Gabriella McMichael

Post war refugee return and urban land contestation: networks and politics in negotiating access to land in Juba, South Sudan.

Supervisors: Admos Chimhowu and Caroline Moser

My research project examines the changes, opportunities and challenges associated with returning refugees in urban Juba, South Sudan.  Little research has been done on the issue of refugees after they have returned to their countries of origin, particularly those returning to urban areas. Understanding the processes related to returning refugees is especially relevant given current debates concerning the role returnees have to play in post-conflict development. Additionally, although it is generally acknowledged that addressing land access and property rights issues is key to the success of (re)integrating returning refugees and (re)establishing livelihoods in the aftermath of civil wars, land tenure dynamics in post-conflict urban and peri-urban areas has received little attention. Recent research in informal land in urban areas highlights non-economic factors and the informal institutions, social networks and actors involved in informal land access. In addition, research undertaken in countries emerging from conflict has demonstrated how refugees may return, not only with increased financial capital and new skills, but also with new attitudes and values and as a result influence approaches to land access in areas of return.

Using a case study of Juba, South Sudan’s capital, the research will build on insights from new-institutional economics and political economy, complemented by the livelihoods concept of capital assets including political capital, to investigate processes by which returning refugees settling in and around Juba access land. It will then go on to consider the underlying nature and trajectory of Juba’s spatial organisation and the implications for urban policymaking and post-conflict reconstruction in South Sudan more broadly.