The Poetics of Transitional Justice in Dinka Songs in South Sudan

Abstract

Political historians often described the civil war in Sudan as a ‘theatre of proliferating conflicts’. While independence for South Sudan may have closed the curtain on one act, it has given rise to a new spectacle, depicted through a narrative of internal conflict and extreme underdevelopment, and directed predominantly by the state and its international development partners. This article seeks to counter the official discourse about post-conflict reparation by considering ways in which peace and reconciliation are imagined at the local level. In particular, it considers the agentive role of Dinka songs, analyzing the ways in which they bare witness to the memories and aspirations of one group within the diverse cultural spread of South Sudan society. In so doing, it explores how the infusion of old poetic forms and structures with new actors, roles and imaginaries gives force within a culturally sanctioned framework of legitimacy, thus offering a potentially meaningful arena for the narration of a locally relevant national script.