Likikiri Collective is a multimedia arts and education organization located in Juba, South Sudan. We are dedicated to initiating, organizing and collaborating on arts and humanities-based projects that document the life, explore the cultures, and voice the concerns of South Sudanese. We take an intercultural and interdisciplinary approach to our work, seeking connections across various sectors, including education, culture, development, and peacebuilding.
The term “likikiri” means “stories” in Bari, a language spoken across several communities in South Sudan. Likikiri are part of a broader South Sudanese oral tradition, historically a vehicle for the intergenerational transmission of social and cultural information and values. Inspired by this system of informal education, our organization seeks today to activate these resources in the service of grassroots education, communication, community-building and entertainment.
By selecting the name Likikiri, we recognize the important place of the “local” in the making of South Sudan and elevate the place of culture and the imagination in the social and economic development of the nation.
Our community-based approach demands that our projects are reflective of and connected to the economic and social realities of everyday life in the region as well as people’s struggles, desires, conflicts and hopes. We believe that culture plays an essential role as a resource for nation-building, and to this end, we are dedicated to working with a diverse range of cultural producers–from amateurs and students to scholars and professionals in every field–and to empowering and mentoring marginalized voices. We’re helping to reimagine our nation by collaborating with people of this place and demonstrating the power of arts, humanities, and culture to create meaningful social and economic change.
Likikiri Collective founders
Elfatih Atem has worked in a leadership capacity for many national cultural projects, as well as a consultant in culture, heritage and the arts for international NGOs and the UN. He is an also an artist, writer, dramatist and media practitioner who has produced poems, prose, plays and short films and taught in these areas.
Rebecca Lorins conducted her PhD research with Kwoto, a South Sudanese popular theatre troupe operating in Khartoum from approximately 1993 – 2006. She earned her PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. She was also a fellow at Columbia University’s Oral History Summer Institute and a fellow at Eastern Mennonite’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute. She has been living and working in South Sudan since 2014. She is an educator, scholar, and culture practitioner.
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Likikiri Collective Board
We are proud to have a strong board guiding us: They are an eclectic group and provide us with insight, inspiration and support. The current Likikiri board is composed of the following dedicated individuals:
Yosa Wawa
Emmanuel Kulang
Esther Librato
Mawut Louis
Vilma Edward Pilay
Anna Rowett
Gabriel Joseph Shadar
