This article contributes to emergent debates about how displacement into camps affects citizenship among internally displaced persons. It is based on a study of the Acholi people in northern Uganda, who were displaced into camps during the conflict between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (1986–2006).
The study shows that internal displacement into camps affects the sense and practice of citizenship, and the relationship between the two. The sense of citizenship is recast due to the military weight of the state and the formal and informal practices of sovereignty carried out by the camp governance regime. This discourages meaningful practices of citizenship in everyday life, in particular in relation to holding camp governance actors accountable, even when formal opportunities for engagement are created. Having no opportunities for meaningful citizen engagement further erodes a sense of citizenship. From the perspective of the displaced, state legitimacy weakens as a result.
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