Publications by Mats Utas

2009

Malignant Organisms: continuities of state-run violence in rural Liberia. In Crisis of the state: war and social upheaval. Eds. Bruce Kapferer and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, Berghahn Books, 2009. pp. 265-291.

Sexual abuse survivors and the complex of traditional healing: (G)local Prospects in the Aftermath of an African War, NAI Policy Dialogue no. 4 – the Nordic Africa Institute, 2009. pp. 1-56.

2008

Abject heroes: Marginalised youth, Modernity and violent pathways of the Liberian Civil War. In Years of Conflict: Adolescence, Political Violence and Displacement. Ed. Jason Hart, Refugee Studies Centre/Berghahn Books. pp. 111-138. 

Mercenaries of Democracy: The ‘politrix’ of remobilized combatants in the Sierra Leone 2007 General Elections (authored with Maya M. Christensen) In African Affairs vol. 107, no. 429, 2008. Pp. 515-539.

West Side Boys: military navigation in the Sierra Leone civil war (authored with Magnus Jörgel) In Journal of Modern African Studies  vol. 46, no. 3, 2008. pp. 487-511.

Young female fighters in African wars: conflict and its consequences, NAI Policy Dialogue no. 3 – the Nordic Africa Institute Publ. (authored with Chris Coulter and Mariam Persson), 2008. pp. 1-51.

Stephen Ellis: The Mask of Anarchy. In African Studies Review, vol. 51, no. 1, 2008. pp. 155-57.

When the state is a threat. Africa on the global agenda: Nordic Africa Institute Annual Report 2007. 2008, pp. 20-24 .

The Devil of Civili (short film, 5 min.).

The Pentagon Guys (short film, 5 min.).

Ezra av Newton Aduaka (review of the film Ezra). NAI Web, February 2008. http://www.nai.uu.se/research/researchers/mats_utas/Ezra-av-Newton-Aduaka.pdf

2007

The Mano River Basin Area: formal and informal security providers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. FOI. 2007. pp 1-112. (with Magnus Jörgel).

Watermelon politics in Sierra Leone: hope amidst vote buying and remobilized militias. African Renaissance. 4(3/4) 2007. pp. 62-66.

Freetown – Berättelser från den osynliga staden. In Den Ny Verden (tidsskrift for internationale studier), 40(2) 2007. pp. 27-37.

Fighting (in) the badlands of modernity: youth combatants and the Liberian Civil War. In Journal of Social Sciences & Management. Vol. 1, No 1 2007. pp. 37-44.

Young Women in African Wars. NAI Conflict Policy Notes no. 1, November 2007. (with Chris Coulter and Mariam Persson).

http://www.sweden.gov.se/content/1/c6/08/51/14/7251cd8b.pdf

Sierra Leones vacklande demokrati (Sierra Leone’s faltering democracy). In Tidningen Kulturen, Issue 20-21, July 2007.

Presidential elections in Sierra Leone. In NAI Newsletter, 20 June 2007.

Rethinking Africa: a contribution to the Swedish Government White Paper on Africa (co-editor and co-author) May 2007.

Diamanter är för evigt – men Sierra Leonsk ungdom är utbytbar (Diamonds are forever, but Sierra Leone’s youth is disposable). NAI web April 2007. http://130.238.24.99/events/evenemang/blood_diamond/utas_
kommentar.pdf

2006

War, violence and videotapes: media and localized ideoscapes of the Liberian Civil War. In Violence, Political Culture and Development in Africa. Ed. Preben Kaarsholm, James Currey. 2006. pp 161-180.

Youth(e)scapes (Introduction co-authored with Henrik Vigh and Catrine Christiansen). In Navigating youth – generating adulthood: social becoming in an African context, Nordic Africa Institute Publ. 2006. pp 9-28.

Navigating youth – generating adulthood: social becoming in an African context, Nordic Africa Institute Publ. (co-editor), 2006. pp 1-272.

Der Staat als Feind. In Der Überblick, 3, 2006, pp 6-9.

2005

Gute Jungs, böse Jungs. In Jungle World, no. 31, August 3, 2005 (re-published in (WOZ) Die Wochenzeitung, October 6, 2005).

Victimcy, Girlfriending, Soldiering: Tactic Agency in a Young Woman’s Social Navigation of the Liberian War Zone. In Anthropological Quarterly, vol. 78, no 2, 2005. pp 403-430.

Building a future? The reintegration and re-marginalisation of youth in Liberia. In No Peace, No War: an anthropology of contemporary armed conflicts. Ed. Paul Richards, James Currey and Ohio University Press, 2005. pp. 137-154.

Agency of Victims: Young Women’s Survival Strategies in the Liberian Civil War. In Makers and Breakers: Children and Youth as Emerging Categories in Postcolonial Africa . Eds. Filip De Boeck & Alcinda Honwana, James Currey, 2005. pp. 53-80.

2004

Fluid Research Fields: Studying Excombatant Youth in the Aftermath of the Liberian Civil War. In Children and Youth on the Front Line: Ethnography, Armed Conflict and Displacement . Eds. Jo Boyden & Joanna de Berry, Berghahn 2004. pp. 209-236.

Patience my ass. In Jungle World, no. 51, December 8, 2004.

Assiduous exile: strategies of work and integration among Liberian refugees in Danane, Ivory Coast. In Liberian Studies Journal, vol 29, no 2, 2004. pp. 33-58.

The violent logic of marginality: youth and the Liberian Civil War. In News from the Nordic Africa Institute no. 2 May 2004. pp 23-25.

2003

”Åt helvete med tålamodet” (Under Strecket – debate article). Svenska Dagbladet. August 25, 2003.

Sweet Battlefields: Youth and the Liberian Civil War. PhD Thesis, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Dissertations in Cultural Anthropology, 2003. pp. 1-288.

2002

Krig, vold og videoteip: bruken av media i den liberiska borgerkrigen. In Media i Afrika –Afrika i Media. Ed. Tonje Merete Viken/Fellesrådet for Afrika, Solidaritet Forlag, 2002. pp. 107-116.

“Gäster hos Verkligheten”. in Moderna Tider (article on Western media conceptualizations of African conflicts), 136/Feb. 2002

Mobile Mania in Dakar – Just a Modernity Mirage? In LBC Newsletter no. 2, 2002. pp. 2-3.

Participating in African Academia. In LBC Newsletter no. 2, 2002. p. 8.

2000

Liberian Doomsday Carnival – Western Media on War in Africa. In Antropologiska Studier no. 66-67, 2000. pp. 74-84.

1999

Girls ‘Loving Business’: Sex and the Struggle for Status and Independence in Liberia. In Antropologiska Studier no. 64-65. 1999. pp. 65-76.