Race, religion and resistance: revelations from the Juba archive

Abstract

ABSTRACTThere is scant information on Angelo Tutuo, the first Zande Catholic priest, beyond his entries in two biographical dictionaries. In recent years, however, I have discovered letters written by and about Tutuo in the Comboni Archives and the recently organized South Sudan National Archives. These letters disclose unpublished information about his life, including accusations of racism against the Verona Fathers, his parliamentary campaign, and his thoughts as a member of the Anyanya movement. This article uses these writings to examine the broader dimensions of South Sudanese resistance language during the late colonial and early independence periods. While some expressed fears of “enslavement” from Northern Sudanese leading up to independence, patriots like Tutuo forged a spiritualized, separatist lexicon after independence. This strategy marked an important development in the evolution of South Sudanese political thought and points to the role of Sudanese priests as key architects of liberation vocabulary.