Birth of a State: Rethinking South Sudanese Collective Identity through Identity Anchors

Following the independence of South Sudan in 2011, the coherence of South Sudanese “national” identity has come into question. Before the Southern secession, Northerners were united by a common language and religion, but Southerners did not have this uniting reality. For this reason, scholars now w...

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Main Author: Kuir ë Garang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Hradec Králové 2022-01-01
Series:Modern Africa
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uhk.cz/modernafrica/article/view/207
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author Kuir ë Garang
author_facet Kuir ë Garang
author_sort Kuir ë Garang
collection DOAJ
description Following the independence of South Sudan in 2011, the coherence of South Sudanese “national” identity has come into question. Before the Southern secession, Northerners were united by a common language and religion, but Southerners did not have this uniting reality. For this reason, scholars now wonder whether there is a collective South Sudanese identity because the sine qua non of unity among South Sudanese tribes was a collective opposition to Northern Sudan. However, the present article defends a collective South Sudanese identity based on how “nation-building” has been undertaken historically. It also argues that tribal diversity in itself does not negate the presence of a South Sudanese collective “national” identity because internal tribal divisions are a global phenomenon and “tribal” and “national” identities are activated contextually.
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institution Kabale University
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publisher University of Hradec Králové
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spelling doaj-art-8bf067c47e5448419c52ea72120ca64e2025-08-20T03:59:25ZengUniversity of Hradec KrálovéModern Africa2336-32742570-75582022-01-019210.26806/modafr.v9i2.330Birth of a State: Rethinking South Sudanese Collective Identity through Identity AnchorsKuir ë Garang0York University Following the independence of South Sudan in 2011, the coherence of South Sudanese “national” identity has come into question. Before the Southern secession, Northerners were united by a common language and religion, but Southerners did not have this uniting reality. For this reason, scholars now wonder whether there is a collective South Sudanese identity because the sine qua non of unity among South Sudanese tribes was a collective opposition to Northern Sudan. However, the present article defends a collective South Sudanese identity based on how “nation-building” has been undertaken historically. It also argues that tribal diversity in itself does not negate the presence of a South Sudanese collective “national” identity because internal tribal divisions are a global phenomenon and “tribal” and “national” identities are activated contextually. https://journals.uhk.cz/modernafrica/article/view/207SudanSouth SudanNationNation-statetribal identitynational identity
spellingShingle Kuir ë Garang
Birth of a State: Rethinking South Sudanese Collective Identity through Identity Anchors
Modern Africa
Sudan
South Sudan
Nation
Nation-state
tribal identity
national identity
title Birth of a State: Rethinking South Sudanese Collective Identity through Identity Anchors
title_full Birth of a State: Rethinking South Sudanese Collective Identity through Identity Anchors
title_fullStr Birth of a State: Rethinking South Sudanese Collective Identity through Identity Anchors
title_full_unstemmed Birth of a State: Rethinking South Sudanese Collective Identity through Identity Anchors
title_short Birth of a State: Rethinking South Sudanese Collective Identity through Identity Anchors
title_sort birth of a state rethinking south sudanese collective identity through identity anchors
topic Sudan
South Sudan
Nation
Nation-state
tribal identity
national identity
url https://journals.uhk.cz/modernafrica/article/view/207
work_keys_str_mv AT kuiregarang birthofastaterethinkingsouthsudanesecollectiveidentitythroughidentityanchors