Global and International Studies Building, 1016
Research Summary
My research concerns the history of the relationship between women, civilians at large, and the armed groups in South Sudan’s second and third civil wars. It explores wartime processes of social class formation. Trained as a political scientist and a historian, my approach is inter-disciplinary and my findings are based on two years and a half of field research in South Sudan, where I worked for international aid agencies. I wrote my dissertation on the history of women’s relationship with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) during the second civil war in South Sudan (1983-2005). The articles I published explored various aspects of my research including the making of a national history, the SPLA’s military history and predatory behaviors, and marital practices. My book project focuses on a socio-economic history of South Sudan’s second and third civil wars (2013-) inclusive of women’s history. It explores women’s contributions to the war effort and their instrumentalization in a process of social class formation. It reflects on the long-term impacts of violence to understand the South Sudanese society and the fabric of military allegiance. This project illustrates my broader interest in the relationship between violence, predation, military allegiance and processes of social class and state formation, in wars across different times and spaces.
Educational Background
- Ph.D., History, Paris Sorbonne University, 2013.
- M.A. & B.A., Political Science, Sciences Po Lille, 2009
Regions of Interest
- South Sudan
- Africa
Research Topics
- Military history
- Women’s history
- War economy
- Sexual and gender-based violence
- Kinship
- Social classes
- State-building
- Political violence
Representative Publications
Peer Reviewed Publications
- June 2016, "Military Kinship, Inc.: Patronage, inter-ethnic marriages and social classes in South Sudan", in Review of African Political Economy, http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/crea20/current
- October 2015, ""We are trained to be married!” Elite formation and ideology in the Sudan People's Liberation Army's "Girls' battalion" Ketiba Banat", in Journal of Eastern African Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2015.1091638
- April 2014, “South Sudan: Civil War, Predation and the Making of a Military Aristocracy”, in African Affairs, 113/451 (2014), pp. 192–211½http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/113/451/192.abstract
- February 2014, “Are "Griefs of More Value Than Triumphs"? Power Relations, Nation-Building and the Different Histories of Women’s Wartime Contributions in Post-War South Sudan”, in Journal of Northeast African Studies Northeast African Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2013), pp. 151-176 | http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.14321/nortafristud.13.2.0151?uid=365974511&uid=3738176&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=31694&uid=3&uid=67&uid=62&sid=21104016237043
Writing in the media and think tanks:
- 11 July 2016, “Who’s behind South Sudan’s return to fighting?”, African Arguments’ website. http://africanarguments.org/2016/07/11/whos-behind-south-sudans-return-to-fighting/?utm_content=buffer0c4ec&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
- July 2015, “Conflict and Extremist-Related Sexual Violence: An International Security Threat”, United States Institute of Peace Brief, with Kerry Crawford, Nicole Gerring, Sabrina Karim, Chloé Lewis, and Caroline Sarkis. http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PB187-Conflict-and-Extremist-Related-Sexual-Violence.pdf
- March 2015, “The War in South Sudan: Briefing Note”, Observatoire des Enjeux Politiques et Sécuritaires dans la Corne de l’Afrique, Laboratoire des Afriques dans le Monde, Sciences Po Bordeaux. http://lam.sciencespobordeaux.fr/sites/lam/files/note7_observatoire.pdf
Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies