Contents

List of Acronyms 7

Acknowledgements 9

1.Introduction 11

1.1The problem: the expansion of civil war into everyday life 13

1.2The challenge: thinking the everyday 16

1.3The conceptual framework: theories of the everyday 19

1.4The case study: civil war in Angola (1976-2002) 21

1.5Outline of the book 24

2.Theorising violent conflict: state of research 27

2.1Micropolitical theories of violent conflict 28

2.2Social theory approaches to violent conflict 32

2.3Summary and implications for research 35

3.Normalities at war: a theoretical perspective on everyday

life in violent conflicts 39

3.1Subject and life-world: theorising "normal" experiences 40

3.2"Terror as usual": the transformation

of normality in violent conflict 57

4.Historical Background 69

4.1Pre-colonial societies and weak colonial rule 71

4.2The Estado Novo and the rise of nationalism 73

4.3From anti-colonial struggle to independence 75

4.4From independence to civil war 77

4.5The Civil War 79

[...] the bush movement to the quasi-state (and back):

UNITA as an organisation 83

5.1The militant anti-colonial guerrilla: 1966-76 85

5.2The successful armed group: 1976-1989 96

5.3Disintegration and decline: 1989-2002 104

6.Staging normality: UNITA as a life-world 109

6.1"I have always been a soldier":

recruiting members 111

6.2."Weapon, hoe and pen":

forming the UNITA combatant 113

6.3Like from a different world:

the success of UNITA's social project 117

7."We lived in an eternal war": life in the warscapes 121

7.1Defending everyday life: adaptations to civil war violence 124

7.2States of emergency: limits of normalisation 134

7.3Orders of violence: accommodation to armed

groups' rule 137

8.Conclusion 143

Bibliography 149

Index 161