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Within South Sudan Curiosities

Can South Sudan Build a Museum Differently?

South Sudan's travelling museum project asked communities how their stories and objects should be preserved before a permanent institution was built.

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On this page

  • Why a permanent museum in Juba has stalled
  • How the travelling exhibition gathered stories
  • The risks of repeating colonial collecting
Preview for Can South Sudan Build a Museum Differently?

Introduction

South Sudan’s most unusual museum story is not about an extraordinary building filled with rare artefacts. It is about an attempt to create a national museum without repeating the history of removing cultural heritage from the people who value it most. Rather than beginning with a permanent collection in Juba, South Sudan’s museum planners and UNESCO launched a travelling exhibition that visited communities, asked how they wished to be represented, and collected stories alongside carefully chosen objects. This participatory approach reflected both practical realities in a country affected by conflict and a conscious effort to avoid the extractive collecting practices associated with colonial-era museums.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

National Museum illustration 1

The result is one of the most distinctive museum experiments in Africa: a national museum conceived first as a conversation rather than a building.

Can a national museum be built differently?

Many countries inherited national museums from colonial administrations or established them soon after independence. South Sudan entered independence in 2011 without such an institution. The museums of the former Sudan were concentrated in Khartoum, while decades of war prevented the development of comparable facilities in the south. This unusual starting point allowed South Sudanese heritage professionals to ask a more fundamental question: what should a national museum actually be for?[southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com]southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.comWorkshop reportWorkshop report

Instead of assuming that valuable objects should simply be transferred to the capital, planners proposed a museum whose collection would emerge through consultation. Communities would help determine which stories mattered, which objects could safely travel, and which should remain where they had cultural significance. The museum was intended to represent living relationships with heritage rather than simply accumulate possessions.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

This approach also recognised that heritage in South Sudan extends well beyond physical artefacts. Oral histories, music, family memories, photographs, ritual knowledge and local traditions all contribute to cultural identity and can be documented without permanently removing culturally important possessions from their communities.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

Why a permanent museum in Juba has stalled

The absence of a conventional national museum is not simply the result of limited funding. Security problems, repeated humanitarian crises and displacement have repeatedly interrupted cultural projects, making it difficult to establish and maintain a permanent institution.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

There are also deeper questions of trust and representation. South Sudan contains many ethnic communities spread across a vast territory. Concentrating heritage in Juba risks creating the impression that national culture belongs primarily to the capital or to whichever groups are most visible there. Museum workshops organised by the South Sudan Museum Network found that participants repeatedly questioned how every community could genuinely see itself reflected in a national institution.[southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com]southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.comWorkshop reportWorkshop report

The challenge therefore became more than constructing galleries. It involved designing a museum that people across the country would recognise as their own rather than as another distant state institution.

UNESCO and South Sudan National Archives Safeguards South Sudan's History

Channel: UNESCO JUBA

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How the travelling exhibition gathered stories

The pilot travelling exhibition, launched in 2014, functioned as a mobile museum and consultation project. Rather than waiting for visitors to come to Juba, museum teams travelled to communities in Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal, where security conditions allowed the work to proceed.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

Community members contributed:

  • everyday and ceremonial objects;
  • recorded life histories;
  • photographs;
  • audio recordings;
  • short video interviews;
  • explanations of traditions and local knowledge.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

UNESCO reported that the early pilot gathered around 81 objects, 55 audio recordings and 44 short videos while also encouraging public celebrations in many villages, where storytelling, music and dance became part of the museum-making process. The emphasis was not only on collecting material but on recording the meanings attached to it.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

For many elders, the project provided an opportunity to pass knowledge directly to younger generations while ensuring that these traditions would become part of the country’s historical record. In this sense, the museum was preserving relationships and memories as much as physical collections.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

National Museum illustration 2

The risks of repeating colonial collecting

The participatory model was shaped by an uncomfortable historical reality. Throughout the colonial period, thousands of objects from what is now South Sudan entered museums in Europe through military expeditions, missionaries, colonial officials and researchers. Many communities had little influence over how these collections were assembled or interpreted.[southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com]southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.comSouth Sudan Museum NetworkSouth Sudan Museum Network

During discussions organised by the South Sudan Museum Network, heritage practitioners warned that a new national museum could unintentionally reproduce the same logic if it simply removed objects from villages and displayed them elsewhere. Workshop participants noted that some communities viewed collecting with suspicion and regarded the idea of transferring important heritage permanently to Juba as unfamiliar or even alien.[southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com]southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.comWorkshop reportWorkshop report

The workshops also questioned traditional ethnographic display methods that classify people primarily by ethnic group. Participants instead discussed exhibition styles that organise objects by shared human experiences and functions, reducing the risk of reinforcing rigid colonial categories while helping visitors recognise common cultural practices across different communities.[southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com]southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.comWorkshop reportWorkshop report

These debates demonstrate that the museum project is not only about preserving artefacts. It is equally concerned with deciding who has authority to tell cultural stories and how those stories should be presented.

Communities unite in Eastern Equatoria to celebrate South Sudan’s cultural diversity

Channel: UNESCO

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What makes this approach unusual

Many museums consult communities after collections have already been assembled. South Sudan attempted to reverse that sequence by making consultation the foundation of the collection itself.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

Several features distinguish the project:

  • community participation before permanent collecting;
  • equal emphasis on stories, recordings and intangible heritage alongside objects;
  • travelling exhibitions that reached remote areas instead of expecting communities to travel to the capital;
  • museum development linked explicitly to peacebuilding, dialogue and national identity rather than tourism alone.[unesco.org]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

UNESCO framed the museum as a place where South Sudanese people could discover shared heritage and create dialogue across communities, making cultural preservation part of wider nation-building rather than simply an exercise in conservation.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

National Museum illustration 3

Why it matters within South Sudan’s heritage landscape

For travellers looking for an unusual museum experience, South Sudan’s national museum project is remarkable precisely because it remains unfinished. Instead of presenting a completed collection behind glass, it highlights the difficult choices involved in preserving heritage in a young nation where memories, identities and ownership remain deeply significant.

The country’s most distinctive museum experiment therefore lies not in spectacular objects but in an unusual philosophy: cultural heritage should not be safeguarded by separating it from the communities that created it unless those communities choose that path. Whether a permanent museum in Juba ultimately emerges from this process, the travelling exhibition has already demonstrated a different model of museum building—one based on dialogue, shared authority and respect for living cultural traditions rather than simply acquiring collections.[UNESCO]unesco.orgcommunities south sudan build their national museumCommunities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014…Published: June 19, 2014

Zande Field Recordings in South Sudan by Evans Pritchard 1928 1930 Wax Cylinders

Channel: World Field Recordings

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Endnotes

1. Source: unesco.org
Title: communities south sudan build their national museum
Link:https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/communities-south-sudan-build-their-national-museum

Source snippet

Communities of South Sudan build their National Museum | UNESCOJune 19, 2014...

Published: June 19, 2014

2. Source: southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com
Title: Workshop report
Link:https://southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ssmn-juba-workshop-report-2018.pdf

3. Source: ich.unesco.org
Link:https://ich.unesco.org/en/news/building-peace-and-social-cohesion-through-safeguarding-the-living-cultural-heritage-of-south-sudan-s-diverse-ethnic-communities-00289

Source snippet

Peace and Social Cohesion through Safeguarding the Living Cultural Heritage of South Sudan’s Diverse Ethnic Communities - UNESCO Intangib...

4. Source: unesco.org
Title: Juba | UNESCO
Link:https://www.unesco.org/en/fieldoffice/juba

Source snippet

UNESCO Juba | UNESCO...

5. Source: southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com
Title: South Sudan Museum Network
Link:https://southsudanmuseumnetwork.wordpress.com/

6. Source: unesco.org
Title: renewing commitment sudans national museum
Link:https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/renewing-commitment-sudans-national-museum

Source snippet

Renewing Commitment to Sudan’s National Museum | UNESCOJuly 6, 2026 — RENEWING COMMITMENT TO SUDAN’S NATIONAL MUSEUM UNESCO, the Ministry...

Published: July 6, 2026

7. Source: unesco.org
Title: reshaping cultural policies south sudan
Link:https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/reshaping-cultural-policies-south-sudan?hub=378

Source snippet

Re|Shaping Cultural Policies in South Sudan | UNESCOSeptember 2, 2020 — RE|SHAPING CULTURAL POLICIES IN SOUTH SUDAN Participants in the U...

Published: September 2, 2020

8. Source: unesco.org
Title: The [National Archives]({{ ‘national-archives/’ | relative_url }}) make a statement at the Parliament of South
Link:https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/national-archives-make-statement-parliament-south-sudan

9. Source: whc.unesco.org
Link:https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1566/

10. Source: unesco.org
Title: The Role of Archives in Nation Building: Preserving Sudan’s
Link:https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/role-archives-nation-building-preserving-sudans-documentary-heritage

11. Source: unesco.org
Link:https://www.unesco.org/en/fieldoffice/juba/about

12. Source: youtube.com
Title: UNESCO and South Sudan National Archives Safeguards South Sudan’s History
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcVOGfI2vrM

Source snippet

Zande Field Recordings in South Sudan by Evans Pritchard 1928 1930 Wax Cylinders...

13. Source: unesco-hist.org
Title: Building capacity to collect the heritage of South Sudan
Link:https://www.unesco-hist.org/index.php?id=691&r=en%2Farticle%2Finfo

14. Source: unmiss.unmissions.org
Link:https://unmiss.unmissions.org/en/node/19622

Additional References

15. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqF6jH_qp9E

Source snippet

Installation Ceremony Of Reth Ayang Anei_1975 (Shilluk / Collo Kingdom) South Sudan...

16. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY96xLsoYh4

Source snippet

Marlin John Serefino | South Sudan Women's Research Network...

17. Source: youtube.com
Title: Marlin John Serefino | South Sudan Women’s Research Network
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXdrW_NwUsg

Source snippet

Communities unite in Eastern Equatoria to celebrate South Sudan's cultural diversity...

18. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlADRD-mDRA