2024

Symposium and Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Saturday 18 September 2024 
in association with the 
Centre of African Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Venue: Brunei Lecture Theatre, SOAS
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG 

Welcome by Gill Lusk, SSSUK Chairperson

Sudan briefing (held under the Chatham House Rule) Chaired by Aida Abbashar.
'Community kitchens', a short film by Nas Shagala.
Speaker from the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Clare Staunton (Head, Sudan and South Sudan Unit, FCDO, and UK Special Representative to South Sudan)

Centenary of the 1924 Revolution Chaired by Abdel Salam Sidahmed
Ali Abdel Latif (Teacher and Researcher), What useful lessons can be drawn from the experience of the 1924 Revolution to help in the present?
Elena Vezzadini (French National Centre for Scientific Research; affiliate, Institut des Mondes Africains), Highlights from the 1924 Revolution.

Cultural Resistance and Renewal Chaired by Rashid Sidahmed Elsheikh.

Dr Wagdi Kamil, The Crisis of Sudanese Film Production During Crises.
Rebecca Lorins (Assistant Professor, University of Juba and co-founder, Likikiri Collective), Intersections of cultural heritage and cultural dialogue: South Sudanese women protecting and contesting song heritage in refugee settings.

Education Chaired by Charlotte Martin (Editor, Sudan Studies)
Wafa Abdelazim and Mahmoud Dagash (ATAR magazine), Education under fire.
Simon Boyd, WEP trustee, Power to the powerless through education.
Justin Nyieer Gordon-Muortat (Coordinator, South Sudan People’s Charter), The Type of Education to Shape and Establish a Viable Model for a Multicultural State in South Sudan.

Poetry readings
Abu-Zayd DeGale, ‘The Bereavement Memory’
Poetry by Tony, ‘Double Impact’

Speakers and Contributors

Nas Shagala is an impact campaign documenting citizens' engagement in the public sphere through films that shine a light on collective experiences. The group aims to inspire and encourage people to positively engage in shaping the change they desire in their future lives. Their films follow groups of civic workers with an artistic approach to their personal struggles to achieve a better future for Sudan.

Clare Staunton is the Head of the Sudan and South Sudan Unit at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and has been the Special Representative to South Sudan since October 2023. She previously worked at DFID and on conflict prevention in the FCO’s Conflict Department, Multilateral Policy.

Nick Lacey is the Sudan Head of Operations for the Norwegian Refugee Council. He completed his Master’s degree at Northumbria University on analysis of policy implementation and public opinion on gender-based violence prevention and response programmes in Liberia.

Ali Abdel Latif is the Research, Training and Planning officer of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Revolutionary Current (SPLM-DRC). He worked for many years in education, including teaching in universities and colleges in West Yorkshire.

Elena Vezzadini is an historian and research fellow of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and is affiliated to the Institut des Mondes Africains. She obtained her PhD at the University of Bergen, with a specialisation in the contemporary social history of Sudan. She works particularly on nationalism, labour, education, slavery, racial relations, archival studies, post-colonial theory.

Dr Wagdi Kamil is a cultural critic, filmmaker, poet, and former media professor at the University of Khartoum. He studied film directing and earned a PhD from the Russian Institute of Cinema. He has directed more than thirty films. His film The Scorpion won the Gold Award for African Films in 2003, while his film Swing and Oil won the Gold Award for Arab Films in Cairo in 2006. He has published several works on cinema and film culture. He worked for years at Al Jazeera in Doha, where his films were showcased on both the Arabic and English channels.

Rebecca Lorins is an Assistant Professor at the University of Juba and co-founded the Likikiri Collective. She conducted her PhD research with Kwoto, a South Sudanese popular theatre troupe operating in Khartoum from approximately 1993 to 2006, and earned her PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been living and working in South Sudan since 2014.

Wafa Abdelazim and Mahmoud Dagash are journalists writing for ATAR magazine.

Simon Boyd is a trustee of the Women's Education Partnership.

Justin Nyieer Gordon-Muortat is a Trustee of the Friends of Ibba Girls’ School and a Coordinator of the South Sudan People’s Charter.

Abu-Zayd DeGale is a Sudanese playwright, actor and filmmaker. In Sudan, he worked as a stand-up comedian and storyteller and now works with community groups and particularly with people with asylum seekers backgrounds to promote social change, integration, and acceptance.

Poetry by Tony is a British-based South Sudanese poet with over a decade of experience, self-publishing books and poetry albums. After a breakthrough performance at the 50th anniversary of the African Union in 2013, Poetry by Tony has continued to share powerful, thought-provoking work across various platforms.