5 research outputs found
Safety and protection in South Sudan have shifted away from government
Enduring violence in South Sudan since independence has made seeking safety and protection a priority for local communities, as the government and humanitarians often fail to provide for more than basic needs. New ethnographic research examines how safety is understood from the community perspective, and why a community arms race and ethnicised forms of protection mark a shift away from reliance on external actors
The Hybrid Court in South Sudan could be a recipe for further conflict
In January 2021, the South Sudanese government announced the long-awaited Hybrid Court to bring accountability to the country’s conflict and purported war crimes. Researcher Abraham Diing talks to former soldiers, civil servants, youth groups and community elders in South Sudan to understand responses to the announcement, finding a mix of scepticism and concern for inflamed ethnic divisions
Music and the politics of famine: everyday discourses and shame for suffering
Understanding the politics of famine is crucial to understanding why famines still occur. A key part of this is how famine is remembered, understood, and discussed. This paper focuses on songs popular among communities that have recently experienced deadly famine. Contemporary famines almost always manifest in armed conflict contexts, where there is limited political freedom. Here, songs and music can be an important way to debate sensitive political issues. This paper focuses on the way that songs and music shape ‘regimes of truth’ around famine, and who is shamed and held accountable for associated suffering. It is based on long-term ethnographic research, the recordings of famine-related songs, and collaborative analysis in Jonglei and Warrap States (South Sudan) in 2021–24. The paper shows how songs can mock soldiers for their seizing of assets during times of hunger and how they can create familial shame for famine suffering, shifting responsibility away from the real causes to family members
Cutting aid will increase distrust in Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout
The G7 has promised to donate 1 billion Covid vaccine doses by the end of 2021. However, in South Sudan, COVID restrictions, aid cuts and comments by European leaders have shattered trust in public health advice and encouraged vaccine hesitancy. Despite the rhetoric, donating vaccines while cutting aid may prove meaningless
Crisis responses, opportunity, and public authority during Covid-19's first wave in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan.
Funder: Knowledge FrontiersDiscussions on African responses to Covid-19 have focused on the state and its international backers. Far less is known about a wider range of public authorities, including chiefs, humanitarians, criminal gangs, and armed groups. This paper investigates how the pandemic provided opportunities for claims to and contests over power in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan. Ethnographic research is used to contend that local forms of public authority can be akin to miniature sovereigns, able to interpret dictates, policies, and advice as required. Alongside coping with existing complex protracted emergencies, many try to advance their own agendas and secure benefits. Those they seek to govern, though, do not passively accept the new normal, instead often challenging those in positions of influence. This paper assesses which of these actions and reactions will have lasting effects on local notions of statehood and argues for a public authorities lens in times of crisis