Project Title: The Arts of Reconciliation: Youth and Policy Engagement in post-conflict northern Uganda
Clients: Refugee Law Project and Youth Advocacy Network
Student Names: Anna Manuel, Anne Christensen, Bahaar Abbas, Emma Biamonte, Nona Jalali
Faculty Lead: Erin Baines
Fieldwork Location: Gulu (Uganda)
Year: 2025-26
About the Project: This project focuses on the experiences of children born of war (CBOW) and the use of arts-based approaches to access memory and justice, promote identity and belonging, leadership, reconciliation, and policy change in transitional justice. Using the Youth Advocacy Network (YAN) in northern Uganda as a case study, this project contributes to emerging research on the experiences and agency of CBOW through their use of arts-based methods to advance their interests in transitional justice. This study contributes to addressing the marginalization of CBOW and limited attention paid to the intersection of arts-based methods, youth empowerment and access to justice and reparation. Investigation themes around YAN’s use of arts-based methods, include personal empowerment, agency, collective identity and youth engagement in transformative justice at the local, national, and international levels.