Paper, Divinity, and the State

Hybrid Political Orders among the Nuer of Post-independence South Sudan

Abstract

The Nuer of Southern Sudan are known as a society of "ordered anarchy," which was once described by Evans-Pritchard. Since the British colonial era, Nuer society has experienced multiple powers, leaderships, and institutions, and has lived in hybrid political orders coping with different actors, such as government troops, government chiefs, and anti-government rebels. The aim of this article is to describe how the Nuer people imagine and deal with their state in multiple forms of "orders" in post-independence South Sudan. By focusing on several practices and ideas in terms of "papers," which are used as a medium to experience their state or the government, this article elucidates the process of how several forms of orders––modern administrative systems and Nuer notions of leadership or their authenticity––negotiate and create an acceptable style of governance that can be shared with many Nuer people who are in different situations, such as soldiers in anti-government troops, refugees, and literate elites in the town.