Why a women’s indigenous institution (Honyomiji) in national peacebuilding?
South Sudan continues to be featured in international news headlines, most recently in reports about renewed peacebuilding efforts. In May 2024, talks began between the South Sudanese government and rebel groups. These talks were not part of the 2018 agreement ending five years of civil war. The conflict left around 400,000 people dead. The talks resulted in a “commitment declaration” for peace (the content of which has not been released to the public). However, the situation remains precarious. South Sudan’s first Vice President Riek Machar has recently raised concerns about the process. One striking aspect of the negotiated settlement is that men– male politicians, negotiators, and facilitators, dominate it. This raises an important question: How would the peace process look like, and what would its outcomes be, if it was led by women? Given the extreme fragility of the peace process, will South Sudan ever experience long-term stability and peace?
My recently published book, Indigenous Peacebuilding in South Sudan, engages this question by looking at the involvement of women in peacebuilding projects at a grassroots community level. In this article, I will share some of my key findings, and I will demonstrate that women’s traditional institutions’(Honyomiji) roles, and obligations such as leadership, education, and social support, are crucial in promoting peace in the intra-ethnic, inter-ethnic settings. I argue that female inclusion in national peace initiatives are core to the delivery of sustainable forms of peace and reconciliation in South Sudan.
Is there such a thing as a women’s traditional institution suitable for national peacebuilding?
Honyomiji is a central female institution. Honyomiji is a term applied to indigenous female leadership, something widely practised by a dozen ethnic groups in South Sudan. Historically, a few Nilotic ethnic groups such as the Lotuho, Lukoya, and Lango, practised the Honyomiji leadership system, and other groups such as the Dinka, Nuer, and Acholi, have adopted the system. The male equivalent of Honyomiji is known as Monyomiji, which means “the owners or fathers of the village.”
As an institution obligated to protect the community, Honyomiji encourage revenge and initiate cattle raids. Alongside these activities, the Honyomiji encourage men to go to war by publicly singing war songs and chanting words of bravery, which incite men to act. However, alongside these combative and defensive activities, the Honyomiji is also a space to solve problems and resolve conflicts. My work shows that within Honyomiji, women take on a whole series of vital activities including: supporting family decision-making, bringing the family together, providing moral instruction for children, and settling inter-ethnic disputes. Women also develop methods for peacebuilding including, arbitration, adjudication, negotiation, and mediation, which are essential to the institution of Honyomiji. After decades of war and the breakdown of central state authority, indigenous peacebuilding methods and grassroots institutions such as Honyomiji have become increasingly important in resolving diverse disputes and fostering a sense of connection and belonging between refugees, returnees, and ‘stayers.’ In this way, a vital task of the Honyomiji is to maintain the community’s history, cultural awareness, and sense of political, social, and economic independence. My findings show that this institution is primarily responsible for the leadership, education, and social support of the whole community, which are key aspects in fostering peace.
What role have Women/ Honyomiji played in peacebuilding?
Leadership: Honyomiji local-level leadership has been crucial in ending conflicts between different ethnic groups, as well as smaller conflicts at the level of the family and the village. My work demonstrates that women leaders within the Honyomiji system organise other women, facilitate, train, and make decisions. In strengthening their communities, these indigenous leaders also play a vital role as storytellers and ceremonial leaders. For instance during the Sudan Second Civil War, local-level peace conferences Wunlit, that took place at Wunlit Village women leaders led others in singing peace songs and storytelling. Their contribution to Wunlit led to relative peace for nearly a decade.
Education: Honyomiji institution encourages women to promote indigenous knowledge in their families’ children’s upbringing, including conflict prevention, conflict management, and peacebuilding techniques and behaviours. Based on a close-knit community ethos, this localised form of community education prioritizes physical, artistic, creative, moral, mental and spiritual development of children, in comparison to narrow professional skills. In this education system, values critical for peacebuilding are transmitted, the most essential being honesty, respect, property rights, the cherishing of nature, hard work, generosity and self-reliance. My work demonstrates that this contextual nature of knowledge is foundational for sustainable peacebuilding at national levels.
Social support: Many decades of war have ruined peace and stability within many South Sudanese communities. However, Honyomiji promotes social solidarity and belonging, and suggests an alternative route to reconciliation, peace and social development. My work demonstrates that women, under the Honyomiji system, are able to provide a range of informal social and economic support, maintain strong families, and model essential values for local reconciliation and inter-ethnic co-existence. However, Honyomijis go much deeper, working at the level of kinship. Under the values of Honyomiji, social support is expected, not only from within families, but the norms of respect and co-existence extended into the public terrain of political leadership as well. Thus, a network of mutual care and obligation covers both political and private realms, ensuring that everyone can access the most basic needs, e.g., food and healing herbs.
Sustainability in providing social support for effective peacebuilding is only possible where people share a common socio-cultural, national, or civic bond. For example, at the Wunlit peace-making conference in 1999, the Dinka and Nuer women and their children contributed firewood, water, cooked food, and participated in the Mabior ceremonial cleansing ritual. Due to their leadership, educational and social support role, Honyomiji remains an essential asset in conflict prevention, peace-making, and post-war peacebuilding, reconstruction and development in South Sudan.
