This page has annotations:

1. 1 2020-01-11T17:27:33-05:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Grace Acan shares her experience and defines justice Sarah York-Bertram 11 Annotation: After her experience of abduction and captivity, Grace Acan has dedicated her time to researching and understanding what justice means to survivors of war plain 2021-05-25T14:43:38-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16
2. 1 2020-11-12T16:24:22-05:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Blue Sweater Kris Joseph 7 Annotation: In this 3.5 minute clip, Dr. Kjell Anderson, the director of the Master of Human Rights program at the University of Manitoba asks about the selection of artifacts. Curator Isabelle Masson describes the years-long collaborative process and Grace Acan explains the significance of the blue sweater that is featured in the exhibit. plain 2021-04-13T08:35:14-04:00 Kris Joseph 0d077f99b0f9769f974aa4a1085d24dd68a8f67d
3. 1 2020-01-11T19:01:21-05:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Chibok Schoolgirls Sarah York-Bertram 5 Annotation: An audience question by someone from Nigeria who draws links between the 2014 abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls and Evelyn and Grace's experiences plain 2021-05-25T14:45:05-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16
4. 1 2021-05-25T14:23:41-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Amnesty Sarah York-Bertram 4 Annotation: An audience member asks how Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony felt about the amnesties offered by the Uganda government. They also ask how Ugandans responded to the amnesties. Grace Acan answers the question. plain 2021-05-25T14:39:31-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16
5. 1 2021-05-26T13:30:55-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Serving Survivors in Kampala Sarah York-Bertram 3 Annotation: An Ugandan audience member asks about the regions Women's Advocacy Network serves and Grace Acan explains that the Network plans to expand its reach through fundraising. plain 2021-05-26T13:43:32-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16
6. 1 2021-05-04T18:11:03-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Dr. Kjell Anderson on Transitional Justice and the history of the LRA Sarah York-Bertram 3 Annotation: Professor Anderson defines transitional justice and provides context for Grace Acan's and Evelyn Amony's stories as former abductees of the Lord's Resistance Army plain 2021-05-11T15:41:48-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16
7. 1 2021-05-25T14:45:55-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Apologies and Stigma Sarah York-Bertram 3 Annotation: Acan and Amony answer an audience question about the importance of formal apologies and the issue of reintegration and familial acceptance when survivors return from captivity. Amony answers in Acholi and Acan translates in English plain 2021-05-25T15:11:23-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16
8. 1 2021-05-11T15:44:23-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Original Short Films Sarah York-Bertram 2 Annotation: exhibit curator Isabelle Masson introduces the original short films featured in the Ododo Wa exhibit. Watch this annotation to see Evelyn Amony's and Grace Acan's films. plain 2021-05-11T16:23:17-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16
9. 1 2021-05-26T14:04:11-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 Why Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony wrote their memoirs. Sarah York-Bertram 2 Annotation: Professor Anderson asks Acan and Amony why they decided to tell their stories through the writing of their memoirs. Acan and Amony explain. Amony answers in Acholi and Grace Acan translates to English plain 2021-05-26T14:40:45-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16
10. 1 2021-05-26T13:49:56-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16 What can we do? Sarah York-Bertram 2 Annotation: An audience member asks Acan and Amony what people can do to support survivors. Amony replies in Acholi and Acan translates to English. plain 2021-05-26T13:55:17-04:00 Sarah York-Bertram 79c90f81cbadbcee036c97b91365eec227a9fa16

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• 1 2020-09-15T16:27:13-04:00 Survivor-Centred Approaches 18 Page: The Ododo Wa exhibit has been situated within a survivor-centred approach by several of our news media sources. This page discusses the News Median Analysis theme "Survivor-Centred Approaches" plain 2021-05-03T14:42:37-04:00

  The Ododo Wa exhibit has been situated within a survivor centred approach by several of our media sources. YorkU’s yFile places the exhibit within the context of United Nations Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 2467 on 23 April 2019. This resolution “articulates a survivor-centred approach to the prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence.” Like this resolution, the exhibit prioritizes a survivor-centred approach, meaning that survivors are empowered to seek justice and reparations. 

  
  News media has similarly situated the exhibit as timely, and its association with dialogues for survivors as necessary. For example, the arts magazine GalleriesWest places the exhibit in relation to the Nobel Peace Prize winners, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, and their efforts against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. This is also shown in the University of Manitoba’s news, which represents the exhibit in the context of Uganda’s transitional justice policy of June 2019. 
  
  The curatorial approach to the exhibit was also based on a survivor-centred approach. For example, CMHR curator Isabelle Masson acknowledges that for activists organizing around issues of sexual violence in war, it is important to reduce opportunities of re-traumatization or even further traumatization (Bitu Tshikudi, 2019). For these reasons, the exhibit aims to establish a sustainable and supportive storytelling process and environment that focuses on survivors’ needs, their voices, and their leadership towards justice and reparations. 
  
  Naturally, a place-based tension emerges in response to the exhibit. As Masson reflected on the Uganda National Museum event in December 2019, one audience member asked “Why do we need Canadians to tell our stories?” (Masson, 2020). In relation, Canadian journalists and artists sometimes asserted that it was difficult to “imagine” what Acan and Amony went through (Alfa, 2019; Ikemiya, 2019). In some cases, Canadian journalists asked, “What can Canadians do to help?” (Bitu Tshikudi, 2019).  Acan, Amony and those involved with making the exhibit asserted that Canadians can help by a) listening to survivors, b) paying attention to survivors’ leadership in regards to their needs, and c) seeing how one can help, as directed by survivors, “at this moment” (Masson in Bitu Tshikudi, 2019). Therefore, the exhibit appears to have multiple capacities: it functions as an example of survivor-centred activism that holds opportunities for survivor-centred knowledge mobilization, learning, pedagogy, dialogue, and justice.

• 1 media/Screenshot 2020-11-12 152557.jpg 2020-09-15T16:31:18-04:00 Breaking the Silence Through Storytelling and Artefacts 17 Page: discusses the News Media Analysis theme "Breaking the Silence through Storytelling" plain 2021-07-22T17:07:05-04:00

  Several of the sources took up the topic of “voice” in their reportage. For example, Ugandan and Canadian news media represent Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony as “breaking the silence” about their experiences. The Winnipeg Free Press characterized Acan and Amony as "outspoken." This framing falls in line with popular media representations of other survivors of sexual violence who are speaking out about their experiences and their needs for justice and reparations.  

  The artifacts featured in the exhibit functions as evidence supporting Acan's and Amony's stories. Ugandan-based New Vision, which covered the exhibit’s launch at the Uganda National Museum in December 2019, makes note of the artifacts, such as “clothes, books, and other items,” featured in the traveling exhibit. The artifacts represent the everyday and material realities of Acan and Amony before, after, and during their time in captivity, while memorializing personal, regional, and national histories. By memorializing Acan’s and Amony’s experiences and their material realities, the exhibit helps “send a universal message that the voices of women in war matters” (Acan quoted in The Independent, 2019).
  
  
  The artefacts also provide a way for Amony and Acan to discuss having children and meeting their children’s needs while in captivity. Although “the guns are silent” and the region is considered in a post-conflict period, survivors challenge the notion that the war is over and point to the multi-generational impacts of the war within families and communities (Acan quoted in Bunting, 2019).

  When speaking about her daughter, whom she was separated from during a military ambush, Evelyn Amony shares that, “Other women in the world are still crying for their daughters […] My daughter is still missing […] I still have hope for her.” Evelyn Amony to Carol Sanders, Winnipeg Free Press.

  Journalists picked up on the fact that for Acan and Amony and many other survivors, the conflict does not “end” simply because they have returned. While in conversation with Acan and Amony, Ismaila Alfa stated that “It is not over at that point in time [when you return after captivity], because now you have to get used to life back in Uganda as well.” 

• 1 2020-09-15T16:34:47-04:00 Justice for Survivors 14 Page: contains a discussion of the News Media Analysis theme "Justice for Survivors" plain 2021-07-22T17:11:52-04:00

  
  Acan’s and Amony’s experiences as girls caught between rebel and state forces informs their perspective on war. Sexual violence and conjugal slavery remain neglected parts of armed conflict and there continues to be barriers for justice for survivors. Even though survivors’ experiences of abduction and captivity are different and unique, the Conjugal Slavery in War (CSiW) partnership has found many similarities. These similarities are especially noticeable particularly regarding the stigma survivors face (Bitu Tshikudi, 2019). 

  However, in Acan’s and Amony’s statements to the news media, their message goes far beyond advocating for justice and reparations. They argue for sustained movements for peace and the abolition of war. The instrumentalization of women and girls in armed conflict has been an important tactic used to sustain social reproduction within the LRA and to push the LRA message (Bitu Tshikudi, 2019).
  
  
  In there conversations with news media, both Acan and Amony explain how they were misrecognized by the Ugandan government through its amnesty mechanism. In a CBC Day 6 (2019) piece, the article states:

  “The [amnesty] card is meted out to LRA fighters who are forgiven for fighting against the government of Uganda. It’s hard to see what exactly she’s being forgiven for, Amony said. ‘It [was] not our will to be in the bush,’ Amony clarified. And Acan stated that, ‘My life was destroyed. I didn’t hold a gun against the government, so why should I sign that I fought against the government?’ [...] ‘There was no government to protect me, to bring me back’” (2019).

  While justice is an important area of focus for survivors, Ugandan news media did not engage with themes surrounding amnesty and other barriers to justice. Instead, they focused on other urgent issues that speak to Acan’s and Amony’s message - that is, the healing that needs to be fostered in their local, regional, and national contexts. For Acan and Amony, their messages in Ugandan news media are directed to other survivors of war who are struggling in silence.
• 1 2021-06-06T17:45:26-04:00 Solidarity 10 Page: This is part of The Public's perspectives path. A diverse public audience representing a number of nationalities demonstrated global and diasporic connections and solidarities through language and sharing of experiences. plain 2021-07-22T17:20:59-04:00 Andrea González; Sarah York-Bertram

   “Even then, women, Ugandan women were not treated very well. They were not welcomed into any one of the house. They were not allowed to come in front of the house and, hum, it was really sad. It never really, you know, changed much.”(Audience member 3, CMHR launch, 2019).

  Language
  Dialogues surrounding the Ododo Wa exhibit show how solidarity with survivors cross borders. For example, one audience member in Winnipeg asked Acan and Amony how they manage their ajiji, which means “trauma” in Acholi (Audience member 4, CMHR Launch, 2019). The question offered an opportunity for the broader audience to understand what the word ajiji means and to understand Acan's and Amony's experiences in the context of Northern Uganda. The question and language demonstrates the connections between the global, the local, and Black diaspora experience. Just as war and conflict forces people to cross borders, so do girls' and women's experiences.
  
  Diverse Audience
  Diverse international audiences expanded the dialogues. They considered the links between the exhibit's subject matter and their own context and experience. They posed sympathetic questions and showed concern over survivors' hardships and their needs. The exhibit's ability to generate and hold space for discussion about international cooperation and solidarity for girls', women's, and survivors' issues is demonstrated by the audience's members questions about what they can do to help, or if neighboring countries provided assistance at the time of the war. Mechanisms for justice, such as amnesty laws and transitional justice policies, were an area of focus as the audience became aware that survivors have not always been served by such mechanisms. Their questions, comments, and interventions reflect the far-reaching capacity and effects of the exhibit, as well as its ability to resonate in diverse contexts. 

   “For instance when it happened in Nigeria, we had international communities everywhere people were, there was this hashtag #bringbackourgirls, but right now it's silenced. There is fading advocacy, people are not talking about it…”(Audience member 4, University of Manitoba Law Panel, 2019) 

  Relatable Experiences and Contexts
  Discussions led to sharing relatable experiences and made spaces for international solidarities to be fostered. The line between affected communities and general audiences blurred. Upon hearing Acan's and Amony's stories, audience members articulated a commitment to be certain that such stories are not told in vain and that there is a government responsibility for promoting justice and reparations. Audience members affirmed that more efforts are needed towards these issues, whether the help comes from advocates, organizations, or international communities of survivors. 

• 1 2021-04-22T20:23:45-04:00 Memoirs 9 Page: an annotated YouTube video clip shows Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony discussing why they wrote their books. This page also includes external links to their memoirs. plain 2021-05-28T14:47:00-04:00 Evelyn Amony and Grace Acan have both written memoirs about their experiences. In the YouTube video on this page, Dr. Kjell Anderson asks Acan and Amony why they wrote their memoirs.
  
  Evelyn Amony replied that, among the many reasons she wrote her memoir, "I wanted the world to know that it's very good to talk about what happens to you, what happened to you, after saying it you can feel better than before, you can feel relieved. Before I wrote my book, I was afraid that whenever I was walking I would feel like people are saying, 'oh, she is useless, [...] she has nothing.' But after writing I felt the courage that I can do it, I still have the courage, but yes I have not gone to school I can still change my life, I can still move on." 
  
  In her response to Anderson's question, Grace Acan states, "I wrote this book to correct the misconceptions that my community was having and to correct some of the things that they were saying and to also give them the right information so that they know exactly what took place. I would also like to let the world know that war has very negative effects on girls and women, so it should be stopped."
  
  Their books are available to purchase. Find their books by clicking the links on the pictures of Evelyn Amony and Grace Acan holding their memoirs.
• 1 2020-09-14T14:14:00-04:00 Affected Communities 5 This page is the beginning of the Path through perspectives of Affected Communities plain 2020-09-14T18:00:31-04:00
• 1 2021-05-28T18:13:27-04:00 Original Short Films 2 Annotation: this is a YouTube clip that shows the original animation drawings and interviews depicting Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony's stories. The animations were developed by Maggie Ikemiya and the short films were developed by the CMHR plain 2021-05-28T18:15:05-04:00
• 1 2021-05-07T20:07:16-04:00 Defining Transitional Justice 1 Annotation: Professor Kjell Anderson explains what Transitional Justice is. plain 2021-05-07T20:07:16-04:00 As Professor Kjell Anderson explained in a panel at the University of Manitoba, transitional justice is used broadly to refer to the set of measures that take place and occur following gross human rights violations, such as the violence and war in Uganda, and the war involving the LRA.
  This exhibition acknowledges that justice means different things to different people. As Grace explains in this panel, for many women survivors, justice can refer to having their immediate needs being addressed, as opposed to achieving legal justice.