Child Soldiers
Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front

Traces the experiences of child soldiers in Sierra Leone during and after war and examines the implications of their participation.

Myriam Denov (Author)

9780521872249, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 March 2010

246 pages, 1 map
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm, 0.51 kg

'A major strength of this book is the degree to which the findings stress the limited agency of children, even under extreme circumstances over which they have no control. … Anyone interested in a nuanced and non-dogmatic view of the situation of child soldiers would be wise to read [this] book.' Children & Society

Tragically, violence and armed conflict have become commonplace in the lives of many children around the world. Not only have millions of children been forced to witness war and its atrocities, but many are drawn into conflict as active participants. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Sierra Leone during its 11-year civil war. Drawing upon in-depth interviews and focus groups with former child soldiers of Sierra Leone's rebel Revolutionary United Front, Myriam Denov compassionately examines how child soldiers are initiated into the complex world of violence and armed conflict. She also explores the ways in which the children leave this world of violence and the challenges they face when trying to renegotiate their lives and self-concepts in the aftermath of war. The narratives of the Sierra Leonean youth demonstrate that their life histories defy the narrow and limiting portrayals presented by the media and popular discourse.

Introduction: child soldiers, iconography and the (il)logic of extremes
1. Children's involvement in war: the quandary of structure and agency
2. Recipe for rebellion: civil war in Sierra Leone
3. Negotiating power: research on and by child soldiers
4. 'Becoming RUF': the making of a child soldier
5. 'Being RUF': victimization, participation and resistance
6. 'Put dey gon don': the unmaking of a child soldier
7. New battlefields.

Subject Areas: Criminology: legal aspects [LAR], Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], African history [HBJH]