Victims of Discourse: Mobilizing Narratives of Fear and Insecurity in Post-Conflict South Sudan—The Case of Jonglei State

Abstract

The sign along the border to South Sudan that reads—“Our peace, our land, our oil, our liberty”—is a testament to the struggles recently fought by the South's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) against the northern Khartoum Government. Such a seemingly apolitical expression of southern solidarity however obscures the often hostile relationships among the more than sixty ethnic groups in South Sudan and denies the SPLA's continuing role as occupiers and oppressors even within southern territory. This article raises the question of ‘whose peace, whose oil, whose land, and whose liberty’ is reflected in the making of a new South Sudan. Drawing on a case study from Jonglei State, this paper examines how the formation of a victim narrative has served to legitimize Dinka control over and access to non-Dinka territories and resources within a complex struggle over livelihood and material accumulation in South Sudan.