Marol Academy is a community primary school in Southern Sudan, in Warab state. It opened in 2008 with 350 students and seven teachers. Founded by Dr Jok Madut Jok, an RVI Fellow born in Warab, the Academy is one…
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Engaging Monyomiji: Bridging the Governance Gap in East Bank Equatoria by Simon Simonse and Eisei Kurimoto explores local governance in South Sudan’s south-easternmost state. The Monyomiji are an age-set with responsibility to protect the ethnic communities they belong to;…
RVI Fellow Conradin Perner (Kwacakworo), was awarded the Yellow Star medal by the President of the Republic of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit shortly after South Sudan's independence day. A renowned ethnographer of the Anyuak and a founder of…
In an interview with Sudan Radio, RVI Fellow Alfred Sebit Lokuji of the University of Juba makes a suggestion for the resolution of the border disputes between Sudan and South Sudan: consult the people who live there."One way to…
A new version of the Sudan Open Archive is now available on an external hard drive. SOA 3.0 offers free digital access to over three thousand books and documents and articles about all regions of Sudan. It includes two…
A report from the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA), and the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) investigates the vexed question of nationality in the two Sudans. Bronwen Manby’s The Right to a Nationality and the…
Two new staff members have joined the Rift Valley Institute. Faria Mohamud takes up the post of financial officer in the Institute's UK office. Born in Afgoye, Somalia, Faria was educated in the Netherlands and lives in London. Fergus…
Week by week RVI Fellow Magdi el-Gizouli’s blog, Still Sudan, offers a trenchant analysis of political developments in the two Sudans. Recently, his self-described ‘notes on a fluid situation’ have argued against international intervention in the new civil war…
Comments are in from participants on the RVI summer courses. One writes that he was 'inspired by the depth of knowledge’ at the Sudan and South Sudan Course in Kenya. Another notes the ‘passion and dedication to the Sudans’…
RVI Fellow Douglas Johnson discussed South Sudan’s history, historiography, and sense of identity in the context of the new nation's first anniversary. Speaking at the ninth International South Sudan and Sudan Studies Conference in Bonn, he describing South Sudan…
Recent Publications

Women in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Ethiopia: The case of Addis Ababa University
October 10, 2025
This preliminary assessment is part of the launch exercise of the Ethiopian Women Researchers’ Network (EWNET). Focusing on Addis Ababa University as a pioneering higher institution in the country, the study looks into the status of women within these disciplines
Iddir in Contemporary Social Science and Humanities Research in Ethiopia: Historicizing and theorizing local infrastructures of care
October 3, 2025
The second Ethiopian Women Researchers Network (EWNET) seminar was delivered by Desalegn Amsalu, Anteneh Tesfaye, Yasmin Bushra and Helen Zeru on 3 July 2025 at Addis Ababa University’s Alle School of Fine Arts & Design. EWNET SEMINAR SERIES REPORT The

The Role of Culture in Conflict and Peacebuilding among the Balanda and Jurchol Communities in Western Bahr el Ghazal
September 29, 2025
The aim of this ethnographic study is to explore the role played by cultural expressions in conflict and peacebuilding in South Sudan, with specific reference to song, dance and beadwork. This study aims to understand how symbolic communication is used