Anthropological studies on the "monyomiji system": Small polities, inter-ethnic relations and state in South Sudan

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03041
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Kurimoto Eisei 大阪大学, 人間科学研究科, 教授 (10192569)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: モニョミジ・システム / 年齢組織 / 民族間関係 / 南スーダン / 小政体 / ゾミア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The object of this research project is the “monyomoji system,”a graded age-set system coupled with chieftaincy or kingship that can be found in about a dozen of ethnic groups in the southeastern part of South Sudan. It is a unique political system that still functions in the context of weak or collapsed state, and has positive potentials for the substitution and complementation of the government administration. As the fieldwork in the area was not possible because of insecurity, interviews were conducted in Juba, and in Uganda and Kenya. Discussions with a number of related researchers of various countries were also conducted. Ethnographic studies were carried out to find out the anthropological significance of this unique system and the possibilities of its role in the process of peace-building and reconciliation as well as in state and nation building were examined.

Free Research Field

文化人類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

南スーダンをはじめとする東・北東アフリカの諸国では、公式的には脱植民地期の国民国家による統治が浸透する一方で、国家による実質的な統治を受けていない広大な空間が存在する。こうした空間では、首長制、王制や年齢組織等を主要な社会的柱とする小政体が、政治的権力を担い、法と秩序の維持に貢献すると同時に、紛争の主体となっている。こうした空間を「アフリカ版ゾミア」と捉えることは、人類学的比較研究上の意義があるとともに、武力紛争や内戦における、さらには平和構築と和解、内戦終結後の国家・国民建設における自律的な小政体の役割を考察する上で重要であると考えられる。