Photo exhibition on Murle age-sets and scarification in Juba
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr Diana Felix da Costa recently organised a multi-sited photo exhibition on Murle culture and heritage in South Sudan’s capital Juba and in the eastern town of Pibor in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA).
The photo series entitled ‘Stories on the Body: Murle youth, age-sets and changing body art & scarification in Greater Pibor’, was first displayed at the University of Juba between the 6-10 October 2022, in a larger ‘Safety and Storytelling’ arts and heritage exhibition co-organised alongside South Sudanese multimedia arts and education organisation Likikiri Collective and the LSE’s Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa.
Panel discussion ‘Demystifying Murle heritage’
The photos were used as a platform to start conversations and generate knowledge of an often misunderstood practice and part of South Sudan.
On 7 October 2022 a panel discussion was held at the University of Juba to discuss Murle Heritage and share knowledge about age-sets and their material expressions to an audience of academic staff, students and aid workers. The panel, moderated by Dr. Felix da Costa, was composed by then Minister of Information for the GPAA, Joseph Lilimoy, civil society activist John Boloch, and youth leaders Peter Lebelek and Kabacha Oscar Oleyo, who collectively shared insights on why age-sets remain so important in society but have also been transforming and fragmenting and the challenges that brings.
John Boloch Kumen, one of the panelists, had this to say:
“As an intellectual in my community interested in how my society is transforming, I find it important to have platforms to document and share knowledge about Murle society, such as the website on Murle heritage or the exhibition and panel discussion on age-sets and body scarification. These platforms can be of significant benefit to the community. Murle society is transforming and many cultural norms and systems and their material and immaterial cultural expressions reflect these changes. For instance, our youth have adopted new designs and styles in body scarification that reflect the modern world, like phones and military ranks; these designs were not there when I was growing up. Our cultural dances have also changed and Bothonya age-set and those that have come after have adopted novel styles unique to their age-set animals to differentiate from others, whereas before, Murle age-set dance styles were more standardised. These cultural changes show how young people these days are searching for ways to stand out and distinguish themselves from their elders using culture as a material expression of their identity and place in the world.
I was one of the speakers in the panel discussion organised alongside the photo exhibition and am also involved in the management of the Murle heritage website because I believe negative narratives prevalent about Murle can only be changed through better access to information about Murle history, culture and customs and by having more platforms where Murle people can represent themselves.”
Photo exhibition in Pibor
Following the exhibition in Juba, Dr Felix da Costa then took the photo series to Pibor town. The photos were left permanently in the Kabarze Centre, a women’s centre often used as a multi-purpose hall. There, the photos were received as a celebration of culture and a reminder of how the latter is fluid and flowing.
Alongside co-researcher Peter Dacky, Dr Felix da Costa hosted a research consultation and validation exercise with over 150 people from the rural areas surrounding Pibor town, including chiefs, local level government officials, youth representatives and women from the kabarze.
The photos offered the chance to discuss concretely and openly the ongoing research and its objectives, expectations and outputs, as well as validate the lens of analysis and arguments that Dr Felix da Costa is taking in her research and ongoing book project; many long-term research informants were there, as well as many of those in the portraits too.
This multi-sited photo exhibition was made possible with the support of the SOAS Impact and Knowledge Exchange Fund.