The Fluidity of Patriarchy: Kinship, Tradition and the Prevention of Gendered Violence in Lugbaraland, Uganda

ABSTRACT

In a context of rapid social change in post-conflict West Nile, Uganda, internationally funded non-governmental organisations and the state have joined efforts to reduce gender-based violence (GBV) amongst Lugbara people. That women rarely report GBV is often interpreted as an indicator that such interventions are failing because of flawed design or cultural recalcitrance. Seeking to understand women’s infrequent reporting of GBV, our research explored the relationship between a GBV intervention and local patriarchal modes of power. Focusing on ‘traditional’ modes of handling domestic violence cases, we argue that this biopolitical sphere provides a site for the reassertion of patriarchy in unexpected ways. To circumvent GBV interventions that threaten patriarchal norms male clan leaders reinvent kinship traditions. Using this case, we build upon Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger’s influential ‘invention of tradition’ frame to advance theoretical understandings of the fluidity of patriarchy. The men and women who participated in our research understood domestic violence as best handled through male-controlled kinship structures that centred on bride price and land rights. Our findings provide grounds for rethinking theories of patriarchy and offer insights for anti-GBV programmes that generally privilege police and legal involvement, envisage patriarchy as fixed, and focus on the nuclear household.

KEYWORDS:

• Uganda
• patriarchy
• masculinities
• gender based violence
• kinship
• tradition
• domestic violence

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a European Research Council Consolidator Grant (647314).

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest has been reported by the authors.

Notes

1 According to UN Women’s Global Database on Violence Against Women an estimated 50 percent of women in Uganda experience physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence within their lifetime (UN Women 2022).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeroen Lorist

Jeroen Lorist is a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on gender within development, with a focus on ‘responsible masculinities’. He also works as senior gender advisor with an international NGO.

Mercy T. Mbabazi

Mercy T. Mbabazi is an independent researcher and NGO worker. She holds a degree in social sciences from Makerere University, Uganda.

Eileen Moyer

Eileen Moyer is a professor in the anthropology of ecology, health and climate change, Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. She has been conducting research in the field of HIV/AIDS for mor than twenty years. She is a co-founder and co-editor of the open-access journal Medicine Anthropology Theory.