Imag(in)ing the SPLM/A (1983-1989)

SÉMINAIRE/ SEMINAR

CFEE Seminar on Contemporary Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa (2014-2015)

7^e séance / 7^th session : Imag(in)ing the SPLM/A (1983-1989), par / by Sebabatso MANOELI

Cette séance est organisée en partenariat avec le Centre d’études africaines et orientales de l’Université d’Addis-Abeba / This session is organised in partnership with the Center for African and Oriental Studies of Addis Ababa University.

Jeudi 16 avril 2015 (14h) / Thursday, April 16^th 2015 (2:00 pm). Lieu / Venue : Addis Ababa University, Sidist Kilo Campus, College of Social Science Building, Room 114, NCR.

Imag(in)ing the SPLM/A (1983-1989)

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/A) sought the international community’s stamp of approval to validate its armed struggle in Sudan. In order to earn the world’s sympathy, the SPLM/A had to overcome the hurdles of representations that cast doubt on the legitimacy of its cause. This research highlights the SPLM/A’s discursive representations of itself as well as its narrative construction of Sudanese history in its propaganda. Sebabatso Manoeli argues that, through its rhetorical tactics, the SPLM/A deliberately distinguished itself from its predecessors and competitors, and it eventually succeeded in shaping its own image in the international media by the late 1980s. She examines the methods the SPLM/A used to rebrand of the Southern Sudanese cause as well as the ways in which the international media, in turn, represented it.

[Lire la note de recherche publiée par l’auteur sur ce blog / Read more on this research]

The speaker

Sebabatso Manoeli is a Rhodes Scholar from Lesotho and South Africa. At the University of Oxford, Ms Manoeli’s PhD research focuses on Southern Sudanese exile politics. Her work aims at helping us better understand the diplomacy of liberation movements in Africa through this case study. Prior to the PhD, she obtained the MSc in African Studies at the University of Oxford where she was awarded the African Studies Prize for her dissertation which focused on multiculturalism and securalism in a girl’s school in 20th Century Khartoum, Sudan. She has done research for the Peace Research Institute of Oslo’s Dynamics of State Failure and Violence project, as well as the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generation. While working as the Machel-Mandela Intern at the Brenthurst Foundation, Sebabatso’s research focused on Lesotho’s textile industry, and the experiences of Chinese traders in 5 African countries. She obtained her undergraduate degree at Amherst College where she was a Mandela Scholar.

Photo : Mabior Garang de Mabior