Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers , livre ebook

Cornell University Press - Chris Coulter

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304 pages

English

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During the war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002), members of various rebel movements kidnapped thousands of girls and women, some of whom came to take an active part in the armed conflict alongside the rebels. In a stunning look at the life of women in wartime, Chris Coulter draws on interviews with more than a hundred women to bring us inside the rebel camps in Sierra Leone.When these girls and women returned to their home villages after the cessation of hostilities, their families and peers viewed them with skepticism and fear, while humanitarian organizations saw them primarily as victims. Neither view was particularly helpful in helping them resume normal lives after the war. Offering lessons for policymakers, practitioners, and activists, Coulter shows how prevailing notions of gender, both in home communities and among NGO workers, led, for instance, to women who had taken part in armed conflict being bypassed in the demilitarization and demobilization processes carried out by the international community in the wake of the war. Many of these women found it extremely difficult to return to their families, and, without institutional support, some were forced to turn to prostitution to eke out a living.Coulter weaves several themes through the work, including the nature of gender roles in war, livelihood options in war and peace, and how war and postwar experiences affect social and kinship relations.

Sujets

Sociologie, société et politique

Sierra Leona

África

History of Africa

Africa

Sierra Leone

Informations

Publié par	Cornell University Press
Date de parution	15 janvier 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780801458484
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	5 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,7500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers

Women’s Lives through War and Peace in Sierra Leone

Chris Coulter

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2009 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2009 Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Coulter, Chris, 1969– Bush wives and girl soldiers : women’s lives through war and peace in Sierra Leone / Chris Coulter. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801447822 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 9780801475122 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Sierra Leone—History—Civil War, 1991–2002—Women. 2. Sierra Leone—History—Civil War, 1991–2002—Participation, Female. 3. Women and war—Sierra Leone. 4. Women—Crimes against—Sierra Leone. 5. Rural women—Sierra Leone—Social conditions. I. Title. DT516.826.C68 2009 966.404—dc22 2009010909

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood ﬁbers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing Paperback printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Stella Loyce, Martha Brae, and Mary

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Contents

1. A Decade of War—Centuries of Uncertainty

2. Gendered Lives in Rural Sierra Leone

3. Abduction and Everyday Rebel Life

4. From Rape Victims to Female Fighters

5. Reconciliation or Revenge

6. Surviving the Postwar Economy

7. Coming Home—Domesticating the BushConclusion

Notes References Index

1 31 57 95 125 154 181 208 237

255 269 285

Acknowledgments

A work of anthropology is not only the result of a process of reading, thinking, and writing, but as much, if not more, of being in “the ﬁeld.” Leaving my home to live in rural Sierra Leone with two young children could have entailed some practical difﬁculties had it not been for the enor mous help and assistance of many kind and generous people. The people in Koinadugu District made me a welcome “stranger” to their lives and I thank them all, especially Joseph, Kumba, Theresa, Paul and Mary Kortenhoven, and Pa Morowa and his family. Although I am not at liberty to share their names, all the women, and the few men, with whom I worked in Sierra Leone made this research possible through the trust they granted me by sharing some of the worst experiences of their lives, sometimes at great emotional cost. When they asked me how my research would help them, I always answered that I did not know, but that I hoped that by talk ing to me I could share with my readers their strength and resilience in the face of hardship. This work would have been inconceivable without the tireless and unwavering support of my research assistant/interpreter Mary