Philosophies of Justice in Acholi: Responsibility in Times of Collective Suffering

Since 2008 Ugandans residing in the northern region of Acholiland have been faced with the uncertainties of justice stemming from the twenty-year civil war waged between the Ugandan government and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Seeking accountability and reconciliation within their communities, Acholi and non-Acholi have had to grapple with large-scale practical and philosophical questions: Whose legal system should deliver justice for victims, and what are the aims and responsibilities of justice as a concept?

Philosophies of Justice in Acholi focuses on Acholi traditional mechanisms of justice (ATJMs), which became the central framework for jurisprudence outlined in the peace agreements that were brokered from 2006 to 2008. Framing community members’ responsibilities in terms of their ancestral beings has facilitated a justice process that understands the inseparable relations between individuals and groups and thus provides pathways to reclaim social, moral, and material lives. While ATJMs have thus far fallen short of addressing national and global polities’ responsibilities in the conflict, their core premises hold promise for defining Uganda’s still-developing political justice process and for humans everywhere seeking justice.

Delving into understandings of fairness, responsibility, and group identity, Philosophies of Justice in Acholi reveals that justice, and its effect on collective existence, is always political.

Benedetta Lanfranchi is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the American University of Rome (AUR) where she teaches moral and political philosophy. She is concluding her postdoctoral book project entitled ＂Digital Intellectuals. Fighting for Freedom in Uganda＂ at the University of Bayreuth under a European Research Council Consolidator Grant. She is co-editor of Critical Conversations in African Philosophy: Asixoxe--Let’s Talk.