Why is the Horn different?
In this essay for the Rift Valley Review, Christopher Clapham, distinguished historian of Ethiopia, discusses the distinctive features and fraught history of the Horn of Africa, its arbitrary frontiers, its contrasting styles of government, and its hold on the scholarly imagination Why is the Horn so peculiarly violent? Why is it not a normal part of Africa, like East Africa […]
Great Lakes Course 2012
The third Great Lakes Course was held in Bujumbura, Burundi from 7 to 13 July. The Director of Studies was Jason Stearns, also director of RVI’s Usalama Project and author of the acclaimed Dancing in the Glory of Monsters. The Deputy Director of Studies was Emily Paddon, Trudeau Scholar and Lecturer in International Relations at the University of […]
A Dinka moral world: reading an ethnographic account of an agro-pastoralist community in South Sudan
The people of Lakes State, in South Sudan–the majority Agar Dinka in particular–have the reputation among some other South Sudanese of being hot-blooded and short-tempered, a wild card in the wider Dinka confederation that constitutes South Sudan’s largest ethnolinguistic group. The Agar have been the subject of a number of anthropological and archaeological studies, but, […]
Daniel Large discusses the information economy
Daniel Large discusses the information economy on the 2005 RVI Sudan Course in Rumbek, Sudan.
Atta al-Battahani explains local & state government
Atta al-Battahani explains local & state government on the RVI Sudan Course 2005 in Rumbek, Sudan.
Gérard Prunier discusses the history of Darfur
Gérard Prunier discusses the history of Darfur on the RVI Sudan Course 2005 in Rumbek, Sudan.
My Mother Will Not Come to Juba Report Launch
In South Sudan, delays in the formulation of a new national constitution have led to growing public concern. My Mother Will Not Come to Juba: South Sudanese Debate the Constitution is the record of a series of public lectures and discussions held at the University of Juba in March 2013. The launch of the report, which is […]
Miraya FM South Sudan Archive feature
On 15 June 2013, Miraya FM in Juba broadcast a feature on the process of digitizing documents for the South Sudan National Archives. The project is a collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, RVI, UNESCO, UNOPS and the Government of Norway. ‘The documents are important,’ the report says, ‘as they will form […]
A Somali Spring?
More than two hundred people attended ‘A Somali Spring?’, the first event of the RVI’s Nairobi Forum on 11 October 2012. This is a 44-minute podcast featuring the highlights of the discussion between Kenneth Menkhaus, Jabril Abdulle, Amal Ismail, and Matt Bryden. The panellists discussed current developments in Somalia and the country’s prospects following the […]
Somaliland election observers
On 4 December 2012, the RVI’s Nairobi Forum presented the assessments of five members of the International Election Observer team who monitored district elections in the Republic of Somaliland on 28 November. They were the fifth democratic elections held in Somaliland since 2002 and followed several weeks of campaigning. The observers presenting their findings at […]