Borders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan
This article explores conflicts over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan and what these reveal about relationships between pastoralist communities and the state. Drawing on research in the Gogrial region of South Sudan, it argues that conflicts over local boundaries are rooted in the exis...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Cambridge University Press
2016
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| _version_ | 1797103599542599680 |
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| author | Cormack, Z |
| author_facet | Cormack, Z |
| author_sort | Cormack, Z |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This article explores conflicts over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan and what these reveal about relationships between pastoralist communities and the state. Drawing on research in the Gogrial region of South Sudan, it argues that conflicts over local boundaries are rooted in the existence of different border paradigms and in subsequent attempts to resolve, sometimes violently, competing moral claims on the landscape. It draws a contrast between a Dinka concept of the border as a point that is owned and the state's concept of the border as a neutral dividing line. These concepts are based on different cultural logics, but there has been a century of interpenetration as well as conflict between them. The state has tried to lay its lines over Dinka points and local people have sought to tap the power of the state by claiming authority at administrative boundaries. These complex processes of interpenetration show how rural populations negotiate with violent state power: both in the past and in the process of forming the new state of South Sudan. They also reveal how some pastoralist populations have played an active role in shaping the geography of the state. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:22:21Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:f31f51c3-a9f0-4851-a782-88a589dfc0b5 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:22:21Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:f31f51c3-a9f0-4851-a782-88a589dfc0b52022-03-27T12:09:29ZBorders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South SudanJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f31f51c3-a9f0-4851-a782-88a589dfc0b5Symplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2016Cormack, ZThis article explores conflicts over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan and what these reveal about relationships between pastoralist communities and the state. Drawing on research in the Gogrial region of South Sudan, it argues that conflicts over local boundaries are rooted in the existence of different border paradigms and in subsequent attempts to resolve, sometimes violently, competing moral claims on the landscape. It draws a contrast between a Dinka concept of the border as a point that is owned and the state's concept of the border as a neutral dividing line. These concepts are based on different cultural logics, but there has been a century of interpenetration as well as conflict between them. The state has tried to lay its lines over Dinka points and local people have sought to tap the power of the state by claiming authority at administrative boundaries. These complex processes of interpenetration show how rural populations negotiate with violent state power: both in the past and in the process of forming the new state of South Sudan. They also reveal how some pastoralist populations have played an active role in shaping the geography of the state. |
| spellingShingle | Cormack, Z Borders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan |
| title | Borders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan |
| title_full | Borders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan |
| title_fullStr | Borders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Borders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan |
| title_short | Borders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan |
| title_sort | borders are galaxies interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in south sudan |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT cormackz bordersaregalaxiesinterpretingcontestationsoverlocaladministrativeboundariesinsouthsudan |