By John Ryle Wendy James, who died in Oxford on 27 April, was one of the outstanding anthropologists of her generation. In a trilogy of immaculate field-work based monographs she chronicled the culture and history of the Uduk people…
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CONFERENCE | KENYA | 1-5 SEPTEMBER 2024 The Diaspora Humanitarianism in Complex Crises (D-Hum) research project is organizing a small international conference in Kenya on vernacular humanitarianism in a global perspective – and we have just a few spots…
We, the staff of the Rift Valley Institute, are extremely concerned about current events in Sudan, and for the lives of those affected by the conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which…
By Amina Abdulkadir In September 2022, the Rift Valley Institute in collaboration with Carnegie Corporation and the Open Society University Network launched the first cohort of the Early Career Researchers’ Training, part of the RVI’s Research Communities of Practice (RCoP)…
After a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, RVI held its first in-person residential course at the end of June 2022 in Naivasha, Kenya. The programme restarted with the popular Horn of Africa course, which focuses on the…
This briefing was written by Micheal Woldemariam and Peter Chonka, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Horn of Africa Field Course, which will be taking place in Kenya from 27 June to 01 July 2022. Michael…
The South Sudan National Archive Project is a multiphase project for the conservation, reordering, cataloguing and digitization of the historical government records of South Sudan. The project has been designed to safeguard the contents of the archive and to make them…
About SSWRN The South Sudan Women’s Research Network Project (SSWRN) promotes local women’s voices in research development and heritage preservation. It does this through a capacity building and training project that aims to invest in and enhance civil society’s…
Historically the production of knowledge reflects a history of unequal power relations and the economic domination of the Global South by the Global North. Africa sits at the centre of this inequality. Accordingly, the production of knowledge on African…
On 8 November RVI held a Forum ‘Understanding the Coup in Khartoum’ with speakers Kholood Khair, Eddie Thomas, Muez Ali, Sharath Srinivasan, Alden Young and Margie Buchanan-Smith. The following 5 points collates various comments made by the participants…
Recent Publications
Minor Demarcations, Micro-Dams—Major Drama? Ethno-territorial expansionism and precarious peace in the Oromia–Somali borderlands of eastern Ethiopia
May 20, 2025
The report highlights the overlapping claims to and distributive struggles over territory and resources in the Oromia-Somali borderlands which animated inter-regional competition between the Oromia Regional State (ORS) and Somali Regional State (SRS), resulted in the brief 2023 uptick in
When Women Sing: How Murle women use arts and cultural mediums to communicate
May 16, 2025
This research explores how Murle women in the Greater Pibor area of central eastern South Sudan use not just songs but dance, hairstyles, body marks and beads to express themselves. Its objective is to draw attention to the ways Murle
Effectiveness of Women in Politics and Improving Gender Equality in South Sudan
May 2, 2025
This report argues that, in order to improve women’s participation in politics and promote gender-responsive policies in the country, there is a need to enlarge government capacity for women’s leadership by introducing equal gender quotas for decision-making positions. Summary Women’s