Rethinking institutional orders in Sudan Studies: the case of land access in Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur

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Periodical article

Title:	Rethinking institutional orders in Sudan Studies: the case of land access in Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur
Editor:	Calkins, Sandra
Year:	2015
Periodical:	Canadian Journal of African Studies (ISSN 0008-3968)
Volume:	49
Issue:	1
Pages:	175-195
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Sudan South Sudan
Subjects:	institutions land tenure land use land conflicts
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00083968.2014.963135
Abstract:	All social theory emphasises that institutions universally play a crucial role in organising the ways in which people live together. At the same time the concept is vaguely defined and used in different ways. Inspired by the pragmatic sociology of critique, the authors emphasise how institutions enable people and things to hold together and provide important references for action in settings with limited predictability for everyday life. They first analyse how the concept of institutions has been used in scholarship on land tenure in Sudan. They then suggest, using a case study, that increased attention to the different ways in which actors validate or challenge institutions helps to examine the precariousness of institutional orders in the Sudans. This can move Sudan Studies beyond some of the limitations of previous scholarship, such as a tendency towards interpretations that reiterate institutions as timeless, discrete and immutable units such as 'traditional' or 'modern'. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]