Political Uncertainty, Violence and Hope in Uganda: A Personal Account demonstrates both the tumultuous and hopeful aspects of Uganda’s political history. Much as the first 20 years of Uganda’s independence saw politics of experimentation, intrigue, and lack of ethics, sliding the country into a journey of uncertainty and violence, the latter years saw hope and economic progress. The book first introduces the author, both as a civilian and a soldier. Chapter 2 examines Milton Obote’s social, economic, and military policies, and how they catapulted Idi Amin to power in 1971. Chapter 3 crystallizes Uganda’s political uncertainty and violence, which saw over 300,000 Ugandans murdered under Amin. Subsequent chapters describe the armed national efforts to depose Amin and Obote from power. These culminated in Museveni’s takeover from the Okello Junta in 1986. The Museveni takeover triggered a series of political oppositions and insurgencies that spanned almost 20 years. The NRA/NRM has since neutralized and defeated those insurgencies, ushering in unprecedented peace and hope that have seen Uganda recover from economic quagmire and political turmoil to a developing country. Uganda is now bracing for middle-income status, which ushers in the book’s last chapter: Is There Hope for Uganda?

Since 1986, the Acholi people of northern Uganda have lived in the crossfire of a violent civil war, with the Lord’s Resistance Army and other groups fighting the Ugandan government. Acholi have been murdered, maimed, and driven into displacement. Thousands of children have been abducted and forced to fight. Many observers have perceived Acholiland and northern Uganda to be an exception in contemporary Uganda, which has been celebrated by the international community for its increased political stability and particularly for its fight against AIDS. These observers tend to portray the Acholi as war-prone, whether because of religious fanaticism or intractable ethnic hatreds. In Living with Bad Surroundings, Sverker Finnström rejects these characterizations and challenges other simplistic explanations for the violence in northern Uganda. Foregrounding the narratives of individual Acholi, Finnström enables those most affected by the ongoing “dirty war” to explain how they participate in, comprehend, survive, and even resist it. Finnström draws on fieldwork conducted in northern Uganda between 1997 and 2006 to describe how the Acholi—especially the younger generation, those born into the era of civil strife—understand and attempt to control their moral universe and material circumstances. Structuring his argument around indigenous metaphors and images, notably the Acholi concepts of good and bad surroundings, he vividly renders struggles in war and the related ills of impoverishment, sickness, and marginalization. In this rich ethnography, Finnström provides a clear-eyed assessment of the historical, cultural, and political underpinnings of the civil war while maintaining his focus on Acholi efforts to achieve “good surroundings,” viable futures for themselves and their families.

How do we practice hope after trauma? What shape does hope take after abuse? In grappling with these questions, Ashley E. Theuring implicates the entire church and advocates changing our theologies of hope and our understanding of resurrection. Reimagining the Empty Tomb narrative from the Gospel of Mark in light of the experiences of domestic violence survivors, Fragile Resurrection reveals the possibility for everyday practices and relationships to mediate hope and resurrection. Theuring constructs an embodied imaginative hope found in the wake of trauma, which can speak to our current context of trauma and uncertainty.

Why do only some incipient rebel groups become viable challengers to governments? Only those that control local rumor networks survive.