The Institute recently wrapped up its fifteenth year of annual field courses, which were held this year in May and June in Kenya. The one-week intensive courses covered an array of historical and contemporary issues in the Horn of Africa, Sudan and…
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The Rift Valley Institute is pleased to announce the seventh Juba Lecture Series under the theme of ‘Everyday Economies: Historical Perspectives and Present-day Realities in South Sudan’. The lectures will take place from 3:00pm – 5:30pm on 19 and 20 November…
In June and July, the Rift Valley Institute will hold the 2019 annual field courses in Ethiopia. Now in their sixteenth year, each course examines a different sub-region within eastern and central Africa: Sudan and South Sudan, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa. They…
Research on conflict and violence in the eastern Congo often focuses on rural areas, which harbour armed groups, and are the prime sites of military operations against these groups. However, conflict and insecurity do not stop at the…
Haji Abdulkarim Hussein Yusuf, known as ‘Haji Abdi Warabe’, died in Hargeysa, Somaliland, on Friday 10 May 2019. His precise age is unknown, but local reports state that he lived to over one hundred. He was buried in a small…
In early 2019, RVI moved to new offices in Hai Kuwait, Juba. While we were sorry to leave behind our previous premises and generous hosts at the Catholic University of South Sudan, we are excited about the opportunities the…
Binyavanga Wainaina, a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute since 2009, died on May 21 at the age of 48. A leading figure in the current literary renaissance in sub-Saharan Africa, Binyavanga was the founder of the literary journal Kwani?,…
The Somali diaspora has been a lifeline for people in Somalia for many years, responding to major humanitarian emergencies and everyday crises. The ways in which this humanitarian response is mobilised, channelled and delivered to people in Somalia is the subject of…
Introduction On 5 July 2019, the Rift Valley Forum launched the book, Widow Inheritance and Contested Citizenship in Kenya, by Dr. Awino Okech. The book explores the intersection between power, gender and sexuality, and the role of body politics in the construction…
The Rift Valley Institute will participate in the Hargeysa International Book Fair (HIBF) panel event ‘The Wisdom of Elders’, to be held on 23 July in Hargeysa, Somaliland. Two South Sudanese chiefs from Aweil and Yambio, with whom RVI…
Recent Publications
‘THE FUEL IS US’: WATER, OIL AND DEBT ON THE SUDAN-SOUTH SUDAN BORDERLANDS
February 18, 2025
South Sudan and Sudan’s borderlands are run by a patchwork of armed authorities. Since early 2019, when opposition forces were effectively wiped out, these zones of control have remained relatively fixed, even as the war in Sudan drew close to
Conflict, displacement and children in paid work in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands
February 17, 2025
In this blog, Manal examines the pressures forcing many displaced people, including children, to seek paid labour to supplement dwindling support mechanisms in camps in South Sudan. The author draws on her research in 2024 as part of the XCEPT
DOMINANT PATTERNS AND DYNAMICS OF URBAN CONTESTATIONS IN HAWASSA
February 12, 2025
Studying urban contestations in Ethiopia’s secondary cities can help us understand how the urban centres outside of Addis Ababa are evolving during an ongoing period of significant socio-economic and political change. In this regard, Hawassa in Sidama region provides an