The history of South Sudan has been marked by persistent conflict, both before and after the country’s independence in 2011, which has exacerbated the already complex web of overlapping land claims... Show moreThe history of South Sudan has been marked by persistent conflict, both before and after the country’s independence in 2011, which has exacerbated the already complex web of overlapping land claims and unclear land rights. Many South Sudanese people, especially women, lack land tenure security. This report, based on qualitative research implemented in the South Sudanese cities of Torit and Wau in 2021 and 2022, aims to investigate practical interventions for land justice and the dynamics of land justice in South Sudan. To do so, the report focuses on three main topics. First, it provides an overview of land administration in South Sudan. Second, it investigates land-dispute resolution mechanisms, with a particular focus on the Community Mediation Groups (CMGs) implemented by the South Sudan Law Society (SSLS). Finally, it discusses women’s land rights in South Sudan in customary and statutory systems, the paths available for women to claim their rights, and women’s voices and roles in positions of leadership. Show less
With governance increasingly regarded as co-governance, states’ capacity to steer, correct, and discipline a wide range of self-governing actors becomes crucial for states’ effectiveness,... Show moreWith governance increasingly regarded as co-governance, states’ capacity to steer, correct, and discipline a wide range of self-governing actors becomes crucial for states’ effectiveness, efficiency, and democracy. This article investigates that capacity and the relationship between formal institutions and customary self-governance in areas of limited statehood. In South Sudan, the field of land governance can be regarded as an area of limited statehood. As land relations are closely connected to clan structures and intra-familial relationships, customary norms and institutions enjoy great legitimacy and are an important locus of local land governance and dispute resolution. The South Sudanese government has promulgated legal provisions for equal rights to property and inheritance that clash head-on with customary notions of gender roles in the family and the preservation of family land. By focusing on the case of women’s land rights in South Sudan, combining literature study with data from exploratory fieldwork in two South Sudanese towns, this article aims to reflect on the cohabitation of customary and formal norms and values and the role formal legal and administrative systems, in areas of limited statehood, can and do play in boundary setting for customary self-governance. Show less
The scholarship on legitimacy of dispute settlement institutions has largely ignored community mediation institutions operating in the global south. This article aims to remedy that gap, through a... Show moreThe scholarship on legitimacy of dispute settlement institutions has largely ignored community mediation institutions operating in the global south. This article aims to remedy that gap, through a case study of community mediation groups in South Sudan, a state emerging from large-scale conflict where formal courts are only marginally able to fulfill their assigned roles and the rule of law needs to be built almost from the ground-up. The article studies both the empirical legitimacy of the community mediation groups and how they relate to the rule of law building project in the country. Is the empirical legitimacy of formal and informal dispute settlement institutions as a zero-sum relationship, where increasing popularity and use of informal dispute settlement institutions detract from the popularity and empirical legitimacy of formal institutions, inhibiting the maturation of the legal system and a rule of law? Or could informal dispute settlement institutions – with proper linkages to the formal system – strengthen formal institutions, both judicial and administrative? These are highly relevant questions for post-conflict states where building a well-functioning legal system is seen as a precondition for sustainable peace and development. Show less
In the aftermath of war, local government in Western Equatoria, South Sudan, set out to formalize urban land to make it more legible, less conflictual, and ready for the state’s vision of tomorrow.... Show moreIn the aftermath of war, local government in Western Equatoria, South Sudan, set out to formalize urban land to make it more legible, less conflictual, and ready for the state’s vision of tomorrow. But the process proved problematic, and it caused and rekindled countless land disputes. Based on qualitative research at courts, county offices, and contested plots, this paper finds that these disputes were at their root about five competing normative repertoires about land distribution: legal, economic, identity, spiritual, and military desert. These repertoires were evidenced with powerful material symbols: old teak and mango trees reminding the elders of who planted them; spray-painted red crosses by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure for structures that existed in conflict with its Masterplan; and the graves of deceased relatives buried on contested ground. This paper suggests that unless post-conflict land formalisation policies are preceded by a political reckoning with incompatible normative repertoires, they risk contributing to the re-eruption of violent conflict. Show less
This book explores the effects of war and displacement on the South Sudanese Zande, a people frozen in time by the classical anthropology of Edgar Evans-Pritchard. The research started in Western... Show moreThis book explores the effects of war and displacement on the South Sudanese Zande, a people frozen in time by the classical anthropology of Edgar Evans-Pritchard. The research started in Western Equatoria State, South Sudan, at a time of hopeful reconstruction (2014-2015). Yet after war resumed in 2015, nearly a million South Sudanese refugees fled to neighbouring Uganda – and so the study continues with South Sudanese Zande refugees there (2015-2019). Based on hundreds of inter views with refugees and stayees, chiefs and elder s, government officials and former combatants, and ordinary people, this book places conflict, confusion, and the search for continuity at the heart of the historical ethnography of the South Sudanese Zande. The book focuses on the ties between people, between people and land, and the competing efforts to control those ties. These three foci relate to proto-legal questions that underpin human society: Who are we? To whom and where do we belong? And whose authority do we accept? This study shows that these foundational questions gain new salience in times of crisis, as people turn to nostalgia and utopia to escape present despair. Show less
‘Resilience’ is trending in development theory and practice, where it is often measured using countable socio-economic outcomes. This paper draws on ethnographic research with South Sudanese Zande... Show more‘Resilience’ is trending in development theory and practice, where it is often measured using countable socio-economic outcomes. This paper draws on ethnographic research with South Sudanese Zande refugees in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, Uganda, to show a different and often overlooked perspective; that of elderly refugee women. Having lived through decades of war and displacement, these women have developed a rich body of knowledge about suffering, coping, and resilience. Mixing idioms, folktales, and anecdotes, they teach youth not to focus on outcomes or ‘big dreams’, but on a stoic acceptance of loss and perpetual precarity. They advise actions like farming, childcare, and faith. Even so, suffering and coping are socially conditioned and policed, and the intimate circle harbours both protection and dangers, like witchcraft. The women’s accounts contrast bleakly with up-beat neoliberal developmentalism which sees cash-infused ‘resilience’ as the key to refugees’ self-reliant futures. Show less
As the violent civil war in South Sudan comes to a formal end, peace is made by power-sharing between political competitors. Crucial positions are not elected but distributed through a ‘warlord... Show moreAs the violent civil war in South Sudan comes to a formal end, peace is made by power-sharing between political competitors. Crucial positions are not elected but distributed through a ‘warlord politics’, providing rewards to those who ‘went to the bush’ to fight the war. Bruno Braak describes this process with the example of a rebel commander-turned-governor in the country’s Western Equatoria State. Show less
This article outlines the development of mobile telephony in the nascent Republic of South Sudan (ROSS). We focus specifically on Juba, during turbulent times from the end of the second Sudanese... Show moreThis article outlines the development of mobile telephony in the nascent Republic of South Sudan (ROSS). We focus specifically on Juba, during turbulent times from the end of the second Sudanese Civil War in 2005 to just after independence in 2011. We highlight the complicated political relations behind the establishment of mobile networks and the main functions and importance of the mobile phone throughout this period. Despite major technical obstacles, reconnecting with (war-) dispersed relatives, providing security in the post-CPA period marked by high insecurity and symbolizing hope and access to markets were important features of mobile phone use in Juba. Mobile phones were also essential to the rapid development of migrant dominated trade and business. Through this case-study we aim to shed light on the way in which (new) communication technologies become entangled with mobility, politics and entrepreneurship in a (post)war setting characterized by a displacement economy. Show less
Following South Sudanese independence in 2011, land reform became a major aspect of state building, partly to address historical injustices and partly to avoid future conflicts around land. In the... Show moreFollowing South Sudanese independence in 2011, land reform became a major aspect of state building, partly to address historical injustices and partly to avoid future conflicts around land. In the process,land became a trigger for conflicts, sometimes between communities with no histories of “ethnic conflict.” Drawing on cases in two rural areas in Yei River County in South Sudan, this paper shows that contradictions in the existing legal frameworks on land are mainly to blame for those conflicts.These contradictions are influenced, in turn, by the largely top-down approach to state building, which has tended to neglect changes in society and regarding land resulting from colonialism and civil wars. Show less
Leeuwen, M. van; Kobusingye, D.; Justin, P.H.; Djomo, R.T.; Dijk, J.W.M. van 2016
