Fatherhood, Familial Ties and Expectation of Masculinity in Times of Conflict: Exploring fatherhood in Nuer and Toposa communities in South Sudan

Fatherhood scholarship has developed into a vibrant subfield of the masculinity literature, encompassing diverse themes and geographies (Barker, 2008 and 2015; Richter and Morrell, 2006; Tidy, 2018). Yet despite a growing recognition of parenthood within studies of conflict, there remains relatively little sustained analysis of the multiple and complex ways in which fatherhood is disrupted by conflict and insecurity. This paper seeks to address this gap by offering an analysis of fatherhood experiences in conflict-affected South Sudan. Grounded in feminist IR scholarship that recognises how everyday experiences of militarisation are conditioned by - and conditional upon - familial ties (Basham and Cantignani, 2018; Ketola and O’Reilly 2025), the paper explores how conditions of conflict (in its varying forms) interact with ideas, practices and experiences of fatherhood. It argues that while conflict impacts practices of fatherhood, fatherhood - and the social expectations associated with it - has implications for the continuation of conflict in different forms. The paper understands fatherhood beyond its association with biological reproduction but contextualises it also as a social role - one that is temporally oriented, precarious by definition, and fragile under conditions of war, poverty and chronic insecurity. The paper also reflects on the role of “shame” in understanding the interaction between fatherhood, achieving masculinity, familial ties, and the continuation of conflict (Porter, 2013). Building on Matarazzo and Baines’ (2021: 279) proposition that fatherhood is a “future-oriented process [-] one that draws on ideals of the past and present and is performed through gendered work and social obligations”, the paper argues that fatherhood in South Sudan is best understood as a temporally situated practice and is socially precarious. Fatherhood is thus simultaneously oriented towards the construction and preservation of social harmony in the community, the provision of care and resources in the present, and the continuation of lineage and community in the future. However, achieving this in a situation of physical and structural insecurity often also involves encounters with violence. Findings are drawn from qualitative interviews carried out with members of the Nuer and Toposa communities in Eastern Equatoria, and Jonglei State in South Sudan.