Neoliberal transformations after war: gendered narratives of post-conflict survival and crisis in Gulu district, northern Uganda

The implementation of neoliberal reforms in northern Uganda was carried out in the context of armed conflicts in the years 1988–2006 and the post-conflict resettlement and reconstruction activities since 2006. This paper uses an intersectional gender analysis of the life histories of heads of the poorest households in Gulu district to document and examine the effects of neoliberalisation processes of appropriation and class formation in the context of extreme poverty in a post-war setting. It examines the gendered nature of the households’ experiences of survival, crisis, and vulnerability and analyses the effects of neoliberal policies on land, labour, livelihoods, and access to healthcare. The data evidences that the neoliberalisation of northern Uganda is compounding the dispossession of the poor, who were previously dispossessed by war. It underscores the fallacy of the ideology of ‘inclusive neoliberalism’ that informed the second phase of neoliberalisation in Uganda, into which northern Uganda was integrated. Gender proves to be a highly useful analytical lens through which to explore life histories.