Narrative Structures Constructed Around

A comparative qualitative study was conducted on Identity, Culture and Conflict in refugee (Oruchinga Valley Western Uganda) and returnee communities (Gulu, Northern Uganda) in 2009/10. This was an in- depth investigation into the “returning home process” using personal narratives of respondents to scan the socio-economic conditions of refugees and returnees and analyse their struggle with issues of identity reconstruction within the transitory post conflict period. The study was aimed at comparing the cross-border refugee and internally displaced returnees’ identity perspectives. It was to confirm whether the socio-economic measures taken to settle returnees are adequate and inducing peace or inadequate and tipping power relations in the community and increasing the risk of re-kindling hostilities. The study therefore traced the social implications of “returning home” and the patterns of adaptation, re-integration and rejection in the host community. Most interesting is the study’s linguistic analysis of the refugees and returnees conflict narrative structures using Reissman’s analysis of their discourse system.