Young Women Navigating Discourses of Education and Marriage with Alan Neville

This CIE Seminar took place on Wednesday 6 November at the University of Sussex.
Title: Young Women Navigating Discourses of Education and Marriage: A case study of the Dinka community in South Sudan
With Alan Neville (Sussex PGR)
Early, forced marriage remains a pervasive challenge for the rights of young women in many parts of our world. This is especially the case in South Sudan where, according to the UN, it is more likely for a girl to die in childbirth than to finish secondary education. Despite this, there is a lack of research engaging with those directly affected.
This thesis will look at how young Dinka women navigate the different discourses around education and marriage in their lives. It will specifically examine how they address such challenges in their families and communities and how they use education in the creation of new identities. It adopts an indigenous methodology, emphasising voices, wisdom, and insights often overlooked by western analysis. It will specifically look at those young women in Catholic education in secondary, post-secondary, university, and post graduate levels, as well as engaging key stakeholders among traditional leadership.