Death and Mourning in a United Nations Protection of Civilians Site in South Sudan

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the conduct of burial and funerals in a Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Juba, South Sudan. Focusing on the experiences of internally displaced people, it shows how burial and funerary practice were disordered in the PoC site. It argues that death exposed competing temporalities in the protection of civilians: between the crisis temporality of the humanitarian intervention, and the long-term concerns of the internally displaced. These circumstances were part of a complex everyday relationship between PoC residents and humanitarians, as displaced people sought to ensure future survival of their kinship networks and wider community.

KEYWORDS:

• Death
• protection of civilians
• South Sudan
• temporality
• conflict

Acknowledgements

This research was made possible through the support of ACTED and UNMISS who agreed to facilitate my access to the PoC site in Juba (especially the camp management team). For their research support in PoC site 3, I thank Deng Nhial Chioh, Gatwech Wal, Tot Both, and Taidor Dang. To the many people who spoke to me about private and painful topics – I extend my heartfelt thanks and hope that you will see your experiences respectfully treated in my analysis. Conversations with Rachel Ibreck, Naomi Pendle, and Loes Ljinders have helped shape my understanding of the PoC sites. For feedback on earlier versions I am grateful to David Deng, the audience of Manchester University Anthropology seminar, the anonymous peer reviewers and editorial board of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

The research informing this paper was approved by the University of Oxford Social Science and Humanities Inter-Divisional Research Ethics Committee (IDREC) Ref No: SIAS_ASC_C1A_17_051.

Notes

1 The re-designation of the Juba PoC sites to ‘conventional’ IDP sites was announced by UNMISS in September 2020.

2 The details of these temporary fixes were explained to me by a South Sudanese NGO contracted in the PoC site. Interview, 23 March 2018, Juba. In English.

3 Field notes, 27 March 2018, conversation in Juba PoC3.

4 Details below drawn from interview, 13 April 2018, Juba PoC3. In English.

5 Details below drawn from interviews and observations, 24–26 March 2018, Juba PoC3.

6 Interview, bereaved man, 28 March 2018, Juba PoC3. In Nuer (with simultaneous translation)

7 Interview, 22 March 2018, Juba PoC3. In English.

8 Interview, 11 April 2018, Juba. In English.

9 Focus Group Discussion, 16 March 2018, Juba. In English.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship (ECF-2016-010) called ‘Marking Death in South Sudan: funerary art in museum collections and beyond’ at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford.

Notes on contributors

Zoe Cormack

Zoe Cormack is an anthropologist and project curator at the British Museum. She was previously a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the African Studies Centre, Oxford University.