The Sociology and Social Anthropology Seminar Series presents: Mats Utas

"The story of Black Jesus: Rebel war, thug life and growing old in Freetown, Sierra Leone"

Mats Utas

Prof. of anthropology, Uppsala University

Black Jesus went from fighting a civil war in the jungles of Sierra Leone to, in the aftermath of the war, making do in the “urban jungle” of the capital Freetown. By tracing his life course, this presentation, based on a paper, aims to understand ex-combatants’ diminishing powers as they move from being rebel soldiers in a warzone to gangsters in a post-war environment to ageing into powerless ex-combatants, ex-gang members, sensing that they are no longer respected or even needed by anybody. It presents some of the frustrations of this ageing group of ex-combatants, in particular vis-à-vis a new, even more violent, cohort of urban gangsters – “our children” in the words of Black Jesus – that dominate the streets of cities of contemporary Sierra Leone, and the way that intergenerational relations between gangsters can change over time. Black Jesus is one of the paper’s co-authors. This opens new analytical perspectives and increases his ownership over his own story.

• When: Thursday 11 December
• Where: Eden, Room 129

The Seminar Series

The Sociology and Social Anthropology Seminar Series (Allmänna seminariet) invites international and national researchers to present and discuss on-going research. Each presenter talks for about an hour, followed by about an hour's discussion.

Find more research seminars in this series at soc.lu.se/en/research.

All are welcome, especially students!