratic Republic of the Congo | Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera, April 10, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/4/10/enormous-relief-as-ebola-outbreak-in-drc-to-be-declared-over. [11] Al Jazeera. “Western DRC Ebola Cases up to 60 as WHO Warns of Funeral Risks.” Democratic Republic of the Congo | Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera, July 20, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/7/20/western-drc-ebola-cases-up-to-60-as-who-warns-of-funeral-risks. [12] Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq, and Rifaiyat Mahbub. “Opinion: What the US Can Learn from How African Countries Handled Covid.” CNN. Cable News Network, November 3, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/03/africa/africa-coronavirus-lessons-opinion-intl/index.html.; Makoni, Munyaradzi. “The World Could Learn a Lot from How Africa Is Handling COVID-19.” WIRED UK. WIRED UK, November 2, 2020. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/COVID-19-africa. [13] McKenzie, David. “Africa's Battle against Covid-19 Will Be Won or Lost Here.” CNN. Cable News Network, July 6, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/06/africa/western-cape-south-africa-coronavirus-epicenter-intl/index.html.; Peralta, Eyder. “Why Forecasters Can't Make Up Their Mind About Africa And The Coronavirus.” NPR. NPR, June 10, 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/10/872789379/why-forecasters-cant-make-up-their-mind-about-africa-and-the-coronavirus. [14] Mwai, Peter. “Coronavirus: What's Happening to the Numbers in Africa?” BBC News. BBC, November 5, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53181555. [15] Attiah, Karen. “Opinion | Africa Has Defied the Covid-19 Nightmare Scenarios. We Shouldn't Be Surprised.” The Washington Post. WP Company, September 22, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/22/africa-has-defied-covid-19-nightmare-scenarios-we-shouldnt-be-surprised/.; Lock, Helen. “The UK Has Seen More Deaths From COVID-19 Than the Whole of Africa. Here Are 6 Reasons Why.” Global Citizen. Global Citizen, November 4, 2020. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/uk-more-deaths-covid-19-africa-reasons-why/.; Deutsche Welle. “COVID-19 in Africa: Milder-than-Expected Pandemic Has Experts Puzzled: DW: 14.09.2020.” DW.COM. Deutsche Welle, September 14, 2020. https://www.dw.com/en/covid-19-in-africa-milder-than-expected-pandemic-has-experts-puzzled/a-54918467.; Smith, Chris. “Scientists Can't Explain Puzzling Lack of Coronavirus Outbreaks in Africa.” New York Post. New York Post, September 7, 2020. https://nypost.com/2020/09/04/scientists-cant-explain-puzzling-lack-of-coronavirus-outbreaks-in-africa/?link=TD_mansionglobal_new_mansion_global.11147f181987fd93. [16] Scherbel-Ball, Naomi. “Africa Declared Free of Wild Polio in 'Milestone'.” BBC News. BBC, August 25, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53887947. [17] Achan, Jacky. “Dr. Wayengera: The Man behind Uganda's COVID-19 Testing Kits.” New Vision | Uganda News. New Vision, May 30, 2020. https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1518668/dr-misaki-wayengera-uganda-covid-19-test-kits. [18] Mukwege, Denis. “Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum Is on the 2020 TIME 100 List.” Time. Time, September 23, 2020. https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888331/jean-jacques-muyembe-tamfum/. [19] Mwai. “Coronavirus: What's Happening to the Numbers in Africa?” (2020); AFP. “DR Congo's Latest Ebola Outbreak 'under Control.” CGTN Africa. CGTN, October 18, 2020. https://africa.cgtn.com/2020/10/18/dr-congos-latest-ebola-outbreak-under-control/. [20] Dillon, Conor, and Gabriel Borrud. “Belgium's COVID-19 Health Care Collapse: 'It Will Happen in 10 Days': DW: 30.10.2020.” DW.COM. Deutsche Welle, October 30, 2020. https://www.dw.com/en/belgiums-covid-19-health-care-collapse-it-will-happen-in-10-days/a-55451750. [21] Mwai, Peter. “Covid-19 Africa: What Is Happening with Vaccines?” BBC News. BBC, April 8, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/56100076. [22] Miao, Hannah. “WHO Says More than 87% of the World's Covid Vaccine Supply Has Gone to Higher-Income Countries.” CNBC. CNBC, April 10, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/09/who-says-poor-countries-have-received-just-0point2percent-of-worlds-vaccine-supply.html. [23] Patta, Deborah. “Protests over ‘Shocking Imbalance’ of COVID Vaccine Distribution in South Africa.” CBS News. CBS Interactive, April 11, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/protests-over-shocking-imbalance-of-covid-vaccine-distribution-in-south-africa/#x. [24] Harding, Andrew. “Coronavirus in South Africa: Scientists Explore Surprise Theory for Low Death Rate.” BBC News. BBC, September 2, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53998374. [25] Worldometers.info. “Coronavirus Cases.” Worldometer. Worldometer, November 9, 2020. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.

This article explores resilience as it is experienced by refugees in the context of a relational community, visiting the notions of trauma, a thicker description of resilience and the trajectory toward positive growth through community. It calls for going beyond a Western biomedical therapeutic approach of exploration and adopting more of an emic perspective incorporating the worldview of the refugees. The challenge is for service providers working with refugees (who have experienced trauma) to move forward from a ‘harm minimisation’ model of care to recognition of a facilitative, productive community of people who are in a transitional phase between homelands. Contextualising Trauma Prior to the 1980s, the term ‘trauma’ was not widely used in literature on refugees and refugee mental health, hardly existing as a topic of inquiry until the mid-1980’s (Summerfield 422). It first gained prominence in relation to soldiers who had returned from Vietnam and in need of medical attention after being traumatised by war. The term then expanded to include victims of wars and those who had witnessed traumatic events. Seahorn and Seahorn outline that severe trauma “paralyses you with numbness and uses denial, avoidance, isolation as coping mechanisms so you don’t have to deal with your memories”, impacting a person‘s ability to risk being connected to others, detaching and withdrawing; resulting in extreme loneliness, emptiness, sadness, anxiety and depression (6). During the Civil War in the USA the impact of trauma was referred to as Irritable Heart and then World War I and II referred to it as Shell Shock, Neurosis, Combat Fatigue, or Combat Exhaustion (Seahorn & Seahorn 66, 67). During the twenty-five years following the Vietnam War, the medicalisation of trauma intensified and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) became recognised as a medical-psychiatric disorder in 1980 in the American Psychiatric Association international diagnostic tool Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM–III). An expanded description and diagnosis of PTSD appears in the DSM-IV, influenced by the writings of Harvard psychologist and scholar, Judith Herman (Scheper-Hughes 38) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) outlines that experiencing the threat of death, injury to oneself or another or finding out about an unexpected or violent death, serious harm, or threat of the same kind to a family member or close person are considered traumatic events (Chung 11); including domestic violence, incest and rape (Scheper-Hughes 38). Another significant development in the medicalisation of trauma occurred in 1998 when the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (VFST) released an influential report titled ‘Rebuilding Shattered Lives’. This then gave clinical practice a clearer direction in helping people who had experienced war, trauma and forced migration by providing a framework for therapeutic work. The emphasis became strongly linked to personal recovery of individuals suffering trauma, using case management as the preferred intervention strategy. A whole industry soon developed around medical intervention treating people suffering from trauma related problems (Eyber). Though there was increased recognition for the medicalised discourse of trauma and post-traumatic stress, there was critique of an over-reliance of psychiatric models of trauma (Bracken, et al. 15, Summerfield 421, 423). There was also expressed concern that an overemphasis on individual recovery overlooked the socio-political aspects that amplify trauma (Bracken et al. 8). The DSM-IV criteria for PTSD model began to be questioned regarding the category of symptoms being culturally defined from a Western perspective. Weiss et al. assert that large numbers of traumatized people also did not meet the DSM-III-R criteria for PTSD (366). To categorize refugees’ experiences into recognizable, generalisable psychological conditions overlooked a more localized culturally specific understanding of trauma. The meanings given to collective experience and the healing strategies vary across different socio-cultural groupings (Eyber). For example, some people interpret suffering as a normal part of life in bringing them closer to God and in helping gain a better understanding of the level of trauma in the lives of others. Scheper-Hughes raise concern that the PTSD model is “based on a conception of human nature and human life as fundamentally vulnerable, frail, and humans as endowed with few and faulty defence mechanisms”, and underestimates the human capacity to not only survive but to thrive during and following adversity (37, 42). As a helping modality, biomedical intervention may have limitations through its lack of focus regarding people’s agency, coping strategies and local cultural understandings of distress (Eyber). The benefits of a Western therapeutic model might be minimal when some may have their own culturally relevant coping strategies that may vary to Western models. Bracken et al. document case studies where the burial rituals in Mozambique, obligations to the dead in Cambodia, shared solidarity in prison and the mending of relationships after rape in Uganda all contributed to the healing process of distress (8). Orosa et al. (1) asserts that belief systems have contributed in helping refugees deal with trauma; Brune et al. (1) points to belief systems being a protective factor against post-traumatic disorders; and Peres et al. highlight that a religious worldview gives hope, purpose and meaning within suffering. Adopting a Thicker Description of Resilience Service providers working with refugees often talk of refugees as ‘vulnerable’ or ‘at risk’ populations and strive for ‘harm minimisation’ among the population within their care. This follows a critical psychological tradition, what (Ungar, Constructionist) refers to as a positivist mode of inquiry that emphasises the predictable relationship between risk and protective factors (risk and coping strategies) being based on a ‘deficient’ outlook rather than a ‘future potential’ viewpoint and lacking reference to notions of resilience or self-empowerment (342). At-risk discourses tend to focus upon antisocial behaviours and appropriate treatment for relieving suffering rather than cultural competencies that may be developing in the midst of challenging circumstances. Mares and Newman document how the lives of many refugee advocates have been changed through the relational contribution asylum seekers have made personally to them in an Australian context (159). Individuals may find meaning in communal obligations, contributing to the lives of others and a heightened solidarity (Wilson 42, 44) in contrast to an individual striving for happiness and self-fulfilment. Early naturalistic accounts of mental health, influenced by the traditions of Western psychology, presented thin descriptions of resilience as a quality innate to individuals that made them invulnerable or strong, despite exposure to substantial risk (Ungar, Thicker 91). The interest then moved towards a non-naturalistic contextually relevant understanding of resilience viewed in the social context of people’s lives. Authors such as Benson, Tricket and Birman (qtd. in Ungar, Thicker) started focusing upon community resilience, community capacity and asset-building communities; looking at areas such as - “spending time with friends, exercising control over aspects of their lives, seeking meaningful involvement in their community, attaching to others and avoiding threats to self-esteem” (91). In so doing far more emphasis was given in developing what Ungar (Thicker) refers to as ‘a thicker description of resilience’ as it relates to the lives of refugees that considers more than an ability to survive and thrive or an internal psychological state of wellbeing (89). Ungar (Thicker) describes a thicker description of resilience as revealing “a seamless set of negotiations between individuals who take initiative, and an environment with crisscrossing resources that impact one on the other in endless and unpredictable combinations” (95). A thicker description of resilience means adopting more of what Eyber proposes as an emic approach, taking on an ‘insider perspective’, incorporating the worldview of the people experiencing the distress; in contrast to an etic perspective using a Western biomedical understanding of distress, examined from a position outside the social or cultural system in which it takes place. Drawing on a more anthropological tradition, intervention is able to be built with local resources and strategies that people can utilize with attention being given to cultural traditions within a socio-cultural understanding. Developing an emic approach is to engage in intercultural dialogue, raise dilemmas, test assumptions, document hopes and beliefs and explore their implications. Under this approach, healing is more about developing intelligibility through one’s own cultural and social matrix (Bracken, qtd. in Westoby and Ingamells 1767). This then moves beyond using a Western therapeutic approach of exploration which may draw on the rhetoric of resilience, but the coping strategies of the vulnerable are often disempowered through adopting a ‘therapy culture’ (Furedi, qtd. in Westoby and Ingamells 1769). Westoby and Ingamells point out that the danger is by using a “therapeutic gaze that interprets emotions through the prism of disease and pathology”, it then “replaces a socio-political interpretation of situations” (1769). This is not to dismiss the importance of restoring individual well-being, but to broaden the approach adopted in contextualising it within a socio-cultural frame. The Relational Aspect of Resilience Previously, the concept of the ‘resilient individual’ has been of interest within the psychological and self-help literature (Garmezy, qtd. in Wilson) giving weight to the aspect of it being an innate trait that individuals possess or harness (258). Yet there is a need to explore the relational aspect of resilience as it is embedded in the network of relationships within social settings. A person’s identity and well-being is better understood in observing their capacity to manage their responses to adverse circumstances in an interpersonal community through the networks of relationships. Brison, highlights the collective strength of individuals in social networks and the importance of social support in the process of recovery from trauma, that the self is vulnerable to be affected by violence but resilient to be reconstructed through the help of others (qtd. in Wilson 125). This calls for what Wilson refers to as a more interdisciplinary perspective drawing on cultural studies and sociology (2). It also acknowledges that although individual traits influence the action of resilience, it can be learned and developed in adverse situations through social interactions. To date, within sociology and cultural studies, there is not a well-developed perspective on the topic of resilience. Resilience involves a complex ongoing interaction between individuals and their social worlds (Wilson 16) that helps them make sense of their world and adjust to the context of resettlement. It includes developing a perspective of people drawing upon negative experiences as productive cultural resources for growth, which involves seeing themselves as agents of their own future rather than suffering from a sense of victimhood (Wilson 46, 258). Wilson further outlines the display of a resilience-related capacity to positively interpret and derive meaning from what might have been otherwise negative migration experiences (Wilson 47). Wu refers to ‘imagineering’ alternative futures, for people to see beyond the current adverse circumstances and to imagine other possibilities. People respond to and navigate their experience of trauma in unique, unexpected and productive ways (Wilson 29). Trauma can cripple individual potential and yet individuals can also learn to turn such an experience into a positive, productive resource for personal growth. Grief, despair and powerlessness can be channelled into hope for improved life opportunities. Social networks can act as protection against adversity and trauma; meaningful interpersonal relationships and a sense of belonging assist individuals in recovering from emotional strain. Wilson asserts that social capabilities assist people in turning what would otherwise be negative experiences into productive cultural resources (13). Graybeal (238) and Saleeby (297) explore resilience as a strength-based practice, where individuals, families and communities are seen in relation to their capacities, talents, competencies, possibilities, visions, values and hopes; rather than through their deficiencies, pathologies or disorders. This does not present an idea of invulnerability to adversity but points to resources for navigating adversity. Resilience is not merely an individual trait or a set of intrinsic behaviours that can be displayed in ‘resilient individuals’. Resilience, rather than being an unchanging attribute, is a complex socio-cultural phenomenon, a relational concept of a dynamic nature that is situated in interpersonal relations (Wilson 258). Positive Growth through a Community Based Approach Through migrating to another country (in the context of refugees), Falicov, points out that people often experience a profound loss of their social network and cultural roots, resulting in a sense of homelessness between two worlds, belonging to neither (qtd. in Walsh 220). In the ideological narratives of refugee movements and diasporas, the exile present may be collectively portrayed as a liminality, outside normal time and place, a passage between past and future (Eastmond 255). The concept of the ‘liminal’ was popularised by Victor Turner, who proposed that different kinds of marginalised people and communities go through phases of separation, ‘liminali’ (state of limbo) and reincorporation (qtd. in Tofighian 101). Difficulties arise when there is no closure of the liminal period (fleeing their former country and yet not being able to integrate in the country of destination). If there is no reincorporation into mainstream society then people become unsettled and feel displaced. This has implications for their sense of identity as they suffer from possible cultural destabilisation, not being able to integrate into the host society. The loss of social supports may be especially severe and long-lasting in the context of displacement. In gaining an understanding of resilience in the context of displacement, it is important to consider social settings and person-environment transactions as displaced people seek to experience a sense of community in alternative ways. Mays proposed that alternative forms of community are central to community survival and resilience. Community is a source of wellbeing for building and strengthening positive relations and networks (Mays 590). Cottrell, uses the concept of ‘community competence’, where a community provides opportunities and conditions that enable groups to navigate their problems and develop capacity and resourcefulness to cope positively with adversity (qtd. in Sonn and Fisher 4, 5). Chaskin, sees community as a resilient entity, countering adversity and promoting the well-being of its members (qtd. in Canavan 6). As a point of departure from the concept of community in the conventional sense, I am interested in what Ahmed and Fortier state as moments or sites of connection between people who would normally not have such connection (254). The participants may come together without any presumptions of ‘being in common’ or ‘being uncommon’ (Ahmed and Fortier 254). This community shows little differentiation between those who are welcome and those who are not in the demarcation of the boundaries of community. The community I refer to presents the idea as ‘common ground’ rather than commonality. Ahmed and Fortier make reference to a ‘moral community’, a “community of care and responsibility, where members readily acknowledge the ‘social obligations’ and willingness to assist the other” (Home office, qtd. in Ahmed and Fortier 253). Ahmed and Fortier note that strong communities produce caring citizens who ensure the future of caring communities (253). Community can also be referred to as the ‘soul’, something that stems out of the struggle that creates a sense of solidarity and cohesion among group members (Keil, qtd. in Sonn and Fisher 17). Often shared experiences of despair can intensify connections between people. These settings modify the impact of oppression through people maintaining positive experiences of belonging and develop a positive sense of identity. This has enabled people to hold onto and reconstruct the sociocultural supplies that have come under threat (Sonn and Fisher 17). People are able to feel valued as human beings, form positive attachments, experience community, a sense of belonging, reconstruct group identities and develop skills to cope with the outside world (Sonn and Fisher, 20). Community networks are significant in contributing to personal transformation. Walsh states that “community networks can be essential resources in trauma recovery when their strengths and potential are mobilised” (208). Walsh also points out that the suffering and struggle to recover after a traumatic experience often results in remarkable transformation and positive growth (208). Studies in post-traumatic growth (Calhoun & Tedeschi) have found positive changes such as: the emergence of new opportunities, the formation of deeper relationships and compassion for others, feelings strengthened to meet future life challenges, reordered priorities, fuller appreciation of life and a deepening spirituality (in Walsh 208). As Walsh explains “The effects of trauma depend greatly on whether those wounded can seek comfort, reassurance and safety with others. Strong connections with trust that others will be there for them when needed, counteract feelings of insecurity, hopelessness, and meaninglessness” (208). Wilson (256) developed a new paradigm in shifting the focus from an individualised approach to trauma recovery, to a community-based approach in his research of young Sudanese refugees. Rutter and Walsh, stress that mental health professionals can best foster trauma recovery by shifting from a predominantly individual pathology focus to other treatment approaches, utilising communities as a capacity for healing and resilience (qtd. in Walsh 208). Walsh highlights that “coming to terms with traumatic loss involves making meaning of the trauma experience, putting it in perspective, and weaving the experience of loss and recovery into the fabric of individual and collective identity and life passage” (210). Landau and Saul, have found that community resilience involves building community and enhancing social connectedness by strengthening the system of social support, coalition building and information and resource sharing, collective storytelling, and re-establishing the rhythms and routines of life (qtd. in Walsh 219). Bracken et al. suggest that one of the fundamental principles in recovery over time is intrinsically linked to reconstruction of social networks (15). This is not expecting resolution in some complete ‘once and for all’ getting over it, getting closure of something, or simply recovering and moving on, but tapping into a collective recovery approach, being a gradual process over time. Conclusion A focus on biomedical intervention using a biomedical understanding of distress may be limiting as a helping modality for refugees. Such an approach can undermine peoples’ agency, coping strategies and local cultural understandings of distress. Drawing on sociology and cultural studies, utilising a more emic approach, brings new insights to understanding resilience and how people respond to trauma in unique, unexpected and productive ways for positive personal growth while navigating the experience. This includes considering social settings and person-environment transactions in gaining an understanding of resilience. Although individual traits influence the action of resilience, it can be learned and developed in adverse situations through social interactions. Social networks and capabilities can act as a protection against adversity and trauma, assisting people to turn what would otherwise be negative experiences into productive cultural resources (Wilson 13) for improved life opportunities. The promotion of social competence is viewed as a preventative intervention to promote resilient outcomes, as social skill facilitates social integration (Nettles and Mason 363). As Wilson (258) asserts that resilience is not merely an individual trait or a set of intrinsic behaviours that ‘resilient individuals’ display; it is a complex, socio-cultural phenomenon that is situated in interpersonal relations within a community setting. References Ahmed, Sara, and Anne-Marie Fortier. “Re-Imagining Communities.” International of Cultural Studies 6.3 (2003): 251-59. Bracken, Patrick. J., Joan E. Giller, and Derek Summerfield. Psychological Response to War and Atrocity: The Limitations of Current Concepts. Elsevier Science, 1995. 8 Aug, 2013 ‹http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/sites/default/files/documents/Summerfield-PsychologicalResponses.pdf>. Brune, Michael, Christian Haasen, Michael Krausz, Oktay Yagdiran, Enrique Bustos and David Eisenman. “Belief Systems as Coping Factors for Traumatized Refugees: A Pilot Study.” Eur Psychiatry 17 (2002): 451-58. Canavan, John. “Resilience: Cautiously Welcoming a Contested Concept.” Child Care in Practice 14.1 (2008): 1-7. Chung, Juna. Refugee and Immigrant Survivors of Trauma: A Curriculum for Social Workers. Master’s Thesis for California State University. Long Beach, 2010. 1-29. Eastmond, Maria. “Stories of Lived Experience: Narratives in Forced Migration Research.” Journal of Refugee Studies 20.2 (2007): 248-64. Eyber, Carola “Cultural and Anthropological Studies.” In Forced Migration Online, 2002. 8 Aug, 2013. ‹http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/expert-guides/psychosocial- issues/cultural-and-anthropological-studies>. Graybeal, Clay. “Strengths-Based Social Work Assessment: Transforming the Dominant Paradigm.” Families in Society 82.3 (2001): 233-42. Kleinman, Arthur. “Triumph or Pyrrhic Victory? The Inclusion of Culture in DSM-IV.” Harvard Rev Psychiatry 4 (1997): 343-44. Mares, Sarah, and Louise Newman, eds. Acting from the Heart- Australian Advocates for Asylum Seekers Tell Their Stories. Sydney: Finch Publishing, 2007. Mays, Vicki M. “Identity Development of Black Americans: The Role of History and the Importance of Ethnicity.” American Journal of Psychotherapy 40.4 (1986): 582-93. Nettles, Saundra Murray, and Michael J. Mason. “Zones of Narrative Safety: Promoting Psychosocial Resilience in Young People.” The Journal of Primary Prevention 25.3 (2004): 359-73. Orosa, Francisco J.E., Michael Brune, Katrin Julia Fischer-Ortman, and Christian Haasen. “Belief Systems as Coping Factors in Traumatized Refugees: A Prospective Study.” Traumatology 17.1 (2011); 1-7. Peres, Julio F.P., Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Antonia, G. Nasello, and Harold, G. Koenig. “Spirituality and Resilience in Trauma Victims.” J Relig Health (2006): 1-8. Saleebey, Dennis. “The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice: Extensions and Cautions.” Social Work 41.3 (1996): 296-305. Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. “A Talent for Life: Reflections on Human Vulnerability and Resilience.” Ethnos 73.1 (2008): 25-56. Seahorn, Janet, J. and Anthony E. Seahorn. Tears of a Warrior. Ft Collins, USA: Team Pursuits, 2008. Sonn, Christopher, and Adrian Fisher. “Sense of Community: Community Resilient Responses to Oppression and Change.” Unpublished article. Curtin University of Technology & Victoria University of Technology: undated. Summerfield, Derek. “Childhood, War, Refugeedom and ‘Trauma’: Three Core Questions for Medical Health Professionals.” Transcultural Psychiatry 37.3 (2000): 417-433. Tofighian, Omid. “Prolonged Liminality and Comparative Examples of Rioting Down Under”. Fear and Hope: The Art of Asylum Seekers in Australian Detention Centres Literature and Aesthetics (Special Edition) 21 (2011): 97-103. Ungar, Michael. “A Constructionist Discourse on Resilience: Multiple Contexts, Multiple Realities Among at-Risk Children and Youth.” Youth Society 35.3 (2004): 341-365. Ungar, Michael. “A Thicker Description of Resilience.” The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work 3 & 4 (2005): 85-96. Walsh, Froma. “Traumatic Loss and Major Disasters: Strengthening Family and Community Resilience.” Family Process 46.2 (2007): 207-227. Weiss, Daniel. S., Charles R. Marmar, William. E. Schlenger, John. A. Fairbank, Kathleen Jordon, Richard L. Hough, and Richard A. Kulka. “The Prevalence of Lifetime and Partial Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder in Vietnam Theater Veterans.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 5.3 (1992):365-76. Westoby, Peter, and Ann Ingamells. “A Critically Informed Perspective of Working with Resettling Refugee Groups in Australia.” British Journal of Social Work 40 (2010): 1759-76. Wilson, Michael. “Accumulating Resilience: An Investigation of the Migration and Resettlement Experiences of Young Sudanese People in the Western Sydney Area.” PHD Thesis. University of Western Sydney ( 2012): 1-297. Wu, K. M. “Hope and World Survival.” Philosophy Forum 12.1-2 (1972): 131-48.

The global trends of democratisation and privatisation that swept much of the developing world in the 1980s and 1990s led to significant changes in the conceptualisation, organisation and performance of the media. In Africa democratisation attained a new meaning with associated processes of liberalisation of broadcasting to end the monopoly of broadcasting by the state. The private media of the liberalised market is increasingly putting the public media system, both broadcast and print, under serious competition, and forcing them to adjust to changing circumstances. The New Vision newspaper in Uganda is one such public service media organisations that are owned by the state and yet have to compete in the new more democratic and liberalised environment. This study set out to explore the extent to which state-ownership impacts on The New Vision’s social role. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods of date collection, I have established the that although The New Vision is a public service medium for which government remains the major source of news, it does not in most cases give the state more or preferentially prominent coverage at the expense of other interest groups in society. On contrary, basing of the amount of coverage of civil society I established that The New Vision enabled the various groups public sphere to interact. The newspaper to an extent also plays the democratic role of monitoring government although there was little evidence of monitoring of corporate abuse. The nature of The New Vision Statute, and the global trends that have changed the conduct of official and private business, have rendered the theories on the 1980s’ development media theories increasingly inapplicable, forcing The New Vision to develop its own version of development journalism that is socially relevant. The study recommends that whereas much of The New Vision Statute is progressive, sections of it should be removed to protect the newspaper from being manipulated by government functionaries, if the it is to continue enabling the public sphere. The newspaper should also increase its monitoring of corporate abuse, and make internal reforms to improve the coverage of development related issues.

On July 29 2000, Uganda held a referendum to decide whether to continue with the ruling Noparty Movement system or to revert to the Multi-party platform. This research entails a qualitative content analysis of the role the media played in driving debate and understanding of the referendum and its role in the country’s democratisation process. The research is informed by Jurgen Habermas’s public sphere paradigm as well as the sociological theory of news production. The research covers Uganda’s two English dailies – The New Vision and The Monitor, examining whether they provided a public sphere accessible to all citizens and devoid of ideological hegemony. It concludes that the newspapers were incapable of providing such a sphere because of the structural nature of Ugandan society and the papers’ own capitalistic backgrounds and ownership interests. The research concludes that such English language newspapers published in a country with a low literacy rate and low income levels, can only provide a public sphere to elite and privileged sections of society. A case is then made that multiple public spheres would be better suited to represent the views of diverse interest groups.

Thesis (M.A. (Journalism and Media Studies))--Rhodes University, 2005.
"A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies" -T.p.

The conclusion explores the book’s broader implications. The unraveling of the AFDL happened within the same fifteen-month timeframe that would also see the outbreak of a “war of brothers” between Eritrea and Ethiopia (May 1998) and a violent fall-out between the RPF and Uganda's NRM (August 1999)—on Congolese territory. The fall of Kinshasa in May 1997 marked the last successful violent revolution brought about by liberation movements in Africa (save for the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s (SPLM) partial victory in Sudan). Existing liberation regimes shifted their focus to internal development and a narrow conception of national interest rather than continuing to export revolution and building deep institutional ties with brother countries. Thus, rather than the AFDL triumph ushering in a new era of liberation politics and regional solidarity that would transform Africa, it was in some sense the Thermidor of the Pan-Africanist, Nyerere-driven vision of unity and security through regime change campaigns. The final pages of the book assess the lasting impact of the liberation project on African politics.