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Law and Famine: Learning from the Hunger Courts in South Sudan

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  • Naomi Pendle

Abstract

Activists and scholars are seeking to end famine by promoting international legal accountability for starvation. This article deepens our understanding of the relationship between the politics of famine and law by observing the ongoing prevalence and power of legal norms and institutions during times of famine. It reveals the widespread use of hunger courts in famine‐prone South Sudan and their role in legally enforcing social networks that provide for the most vulnerable. Based on analysis of country‐wide survey data from 2018 and 2019, qualitative interviews from 2019‒22 and in‐depth ethnographic observations of hunger courts in one chiefdom in South Sudan during a period of famine‐level hunger in 2018 and 2019, the article argues that hunger courts have played a key role in enforcing social networks. These courts have also supported continuity of chiefs’ authority despite crisis. The article concludes by addressing two issues: whether law is necessarily emancipatory in times of famine, and whether legal norms have shifted responsibility for hunger away from the political economies and conflicts that cause famine, instead placing blame and shame on the families of the most vulnerable.

Suggested Citation

  • Naomi Pendle, 2023. "Law and Famine: Learning from the Hunger Courts in South Sudan," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(3), pages 467-489, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:54:y:2023:i:3:p:467-489
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12770
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Naomi Ruth Pendle, 2020. "Politics, prophets and armed mobilizations: competition and continuity over registers of authority in South Sudan’s conflicts," Journal of Eastern African Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 43-62, January.
    2. Corbett, Jane, 1988. "Famine and household coping strategies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 16(9), pages 1099-1112, September.
    3. Olivier Rubin, 2019. "The Precarious State of Famine Research," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(8), pages 1633-1653, August.
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