Trauma, Spirit Possession and the Devil: An Ethnographic Study of the Plurality and Pragmatics of Healing in Northern Uganda
My PhD project is on different conceptualizations and practices of trauma and spirit possession in northern Uganda. After generations of war followed by years of humanitarian assistance in northern Uganda, a plurality of concepts and practices of suffering and healing exists in the Acholi region. The project sets out to explore how people suffering from the aftermath of generations of war deal with their suffering, how they conceptualize it – as spirit possession, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), trauma or possession by the devil – and how they deal with this suffering by the means of cleansing ceremonies, bio-medication and prayers. My fieldwork will be done from 2016–2018 as case studies of how churches (Pentecostal, Catholic and Anglican), traditional healers (ajwaki), and psychologists and psychiatrists from the Global North deal with these problems of suffering and healing. And furthermore, by case studies of families and individuals who suffer from these problems and seek to navigate through the plurality of healing.