In Idi Amin’s Shadow: Women, Gender, and Militarism in Uganda

Authors

Alicia C. Decker

Files

Series

New African Histories

Description

In Idi Amin’s Shadow is a rich social history examining Ugandan women’s complex and sometimes paradoxical relationship to Amin’s military state. Based on more than one hundred interviews with women who survived the regime, as well as a wide range of primary sources, this book reveals how the violence of Amin’s militarism resulted in both opportunities and challenges for women. Some assumed positions of political power or became successful entrepreneurs, while others endured sexual assault or experienced the trauma of watching their brothers, husbands, or sons “disappeared” by the state’s security forces. In Idi Amin’s Shadow considers the crucial ways that gender informed and was informed by the ideology and practice of militarism in this period. By exploring this relationship, Alicia C. Decker offers a nuanced interpretation of Amin’s Uganda and the lives of the women who experienced and survived its violence.
Each chapter begins with the story of one woman whose experience illuminates some larger theme of the book. In this way, it becomes clear that the politics of military rule were highly relevant to women and gender relations, just as the politics of gender were central to militarism. By drawing upon critical security studies, feminist studies, and violence studies, Decker demonstrates that Amin’s dictatorship was far more complex and his rule much more strategic than most observers have ever imagined.

Copyright Statement

In Idi Amin's Shadow © 2014 by Ohio University Press is licensed under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language

eng

ISBN

9780821445020

Publication Date

2014

Publisher

Ohio University Press

City

Athens

Keywords

Idi Amin, Uganda, women, violence, women and the military, women and war, sex roles, gender studies, post-colonialism

Disciplines

African History | African Studies | Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Women's Studies

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Decker, Alicia C., "In Idi Amin’s Shadow: Women, Gender, and Militarism in Uganda" (2014). Ohio University Press Open Access Books. 38.
https://ohioopen.library.ohio.edu/oupress/38