Introducing a series of papers on Education, Conflict, and Civicness in South Sudan. The series was conceived by members of the Conflict Research Programme (CRP) South Sudan Panel in collaboration with CRP researchers during their first meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, in July 2018. It is the first publication to be issued under the auspices of the South Sudan Studies Association (SSSA), an initiative which was also driven by the CRP South Sudan Panel and is now developing its membership and agenda to: ‘stimulate knowledge production by South Sudanese scholars, academics, and practitioners’ with attention to ‘the factors that shape conceptions of nation-building and identity in South Sudan.’
The CRP South Sudan panellists each have their own distinguished record of research and publication across a spectrum of topics including humanitarian aid, gender, violence, the security sector, justice, and education. The panel has met annually for the past three years to share their ongoing research and practical expertise relating to questions of conflict and peace in South Sudan and to inform the research agenda and analysis of the CRP through a participatory approach, involving dialogue and deliberation. The discussions have served to strengthen the bonds between South Sudanese thought leaders and illuminated the roles of academics as politically engaged public authorities, subject to political repression and economic hardship, but also innovating to create civic spaces and promote human development despite the conflict.
The panel has produced policy papers and recommendations related to peace-making, humanitarian response, and security sector reform in South Sudan, drawing upon their individual expertise and field research produced by the CRP. Their contributions are rooted in a deep understanding of the realities of South Sudan’s internal politics and the best approaches to communicating agendas for change. With this project on Education, Conflict, and Civicness research we are not only interested in developing a rigorous understanding of the political economy of education, but also with exploring how to actively improve it. Moreover, the members of the panel are also educationalists, themselves directly engaging with this challenge, including in university classrooms, workshops and dialogues, and in the formation of the SSSA, with its agenda of profiling South Sudanese research and theory to drive policy change. The series draws upon recent research in a sensitive period of conflict and instability. It also builds upon experience of personally dealing with disruptions to teaching, learning, and scholarship in ways that are sadly characteristic of education for many people in South Sudan.
The essay collection is edited by Professor Julia Duany, Professor Rebecca Lorins, and Edward Thomas and the first four papers are available here:
- Education, Conflict, and Civicness in South Sudan: An Introduction by Julia Duany, Rebecca Lorins, and Edward Thomas
- The Language Policy in South Sudan: Implications for Educational Development by Edward Yakobo Momo
- Gender Equality and Civicness in Higher Education in South Sudan: Debates from University of Juba Circles by Kuyang Harriet Logo
- Is Education a Pathway to Fostering Civicness and a Resilient Social Contract in Africa? The Case of South Sudan by Luka Biong D. Kuol and Christopher Oringa
Note: The CRP blogs gives the views of the author, not the position of the Conflict Research Programme, the London School of Economics and Political Science, or the UK Government.
