Living with Bad Surroundings: War, History, and Everyday Moments in Northern Uganda (review)

There is abundant media coverage including newspaper reports, documentaries, and films concerning the plight of the civilian population in northern Uganda (the Acholi) who have been living in war-ravaged conditions since 1986. Publicization of the atrocities committed by the rebel group Lord's Resistance Army/Movement (LRA/M) and its splinter groups has drawn both local and international attention. These atrocities led the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for the arrest of LRA/M leader Joseph Kony in 2005. Additionally, the LRA/M was listed as a terrorist group in 2001 by the US government (the Bush administration) after the 9/11 attacks.

Media reports, however, have not investigated the war in the context and fashion of Sverker Finnström. He narrates the complex nature of the war in northern Uganda by describing the situation in which civilian non-combatants, the rebels (LRA/M), the governmental (especially the army) and international agencies find themselves. He challenges the simplistic explanations rooted in ethnic stereotypes and religious fanaticism. Living with Bad Surroundings is written with sensitivity for the historical background of the Acholi people and their day-to-day realities. It highlights the impact of colonialism, independent Ugandan government regimes established after independence from Britain in 1962, and the local peoples' expectations and realities.

Finnström aims, figuratively speaking, to address both sides of the coin, thus providing a more comprehensive understanding of the war's ramifications. Often, writers approach the subject of the war in northern Uganda from an outsider's perspective without integrating the realities rooted within the community—such an approach lends itself to inherent biases. A writer is often caught up in narrating the stark realities of the war's impacts, especially on the civilian population, thus obstructing a clear inquisition of the cause of the war and the roles of all stakeholders.

The book's central theme is to understand the context in which the civilian population finds itself, these "bad surroundings" or what the author calls "piny marac." He offers the contemporary Acholi youth's insight through their everyday experiences and struggles—success or failure. The book addresses their effort to attain "good surroundings," or "piny maber," given the prevailing conditions. Finnström describes, for instance, Tonny's (a coworker) struggle to purchase land in the Masindi district and have his mother and wife move from Gulu to this safer environment. In another instance, he depicts families' struggles to keep their children safe from rebel attacks by taking them to the overnight boarding facility at the mission before dark.

He delivers a complete picture of the war in northern Uganda, clearly outlining the "piny marac" in which the noncombatant population is embedded. Media reports, especially those controlled by the Ugandan government, tend to portray the LRA/M as a terrorist rebel group whose ideology is based on fundamentalist Christian values and lacking a political agenda. Finnström not only discusses the religious motivation of the LRA/M, but also the political agenda driving the LRA/M and splinter groups. The book provides insight into the political arm of the LRA/M and its demands for justice for the Acholi. The attempt to legitimize their atrocities against civilians by citing the creation of a new religious and political order creates a scenario that conflicts with their goals—at least so far as they are outlined in their manifestos which supposedly fight for Acholi justice.

The author writes with an ethnographer's perspective, providing a fresh viewpoint on the war. Language mediates identity—who people think they are—and thus his focus on the linguistic context in which words and phrases are used centers his narrative in a cultural context around which everything else revolves. As well, he appeals to the reader by using poems by famous Acholi poets written in the English language. For instance, his reference to the poem by Oryema-Lalobo (1999) provides insight into the shifting social...