Projects

2007-2011:

Reintegration of female ex-child soldiers in Eastern Africa

School of Mission and Theology (now part of VID Specialized University) hosted a research project on “Reintegration of female ex-child soldiers in Eastern Africa: Religious, ethical and practical perspectives” from 2007 till 2011. The project was funded by NUFU: Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education, and it included three PhD scholarships and some research also from the supervising teams.

One of the three PhD scholarships was awarded Ms Nambalirwa Helen Nkabala, Makerere University, Uganda, who investigated the roles of Old Testament texts and motifs in the religious rhetoric of the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda. Her thesis “‘There is no difference between Moses and Kony’: A critical analysis of the contextual use of some Old Testament texts and motifs in the early years of the Lord’s Resistance Army,” was supervised by Professor Knut Holter (School of Mission and Theology), Dr Marta Høyland Lavik, (School of Mission and Theology), and Dr Deusdedit Nkurunziza (Makerere University). The thesis was successfully completed and defended in 2012, with a PhD committee consisting of Professor Madipoane Masenya (University of South Africa), Dr Auli Vähäkangas (University of Helsinki, Finland), and Professor Kari Storstein Haug (School of Mission and Theology).

Dr Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala together with Professor Knut Holter and Professor Marta Høyland Lavik.

Publications

  • Nambalirwa Helen Nkabala: “‘The Lord destroyed the cities and everyone who lived in them’: The Lord’s Resistance Army’s use of the Old Testament Sodom/Gomorrah narrative,” Bård Mæland (ed.): Culture, Religion, and the Reintegration of Female Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda. New York: Peter Lang (2010) 181-192.

  • Nambalirwa Helen Nkabala: “A gender-sensitive ethical reading of Old Testament texts: The role of African women as characters in the text and exponents of the text,” Old Testament Essays 26 (2013) 384-400. Full text: http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/ote/v26n2/11.pdf

  • Nambalirwa Helen Nkabala: “Gender perspectives in the Lord’s Resistance Army in relation to the Old Testament,” Old Testament Essays 27 (2014) 930-944. Full text: http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/ote/v27n3/10.pdf

  • Marta Høyland Lavik: “Killing children with God’s permission? The rhetoric of retaliation in Psalm 137,” Bård Mæland (ed.): Culture, Religion, and the Reintegration of Female Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda. New York: Peter Lang (2010) 193-206.

  • Knut Holter: “Women and war in northern Uganda and ancient Israel: The interpretative role of academia,” Bård Mæland (ed.): Culture, Religion, and the Reintegration of Female Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda. New York: Peter Lang (2010) 207-218.

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