Douglas H Johnson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Douglas H Johnson

Research paper thumbnail of The Political Crisis in South Sudan

African Studies Review, Dec 1, 2014

The political crisis in South Sudan is now more than a year old, with no immediate end in sight t... more The political crisis in South Sudan is now more than a year old, with no immediate end in sight to the fighting between armed factions. What began as a power struggle within the ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), reignited factional fighting within the army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), in December 2013. Both the political and military crises had their origins in unresolved tensions following the split in the SPLM/A in the 1990s and the incomplete integration of opposed factions into the army following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 (see Johnson 2014). Many South Sudanese expected that these tensions would eventually erupt in some form of conflict following independence in 2011, but the rapid escalation and intensity of fighting has still taken them by surprise. This commentary can give only the barest outline of a complex series of events motivated by a mixture of political disappointment, personal ambition, and ethnic rivalry. A more detailed reporting of various aspects of the crisis can be found in the updated reports of the Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) for Sudan and South Sudan and human rights reports by Amnesty International, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, and the South Sudan Human Rights Commission (2014). 1

Research paper thumbnail of Silvia Luciani and Irma Taddia (eds.), Fonti Comboniane per la Storia dell' Africa Nord-orientale, vol. 1, Fonti e Studi per la Storia dell' Africa 1. Bologna: Departmento di Politica Insituzioni Storia, University of Bologna, 1986, 312 pp

Africa, 1988

sharply in recent months, it would be a serious loss if these two journals were forced to stop. R... more sharply in recent months, it would be a serious loss if these two journals were forced to stop. Real academic research is hard enough under present conditions; if there is no chance of seeing one's results published in a scholarly form, then academic journalism in Nigeria's booming daily and weekly press is the only alternative. Yet with Nigeria's exchange rate the way it is, a small subvention from abroad (UNESCO? some foundation?) is enough to ensure publication. The 'book famine' requires not merely shipments of foreign books, but small amounts of hard cash to enable the astonishingly energetic editors of African journals to keep their academic fields in production.

Research paper thumbnail of The Heglig oil dispute between Sudan and South Sudan

Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2012

Abstract The armed forces of Sudan and newly independent South Sudan recently clashed over the bo... more Abstract The armed forces of Sudan and newly independent South Sudan recently clashed over the border area called Heglig by Khartoum and Panthou by Juba, in a dispute involving security, ownership of land, and control of oil production. The clash triggered swift condemnation of South Sudan for occupying Sudanese national territory. However, such pronouncements risk pre-judging a dispute that has not yet been decisively resolved. This briefing provides historical background relevant to understanding the history of the dispute, and the efforts in the context of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to resolve it and other border disputes. A serious examination of both oral and documentary evidence will be required in order to make a ruling that complies with “African best practice”.

Research paper thumbnail of Kings of Taqali Soldiers, Traders, and Slaves: State Formation and Economic Transformation in the Greater Nile Valley, 1700–1885. By Janet J. Ewald. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. Pp. xiii + 270. <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mn>45</mn><mo stretchy="false">(</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">45 (</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mord">45</span><span class="mopen">(</span></span></span></span>19.95 paperback)

The Journal of African History, 1993

P307)Historians will appreciate Prutky's lengthy account for its capacity to show the persist... more P307)Historians will appreciate Prutky's lengthy account for its capacity to show the persistence of foreign prejudice about this country more than for its shedding new light on the period. Eighteen years later, James Bruce visited much the same Ethiopia with less prejudiced eyes. Luckily so, as his Travels did better justice to a country which was on the eve of a crucial period of regional strife and political disturbance, events which we still need to know more about.

Research paper thumbnail of Nuer Prophets: A History of Prophecy from the Upper Nile in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

International Journal of African Historical Studies, 1995

... The son of a provincial priest, Bulgakov first served as one of Russia&amp;amp;#x27;s mos... more ... The son of a provincial priest, Bulgakov first served as one of Russia&amp;amp;#x27;s most original and influential interpreters of Marx, and then went on to become the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Special Issue: Peacemaking and Peace Agreements in South Sudan

In 2011, South Sudan seceded from Sudan following a landmark referendum on self-determination. Ye... more In 2011, South Sudan seceded from Sudan following a landmark referendum on self-determination. Yet fewer than three years after the historic vote for independence, the world’s newest country descended into a civil war that, since December 2013, has brought killing and bloodshed. In attempts to resolve the conflict and bring the civil war to an end, the warring factions have signed peace agreement after peace agreement. In September 2018, Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, and his major adversary, the former vice-president and rebel leader Riek Machar, signed yet another peace agreement in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. This is the 12th agreement between them. Most of these agreements have suffered from a fraught mediation context (at times, being very coercive), deficits in preparedness (with inadequate time to fully implement the agreements), consent, impartiality, inclusivity (given the proliferation of armed and unarmed oppositions), and lack of a broad political stra...

Research paper thumbnail of Criminal Secrecy: The Case of the Zande “Secret Societies”

Research paper thumbnail of Salim Wilson: the Black Evangelist of the North*

Journal of Religion in Africa, 1991

Research paper thumbnail of The Sudan under the British

The Journal of African History, 1988

Research paper thumbnail of L. M. Passmore Sanderson and G. N. Sanderson: Eduction, religion and polities in southern sudan 1899–1964. (Sudan Studies, No. 4.) vi, 511 pp., 3 maps. London: Ithaca Press; Khartoum: Khartoum University Press, 1981. £16.50

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1983

Research paper thumbnail of Sudanese Ethno–Geography Ethno–Geography of the Bahr el Ghazal (Sudan). An Attempt at a Historical Reconstruction. By S. Santandrea with a foreword By Richard Gray. Bologna: Editrice Missionaria Italiana, 1981. Pp. 168, 7 maps. L 20,000

The Journal of African History, 1982

Research paper thumbnail of Bonds of Silk. The human factor in the British administration of the Sudan

Research paper thumbnail of Mamdani's 'Settlers', 'Natives', and the War on Terror

African Affairs, 2009

Mahmood Mamdani's latest contribution as a public intellectual has produced more controversy than... more Mahmood Mamdani's latest contribution as a public intellectual has produced more controversy than any other book on the Darfur conflict. This is largely because his book is not primarily about Darfur; it is about America. Readers who would like to follow the detailed critique of Mamdani's book, 1 and his defence, can go to the blogspot, 'Making sense of Darfur'. 2 I do not wish to repeat in detail the criticisms of historians such as Martin Daly and Sean O'Fahey, but will confine myself to a brief comment on three aspects of Mamdani's argument: that it was the British who 'racialized' Darfur by identifying its inhabitants as either 'settlers' or 'natives'; that there is no direct connection between the war in Darfur and the civil war between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that ended in 2005; and the role of the War against Terror in the international response to Darfur. The 'colonial settler-native' paradigm Mamdani extends his South African paradigm, first proposed in his award-winning Citizen and Subject 3 and further elaborated in When Victims Become Killers, 4 to Sudan, whereby the colonial power is said to have imposed a divide between 'settlers' and 'natives' on the indigenous people, and identified the people of Sudan 'as members of different races, termed "Arab" and "Zurga" ("black") earlier and "Arab" and "African" more

Research paper thumbnail of Cleaned the Crocodile's Teeth: Nuer Song

Research paper thumbnail of Evans-Pritchard, the Nuer, and the Sudan Political Service

Research paper thumbnail of On Disciples and Magicians the Diversification of Divinity Among the Nuer During the Colonial Era

Journal of Religion in Africa, 1992

Evans-Pritchard recorded the proliferation of both free-divinities and magic among the Nuer durin... more Evans-Pritchard recorded the proliferation of both free-divinities and magic among the Nuer during the 1930s.1 This trend continued after he left the field, and still continues today. Among the reasons why this proliferation was so marked during Evans-Pritchard's time was that the government's recent suppression of prophets among the Nuer had released the prophetic control over both the appearance of divinity and the use of magic in Nuer society. The removal of the major prophets from active involvement in Nuer religious life gave more scope for the activities of minor spiritual figures, at the same time that it confined those activities to the narrower social confines of individual sections within Nuer tribes. Government sanctions against religious figures helped to blur distinctions between different types of mantic persons, whether minor prophets or magicians. The Nuer living east of the Nile experienced the release of prophetic control twice in the early part of this century: first, briefly, after the deaths of the Lou prophet Ngundeng Bong (d. 1906) and the Gaawar prophet Deng Laka (d. 1907); second, and more completely, after the government suppression of prophets during the 'Nuer Settlement' of 1929. This paper will examine the consequences of the release of that control after the death of Ngundeng and after the 'Nuer Settlement'. It will look at the careers of mantic persons along the Sudan-Ethiopian frontier, which constituted the outer fringe of Ngundeng's influence during his life. It will then examine the problem of the spread of lesser divinities and magic following the forced removal of prophets from most Nuer communities in the 1930s. We must begin by giving a brief outline of the effect of prophetic activity on other spiritual figures among the Nuer.2 2

Research paper thumbnail of The Historical Approach to the Study of Societies and their Environment in the Eastern Upper Nile Plains

Cahiers d'études africaines, 1986

Research paper thumbnail of Why Abyei Matters: The Breaking Point of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement?

Research paper thumbnail of Recruitment and entrapment in private slave armies: The structure of thezarä'ibin the southern Sudan

Slavery & Abolition, 1992

... As az-Zubair Pasha ar-Rahma piously proclaimed in his autobiography, 'Verily, indeed, yo... more ... As az-Zubair Pasha ar-Rahma piously proclaimed in his autobiography, 'Verily, indeed, you may hate something that may prove to be good for you.'7 How good, and for how ... To this end they were paid six months' salary in advance, the normal trade run being about nine months. ...

Research paper thumbnail of We Have Lived Too Long to be Deceived: South Sudanese discuss the lessons of historic peace agreements

Research paper thumbnail of The Political Crisis in South Sudan

African Studies Review, Dec 1, 2014

The political crisis in South Sudan is now more than a year old, with no immediate end in sight t... more The political crisis in South Sudan is now more than a year old, with no immediate end in sight to the fighting between armed factions. What began as a power struggle within the ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), reignited factional fighting within the army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), in December 2013. Both the political and military crises had their origins in unresolved tensions following the split in the SPLM/A in the 1990s and the incomplete integration of opposed factions into the army following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 (see Johnson 2014). Many South Sudanese expected that these tensions would eventually erupt in some form of conflict following independence in 2011, but the rapid escalation and intensity of fighting has still taken them by surprise. This commentary can give only the barest outline of a complex series of events motivated by a mixture of political disappointment, personal ambition, and ethnic rivalry. A more detailed reporting of various aspects of the crisis can be found in the updated reports of the Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) for Sudan and South Sudan and human rights reports by Amnesty International, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, and the South Sudan Human Rights Commission (2014). 1

Research paper thumbnail of Silvia Luciani and Irma Taddia (eds.), Fonti Comboniane per la Storia dell' Africa Nord-orientale, vol. 1, Fonti e Studi per la Storia dell' Africa 1. Bologna: Departmento di Politica Insituzioni Storia, University of Bologna, 1986, 312 pp

Africa, 1988

sharply in recent months, it would be a serious loss if these two journals were forced to stop. R... more sharply in recent months, it would be a serious loss if these two journals were forced to stop. Real academic research is hard enough under present conditions; if there is no chance of seeing one's results published in a scholarly form, then academic journalism in Nigeria's booming daily and weekly press is the only alternative. Yet with Nigeria's exchange rate the way it is, a small subvention from abroad (UNESCO? some foundation?) is enough to ensure publication. The 'book famine' requires not merely shipments of foreign books, but small amounts of hard cash to enable the astonishingly energetic editors of African journals to keep their academic fields in production.

Research paper thumbnail of The Heglig oil dispute between Sudan and South Sudan

Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2012

Abstract The armed forces of Sudan and newly independent South Sudan recently clashed over the bo... more Abstract The armed forces of Sudan and newly independent South Sudan recently clashed over the border area called Heglig by Khartoum and Panthou by Juba, in a dispute involving security, ownership of land, and control of oil production. The clash triggered swift condemnation of South Sudan for occupying Sudanese national territory. However, such pronouncements risk pre-judging a dispute that has not yet been decisively resolved. This briefing provides historical background relevant to understanding the history of the dispute, and the efforts in the context of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to resolve it and other border disputes. A serious examination of both oral and documentary evidence will be required in order to make a ruling that complies with “African best practice”.

Research paper thumbnail of Kings of Taqali Soldiers, Traders, and Slaves: State Formation and Economic Transformation in the Greater Nile Valley, 1700–1885. By Janet J. Ewald. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. Pp. xiii + 270. <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mn>45</mn><mo stretchy="false">(</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">45 (</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mord">45</span><span class="mopen">(</span></span></span></span>19.95 paperback)

The Journal of African History, 1993

P307)Historians will appreciate Prutky's lengthy account for its capacity to show the persist... more P307)Historians will appreciate Prutky's lengthy account for its capacity to show the persistence of foreign prejudice about this country more than for its shedding new light on the period. Eighteen years later, James Bruce visited much the same Ethiopia with less prejudiced eyes. Luckily so, as his Travels did better justice to a country which was on the eve of a crucial period of regional strife and political disturbance, events which we still need to know more about.

Research paper thumbnail of Nuer Prophets: A History of Prophecy from the Upper Nile in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

International Journal of African Historical Studies, 1995

... The son of a provincial priest, Bulgakov first served as one of Russia&amp;amp;#x27;s mos... more ... The son of a provincial priest, Bulgakov first served as one of Russia&amp;amp;#x27;s most original and influential interpreters of Marx, and then went on to become the ...

Research paper thumbnail of Special Issue: Peacemaking and Peace Agreements in South Sudan

In 2011, South Sudan seceded from Sudan following a landmark referendum on self-determination. Ye... more In 2011, South Sudan seceded from Sudan following a landmark referendum on self-determination. Yet fewer than three years after the historic vote for independence, the world’s newest country descended into a civil war that, since December 2013, has brought killing and bloodshed. In attempts to resolve the conflict and bring the civil war to an end, the warring factions have signed peace agreement after peace agreement. In September 2018, Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, and his major adversary, the former vice-president and rebel leader Riek Machar, signed yet another peace agreement in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. This is the 12th agreement between them. Most of these agreements have suffered from a fraught mediation context (at times, being very coercive), deficits in preparedness (with inadequate time to fully implement the agreements), consent, impartiality, inclusivity (given the proliferation of armed and unarmed oppositions), and lack of a broad political stra...

Research paper thumbnail of Criminal Secrecy: The Case of the Zande “Secret Societies”

Research paper thumbnail of Salim Wilson: the Black Evangelist of the North*

Journal of Religion in Africa, 1991

Research paper thumbnail of The Sudan under the British

The Journal of African History, 1988

Research paper thumbnail of L. M. Passmore Sanderson and G. N. Sanderson: Eduction, religion and polities in southern sudan 1899–1964. (Sudan Studies, No. 4.) vi, 511 pp., 3 maps. London: Ithaca Press; Khartoum: Khartoum University Press, 1981. £16.50

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1983

Research paper thumbnail of Sudanese Ethno–Geography Ethno–Geography of the Bahr el Ghazal (Sudan). An Attempt at a Historical Reconstruction. By S. Santandrea with a foreword By Richard Gray. Bologna: Editrice Missionaria Italiana, 1981. Pp. 168, 7 maps. L 20,000

The Journal of African History, 1982

Research paper thumbnail of Bonds of Silk. The human factor in the British administration of the Sudan

Research paper thumbnail of Mamdani's 'Settlers', 'Natives', and the War on Terror

African Affairs, 2009

Mahmood Mamdani's latest contribution as a public intellectual has produced more controversy than... more Mahmood Mamdani's latest contribution as a public intellectual has produced more controversy than any other book on the Darfur conflict. This is largely because his book is not primarily about Darfur; it is about America. Readers who would like to follow the detailed critique of Mamdani's book, 1 and his defence, can go to the blogspot, 'Making sense of Darfur'. 2 I do not wish to repeat in detail the criticisms of historians such as Martin Daly and Sean O'Fahey, but will confine myself to a brief comment on three aspects of Mamdani's argument: that it was the British who 'racialized' Darfur by identifying its inhabitants as either 'settlers' or 'natives'; that there is no direct connection between the war in Darfur and the civil war between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that ended in 2005; and the role of the War against Terror in the international response to Darfur. The 'colonial settler-native' paradigm Mamdani extends his South African paradigm, first proposed in his award-winning Citizen and Subject 3 and further elaborated in When Victims Become Killers, 4 to Sudan, whereby the colonial power is said to have imposed a divide between 'settlers' and 'natives' on the indigenous people, and identified the people of Sudan 'as members of different races, termed "Arab" and "Zurga" ("black") earlier and "Arab" and "African" more

Research paper thumbnail of Cleaned the Crocodile's Teeth: Nuer Song

Research paper thumbnail of Evans-Pritchard, the Nuer, and the Sudan Political Service

Research paper thumbnail of On Disciples and Magicians the Diversification of Divinity Among the Nuer During the Colonial Era

Journal of Religion in Africa, 1992

Evans-Pritchard recorded the proliferation of both free-divinities and magic among the Nuer durin... more Evans-Pritchard recorded the proliferation of both free-divinities and magic among the Nuer during the 1930s.1 This trend continued after he left the field, and still continues today. Among the reasons why this proliferation was so marked during Evans-Pritchard's time was that the government's recent suppression of prophets among the Nuer had released the prophetic control over both the appearance of divinity and the use of magic in Nuer society. The removal of the major prophets from active involvement in Nuer religious life gave more scope for the activities of minor spiritual figures, at the same time that it confined those activities to the narrower social confines of individual sections within Nuer tribes. Government sanctions against religious figures helped to blur distinctions between different types of mantic persons, whether minor prophets or magicians. The Nuer living east of the Nile experienced the release of prophetic control twice in the early part of this century: first, briefly, after the deaths of the Lou prophet Ngundeng Bong (d. 1906) and the Gaawar prophet Deng Laka (d. 1907); second, and more completely, after the government suppression of prophets during the 'Nuer Settlement' of 1929. This paper will examine the consequences of the release of that control after the death of Ngundeng and after the 'Nuer Settlement'. It will look at the careers of mantic persons along the Sudan-Ethiopian frontier, which constituted the outer fringe of Ngundeng's influence during his life. It will then examine the problem of the spread of lesser divinities and magic following the forced removal of prophets from most Nuer communities in the 1930s. We must begin by giving a brief outline of the effect of prophetic activity on other spiritual figures among the Nuer.2 2

Research paper thumbnail of The Historical Approach to the Study of Societies and their Environment in the Eastern Upper Nile Plains

Cahiers d'études africaines, 1986

Research paper thumbnail of Why Abyei Matters: The Breaking Point of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement?

Research paper thumbnail of Recruitment and entrapment in private slave armies: The structure of thezarä'ibin the southern Sudan

Slavery & Abolition, 1992

... As az-Zubair Pasha ar-Rahma piously proclaimed in his autobiography, 'Verily, indeed, yo... more ... As az-Zubair Pasha ar-Rahma piously proclaimed in his autobiography, 'Verily, indeed, you may hate something that may prove to be good for you.'7 How good, and for how ... To this end they were paid six months' salary in advance, the normal trade run being about nine months. ...

Research paper thumbnail of We Have Lived Too Long to be Deceived: South Sudanese discuss the lessons of historic peace agreements

Research paper thumbnail of The 1972 Addis Ababa Negotiations, Rift Valley Institute–Juba University Lectures 2014, Negotiating Peace in South Sudan: Historical Agreements and their Lessons for the Future, 22 October 2014

A description of the negotiations that ended in the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement that ended Sudan's... more A description of the negotiations that ended in the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement that ended Sudan's first civil war.

Research paper thumbnail of War again in Sudan? Keynote address to the KOFF-Swisspeace Sudan Roundtable, 10 April 2008

Examines the progress in implementing Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement up to Spring 2008, id... more Examines the progress in implementing Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement up to Spring 2008, identifying some of the basic weaknesses of the CPA as implemented up to that point in the interim period.

Research paper thumbnail of South Sudan’s Experience at Peace Making

Bertrand Russell Peace Lecture delivered at MacMaster University on 8 November 2014, discussing t... more Bertrand Russell Peace Lecture delivered at MacMaster University on 8 November 2014, discussing the history of peace negotiations in South Sudan at the community and international levels.

Research paper thumbnail of Abyei, the CPA, and the War in Sudan's New South

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement succeeded in resolving Sudan's oldest political question regard... more The Comprehensive Peace Agreement succeeded in resolving Sudan's oldest political question regarding the future of South Sudan, but its most obvious failure was the immediate resumption of war inside Sudan's 'New South' along its border with South Sudan before the latter's formal independence in July 2011. By focusing on resolving 'the Southern Problem' only, the international mediators failed to recognize the common political, economic, and cultural issues of marginalisation that linked large parts of the border region to the wider war. Conflict in Abyei preceded the outbreak of the second civil war in 1983, but the Abyei Protocol was largely an afterthought that inadequately addressed the main issues confronting the peoples of the area. The CPA as a whole failed to include robust monitoring instruments to enforce compliance, enabling Khartoum to refuse to accept any resolution to the Abyei conflict on anything but its own terms.