War and Embodied Memory

Reviews / Votes

'In War and Embodied Memory Maria Berghs provides a masterful and scholarly account of the experiences of war-wounded people following the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone. It is essential reading for students, researchers and academics across all academic disciplines. No one with an interest in the creation of disability, poverty and inequality in the global south should be without it.' Colin Barnes, University of Leeds, UK 'At times harrowing, at others hopeful, War and Embodied Memory is an important and timely exploration of disability, survival and resistance in post-conflict Sierra Leone. The engaging and accessible multi-layered analysis takes forward our understanding at both macro and micro levels and provides essential insights for anyone with an interest in disability studies, anthropology or global justice.' Alison Sheldon, University of Leeds, UK 'War and Embodied Memory describes how an amputee and war-wounded community was created after a decade long conflict in Sierra Leone. Beginning with a general socio-cultural and historical analysis of what is understood by impairment and disability, it also aims to explain how disability was politically created both during the conflict and post-conflict, as violence became part of the everyday. Though the book covers vast intellectual ground, it remains compelling and persuasive throughout and effectively contributes essential ideas to studies of disability, post-conflict reconstruction, poverty and anthropology... Her extensive fieldwork in Sierra Leone allows Berghs to provide a compelling and well-rounded approach to conceptualising disability. Preconceptions of the conflict are immediately shed by the reader when Berghs recounts an interview with the frustrated chairman of the Amputee and War-Wounded Association (AWWA), a man whom she explains has dealt with countless outside organisations trying to help. He implores her to, 'Ask us how we survive.'... The depth and scope of Berghs' res