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Article
Participation as Principle and Tool in Social Reintegration: Young Mothers Formerly Associated with Armed Groups in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Northern Uganda
Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma (2013)
  • Angela Veale, University College Cork
  • Susan McKay, University of Wyoming
  • Miranda E Worthen, San Jose State University
  • Michael G Wessells, Columbia University
Abstract

Experience of traumatic stressors within armed groups can negatively impact social cognitions of mastery, self-efficacy, and control. This could be compounded by postreturn conditions of stigma, little access to education, and limited means of livelihood. We explore an intervention that placed girls’ participation as a central organizing principle. Based on study reports and ethnographic field work, we examine how young mothers transformed their identity and membership within communities of return through drama, songs and poetry, and engagement in social actions. Meaningful participation offers a culturally grounded intervention in which the impacts of traumatic stressors on individual functioning and the social relational world are directly targeted, resulting in a positive modification of developmental trajectories for young women and, ultimately, their children.

Keywords
  • child soldiers,
  • female,
  • Liberia,
  • mothers,
  • northern Uganda,
  • reintegration,
  • Sierra Leone,
  • war
Publication Date
September 12, 2013
Publisher Statement
SJSU users: use the following link to login and access the article via SJSU databases.
Citation Information
Angela Veale, Susan McKay, Miranda E Worthen and Michael G Wessells. "Participation as Principle and Tool in Social Reintegration: Young Mothers Formerly Associated with Armed Groups in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Northern Uganda" Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma Vol. 22 Iss. 8 (2013)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/miranda_worthen/15/