Victoria Flavia Namuggala is a Lecturer at the School of Women and Gender Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University, with thematic expertise in feminism and gender, childhood and youthhood (un)employment, identity, critical cultural studies, and peace, conflict and displacement. Victoria holds a Doctorate degree in Women and Gender Studies from Arizona State University (USA). Her research draws upon various disciplines of study including international relations, peace and conflict studies, cultural studies, childhood and youth studies, indigenous, women and gender studies.
Her position as a lecturer has enabled the teaching of a number of courses reflecting gender in conflict and displacement situations, rural and urban development, gender based violence, gender and sexuality and strategies for development and change. She has further supervised students’ research at graduate and undergraduate levels, internship training supervision as well as examining and evaluating research. Below are titles of some of students’ research work she has supervised.
- Assessing female survivors’ experiences of intimate partner violence and access to justice in Uganda. A case of intimate relationships involving male police officers (Doctoral Study)
- The gendered impact of intimate partner violence on primary teacher college students: A case of Bushenyi core primary teachers’ college
- Changing Masculinities among Refugee Communities in Kampala: A Case of Nsambya
- Agency Banking: A tool for empowerment of small and medium women entrepreneurs in Nakawa division (Graduate Diploma in Local Economic Development)
- Violence against children in refugee settings: a case study if Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement (MA-Gender Studies)
Research
Victoria has been widely involved in research on gender specifically targeting violence, employment -adolescent female workers in the informal sector, children and youth notions of employment, their experiences of conflict, war and displacement as well as their agency. This has led to work towards policy reform and transformation both locally and internationally, with an overarching goal for social justice. Prioritisation has been towards giving voices to the marginalised in society irrespective of their gender, age, class, location and other socially important identifiers. Various research projects led in respect to this have been as follows:
Team leader – Uganda: The Gendered Price of Precarity: Workplace Sexual Harassment and Young Women’s Agency. British Academy Youth Futures grant (2020-2021)
Gender consultant: Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB), Mastercard Foundation-funded Gender Lens Investing Project (2020)
Lead consultant: Gender Youth Social Inclusion Analysis (GYSIA): USAID/Uganda Maternal Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) Activity (2020)
Lead consultant: Development of a gender mainstreaming training manual and training of AMREF partner Stakeholders, Kampala Uganda (2019)
Lead consultant: Community sustainable approaches in protecting children rights in northern Uganda, Pader district. Caritas Gulu Archdiocess (2019)
Lead consultant: Rapid assessment on conflict and peace building efforts among refugees and host community, Palabek. Caritas Uganda (2019)
Team leader (Uganda). “Challenges and opportunities for rural youth employment in sub Saharan Africa-Mixed methods study”. IFAD funded study, conducted by the School of Women and Gender Studies in collaboration with Gulu University and IDS-UK (2018- 2019)
Community service
Victoria has offered community service in various capacities including; member, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Thesis Rubric Review Committee (2021), member, Makerere University School of Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (MAKSSREC) (2016-todate) and Co-Chair, Technical Advisory Group- Empowered Aid Project, Uganda. She has further served as a coordinator for undergraduate programs at the school of women and gender studies.
Membership to professional associations
- Makerere University Academic Staff Association
- National Women Studies Association (NWSA)
- African Studies Association (ASA)
- International Sociological Association (ISA)
- Research on Early Childhood Education (RECE)
- International Readers Association
Publications
Oosterom, M.; Namuggala, V.F. and Szyp, C. (2021, accepted article) ‘Family Dynamics and Implications for Young People’s Struggles in Rural Areas of Post-conflict Northern Uganda’, Disasters
Namuggala, V.F. (2021, forthcoming) ‘Not Mere Victims: Agency and Resilience Among Sexually Violated Returnee Young People in Northeastern Uganda’
Namuggala, V.F. (2018) ‘Childhood, Youth Identity, and Violence in Formerly Displaced Communities in Uganda’, Palgrave-Routledge
Namuggala, V.F. (2017) ‘Gambling, Dancing and Sex Work: Rethinking Notions of Youth Employment in Uganda’, IDS Bulletin 48.3: 67-78
Namuggala, V.F. and Katende, D. (2017) ‘Post-conflict Humanitarian Assistance in Northern Uganda: The Social Work Role’, in M. Gray (ed), The Handbook of Social Work and Social Development in Africa, Abingdon: Routledge
Namuggala, V.F. (2016) ‘Empowered Yet Vulnerable: Employers of Housemaids in Kampala’, Journal of Social Development in Africa 31.2: 131-148
Namuggala, V.F. (2015) ‘Exploitation or Empowerment? Adolescent Female Domestic Workers in Uganda’, International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies 6.4: 561-580
Mulumba, D. and Namuggala, V. (2014) ‘War Experiences and Gendered Responses to Post Conflict Reintegration: The Case of Lira District in Northern Uganda’, in L. Asuelime and S. Francis (eds), Selected Themes in African Political Studies, New York, NY: Springer
