All Outputs (40)

Murle Youth and the Iconography of Modernity Inscribed on the Body in South Sudan (2025)
Journal Article
Felix da Costa, D. (online). Murle Youth and the Iconography of Modernity Inscribed on the Body in South Sudan. Journal of African Cultural Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2024.2444220

This article offers a novel perspective into how Murle agro-pastoralist youth in South Sudan draw on permanent body marks (also known as scarifications or body inscriptions) to communicate their individual and collective stories and future aspiration... Read More about Murle Youth and the Iconography of Modernity Inscribed on the Body in South Sudan.

Youth contestations, age-sets and body art in Pibor South Sudan (2024)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Felix da Costa, D. (2024, March). Youth contestations, age-sets and body art in Pibor South Sudan. Presented at Northeast Africa Seminar Series organised by Centre for African Studies University of Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford

The politics of being Murle in South Sudan: state violence, displacement and the narrativisation of identity (2023)
Journal Article
Felix da Costa, D. (2023). The politics of being Murle in South Sudan: state violence, displacement and the narrativisation of identity. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 17(3), 404-423. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2023.2259547

The article offers a nuanced account of how identities are negotiated and contested in South Sudan, by focusing on how Murle and ŋalam identities were deployed in different ways in different places in overlapping periods during a time of armed confli... Read More about The politics of being Murle in South Sudan: state violence, displacement and the narrativisation of identity.

Navigating the complex webs of Murle authority in Pibor: conflict sensitivity considerations for aid actors (2023)
Digital Artefact
Felix da Costa, D., & Boyoi, G. Navigating the complex webs of Murle authority in Pibor: conflict sensitivity considerations for aid actors

Youth Gangs and overcoming waithood in a United Nations Protection of Civilians Site in South Sudan (2023)
Journal Article
Felix da Costa, D. (2024). Youth Gangs and overcoming waithood in a United Nations Protection of Civilians Site in South Sudan. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 18(1), 99-116. https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2023.2212993

This article investigates contestations over the roles and legitimacy of gangs within the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Bentiu, South Sudan. Drawing on qualitative interviews, it argues that ‘gan... Read More about Youth Gangs and overcoming waithood in a United Nations Protection of Civilians Site in South Sudan.

Embodied storytelling in South Sudan: youth self-narrativisation through body art and song (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Felix da Costa, D. (2023, April). Embodied storytelling in South Sudan: youth self-narrativisation through body art and song. Paper presented at Association of Social Anthropology UK Annual Conference, SOAS London

What Can the Changing Tastes in Body Scarification Tell Us about the Lives and Aspirations of Murle Youth? (2023)
Digital Artefact
Felix da Costa, D. What Can the Changing Tastes in Body Scarification Tell Us about the Lives and Aspirations of Murle Youth?

Stories on the Body: Murle youth, age-sets and changing body scarification in Greater Pibor (2022)
Exhibition / Performance
Felix da Costa, D. (2022). Stories on the Body: Murle youth, age-sets and changing body scarification in Greater Pibor. [Photography]. 6 October 2022 - 15 October 2022. (Unpublished)

‘What is happening now is not raiding, it's war’: The growing politicisation and militarisation of cattle-raiding among the Western Nuer and Murle during South Sudan's civil wars (2022)
Book Chapter
Felix da Costa, D., Pendle, N., & Tubiana, J. (2022). ‘What is happening now is not raiding, it's war’: The growing politicisation and militarisation of cattle-raiding among the Western Nuer and Murle during South Sudan's civil wars. In J.-N. Bach, J. Abbink, & S. Ancel (Eds.), Routledge Handook of the Horn of Africa. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429426957-23

Drawing on extensive fieldwork by the three authors, this chapter discusses how contemporary political conflicts have interacted with pastoralism. It focuses on the contrasting but interrelated settings of the Western Nuer and Murle peoples of South... Read More about ‘What is happening now is not raiding, it's war’: The growing politicisation and militarisation of cattle-raiding among the Western Nuer and Murle during South Sudan's civil wars.

Changing power among Murle chiefs: negotiating political, military and spiritual authority (2018)
Report
Felix da Costa, D. (2018). Changing power among Murle chiefs: negotiating political, military and spiritual authority

"To have peaceful coexistence, people need to have full stomachs": Rapid Conflict Assessment in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, Uganda (2018)
Preprint / Working Paper
Felix da Costa, D. "To have peaceful coexistence, people need to have full stomachs": Rapid Conflict Assessment in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, Uganda. Kampala

Letter from Pibor (2017)
Other
Felix da Costa, D. Letter from Pibor. Nairobi

Sudan (2017)
Book Chapter
Felix da Costa, D. (2017). Sudan. In A. Voronkova (Ed.), Armed Conflict Survey 2017 (209-216). International Institute for Strategic Studies

UN support in the formation of new states: South Sudan, Kosovo and Timor-Leste (2017)
Book Chapter
Peter, M., & Felix da Costa, D. (2017). UN support in the formation of new states: South Sudan, Kosovo and Timor-Leste. In C. de Coning, C. Aoi, & J. Karlsrud (Eds.), UN Peacekeeping Doctrine in a New Era. Routledge

'If you miss food its like a weapon, its like a war': refugee relations in Nduta and Mtendeli Refugee Camps, Western Tanzania (2017)
Report
Felix da Costa, D. (2017). 'If you miss food its like a weapon, its like a war': refugee relations in Nduta and Mtendeli Refugee Camps, Western Tanzania

"You may think he is not a human being”: Refugee and host community relations in and around Nduta and Mtendeli refugee camps, western Tanzania (2017)
Report
Felix da Costa, D. (2017). "You may think he is not a human being”: Refugee and host community relations in and around Nduta and Mtendeli refugee camps, western Tanzania

Dynamics of youth and violence: findings from Rubkona county Unity state (2017)
Report
Felix da Costa, D. (2017). Dynamics of youth and violence: findings from Rubkona county Unity state

The ethics of researching in conflict: personal reflections from Greater Pibor and South Sudan (2016)
Journal Article
Felix da Costa, D. (2016). The ethics of researching in conflict: personal reflections from Greater Pibor and South Sudan. Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, 8(1), 31-43

'This word, it is for Murle, not meant for other people': the politics of Murle identity, experiences of violence and of the state in Boma, south Sudan (2016)
Thesis
Felix da Costa, D. 'This word, it is for Murle, not meant for other people': the politics of Murle identity, experiences of violence and of the state in Boma, south Sudan. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) (2015)
Book Chapter
Felix da Costa, D., & de Coning, C. (2015). United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS). In J. Koops, T. Tardy, N. McQueen, & P. D. Williams (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of UN Peacekeeping Operations. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199686049.013.13