CPAID Comics

Hazard Pay

The comic is based on research in Freetown, Sierra Leone, during the 2014-16 Ebola epidemic. Sierra Leone was considered an epicentre of the epidemic and declared a state of emergency, with a large-scale humanitarian intervention proceeding to change many aspects of day-to-day life. Comic artist Didier Kassai has collaborated with FLIA researcher Dr Jonah Lipton to illustrate how front-line workers in Sierra Leone experience emergencies.

The breakdown in mass drug administration for bilharzia

Ugandan artist Dianah Bwengye collaborated with researcher Gloria Kiconco to illustrate why mass drug administration in Uganda failed to adequately control schistosomiasis (bilharzia) in many areas. The cartoon contextualises issues raised by district health officers and local communities on health control programmes, following a trip to Jinja, on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, and Pakwach in the Uganda’s northwest.

Vigilantism and public authority

Illustrated by Kenyan comic artist Victor Ndula, the comic illustrated some of CPAID's cutting-edge research on issues of public authority, vigilantism, policing and public justice in Uganda. Based on real events, the comic asks: what happens when a town tries to fight crime using vigilantes? 

A poisoning in Palabek

Created by Ugandan cartoonist and comic artist Charity Atukunda, A Poisoning in Palabek is based on 12 months ethnographic fieldwork conducted among South Sudanese refugees living in Palabek Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda. Based on real events, the comic asks: what happens when refugee communities and those who are tasked with protecting them have differing opinions about what constitutes a threat?

Making Ends Meet around Virunga

Illustrated by comic artist and based on real events, the comic depicts how people living near national parks struggle to earn a livelihood faced with crop destruction by wildlife, armed conflict and competition between different authorities, including park rangers and rebel groups.

Peace and politics in South Sudan

Created by comic artist Tom Dai, the comic explores what repetitive peace meetings in South Sudan mean for public authority in the country, and the potential for actors to use peace meetings to cement their authority and suppress opposition.

Displacement and Return in Central African Republic

In this research, based on interviews with a broad range of people affected by displacement, we show that Central African views about the prospects for peace are deeply affected by how displacement has shaped tensions over the political senses of distribution (who has a right to what, and on what basis).

He Cannot Marry Her

This research considers the role of the legal governance of marriage in conserving and changing social divisions during a period of war, exile and fluid elite politics. 

Uganda's Forgotten Children

Accountability and Social Torture: What happened to the children who returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army? This research was carried out between 2004-6 and from 2012- 2018 working with some of the children who returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Between Two Spaces

This research discusses the social mobility of combatants and introduces the notion of circular return to explain their permanent state of movement between civilian and combatant life.

The Story of Two Rapes

With its wide investigation of social life in northern Uganda, this study offers vital analysis for those studying sexual and gender violence, post-conflict reconstruction, and human rights. 

Digital Farming in Kenya

The project uses a political economy approach to examine digital innovation and the commercialization of digital data in agriculture across two inter-connected field-sites: Kenya’s Rift Valley and California’s Central Valley. 

Hustling Day in Silicon Savannah

The project uses a political economy approach to examine digital innovation and the commercialization of digital data in agriculture across two inter-connected field-sites: Kenya’s Rift Valley and California’s Central Valley. 

The Tale of Two Women

Despite living in the same town, both women access healthcare, education and employment, through different personal connections and humanitarian organisations. 

Land Conflicts in Northern Uganda

For many of the people who inhabit northern Uganda, access to land that they can cultivate is essential to survival-in Aholiland there are few, sometimes no economic alternatives for most of the rural population.