Given Names and Lived Closeness

Immediately after the independence of South Sudan in 2011, a nationality law was passed that defined citizenship by membership to clearly and bounded ethnic groups. To acquire citizenship, testimony ‘next kin’, taken be an ‘older blood relative from father’s line’, supposed verify ethnicity and, thus, belonging new nation. Citizenship offices were tasked with checking names assessing life histories. In so doing, they combined logic patrilineal estimations lived closeness, creating complex system measuring kinship. Based on colonial legacies methods acquired during Sudanese civil war, kinship measurements produced relations, but also fueled tensions cemented social inequalities.