Development Policy & Practice in Faculty of Maths, Computing and Technology

Professor Alcinda Honwana


Development Policy and Practice
Faculty of Maths, Computing and Technology
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
Phone number: + 44 (0)1908 654643
Fax number: + 44 (0) 1908 654825
Email: a.m.honwana@open.ac.uk

Position: Professor and Chair of International Development

Biography:

Alcinda Honwana is Professor and Chair of International Development (Africa) at the Open University. She is also the director of the International Development Centre (IDC) an OU inter-faculty centre that focuses on research and interventions on issues of international development. Before joining the Open University she was the Director of the Africa and the Children and Armed Conflict Programmes at the Social Science Research Council in New York. Honwana also worked at the United Nations in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict in New York, and was the office’s research activities, developing a research agenda on children and armed conflict.

Born in Mozambique, Alcinda Honwana holds a BA degree in History and Geography from the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique; a Maitrise in Sociology from l’Universite de Paris 8 in France; and another MA and a PhD in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. She lectured on Anthropology at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, and in South Africa where she was a Senior Lecturer in the department of Social Anthropology of the University of Cape Town. She has also been a Visiting Professor at Graduate Faculty at the New School University in New York.

Alcinda Honwana was a member of the board of the Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) based in Dakar from 1998 to 2002. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of the African Studies Association in the USA in 2004-2005. Honwana is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of the International African Institute, the African Sociological Review and the Journal for Higher Education in Africa.

Research interests:

Honwana carried out extensive research in Mozambique on spirit possession and traditional healing, political conflict and politics of culture, and on the impact of political conflict on young people. Her studies on children, youth and armed conflict also took her to Angola where she carried out her research as a consultant for Christian Children’s Fund. Her work has given particular attention to the role played by local communities in processes of post-conflict healing, reconciliation and social reintegration of war-affected children and youths, especially child soldiers and abused girls. Honwana’s current work continues to focus on youth and conflict and she has been paying more attention to the role of younger generations in post-conflict reconstruction and development. She is working on a book project on these issues for publication with James Currey.

Selected Publications:

Books:

  • 2006: Child Soldiers in Africa. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

  • 2005: Makers and Breakers: Children and Youth in Africa. Co-edited with Filip De Boeck. Oxford, New York: James Currey and Africa World Press.

  • 2002: Espíritos Vivos, Tradições Modernas: Possessão de Espíritos e Políticas Culturais no Sul de Moçambique. Maputo: Promedia – Lisboa: Ela Por Ela (2003).

  • 2002: ( Living Spirits, Modern Traditions: Spirit Possession and the Politics of Culture in Southern Mozambique. Maputo: Promedia – Lisbon: Ela Por Ela, 2003)

Book Chapters & Journal Articles:

  • 2008: Children’s Involvement in War: Historical & Social Contexts, in Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Vol.1 (Forthcoming, Spring 2007)

  • 2007: Children and Childhood: Soldiers , New Encyclopedia of Africa.

  • 2006: Child Soldiers: Community Healing and Rituals in Mozambique and Angola. Chapter in International Perspectives on Youth, Conflict and Development. Daiute, C., beykont, Z., Higson-Smith, C. & Nucci, L. (eds) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • 2005: Healing and Social Reintegration in Mozambique and Angola. Chapter in Roads to Reconciliation. Skaar, E., Gloppen, S. & Suhrke, A. (eds) Oxford: Lexington Books

  • 2003: Undying Past: Spirit Possession and Modernity in Mozambique. Chapter in Magic and Modernity. B. Meyer & P Peels (eds). Stamford University Press.

  • 2002: Negotiating Post-War Identities: Child Soldiers in Mozambique and Angola. Chapter in Contested Terrains and Constructed Categories: Contemporary Africa in Focus. G. Bond & N. Gibson (eds). New York: Westview Press.

  • 2001: Children of War: Understanding War and War Cleansing in Mozambique and Angola. Chapter in Civilians in War. S. Chesterman (ed). Lynne Rienner: Boulder and London.

Reports & Policy Papers:

  • 2007: Children in Armed Conflict in the DRC: Recruitment and Sexual Violence. Report to the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC. January

  • 2006: Reintegration of Youth into Society in the Aftermath of War. Paper produced for the United Nations Office of the Special Advisor of the Secretary-General for Africa. November

  • 2001: Research Agenda on Children and Armed Conflict. United Nations Office of the Special Represntative of the Secretary-General for Children and Aremd Conflict. July.