Essays
A selection of the essays I have published since the beginning of 2011. A selection of my pre-2011 essays can be found under the essays tab on the Recent Publications page.
2013
Unclear lines: state and nonstate actors in Abyei. A more academic essay on notions of territory in Abyei, Sudan. To appear in the edited volume, The Borderlands of South Sudan: Governance and Power in contemporary and historical perspective. Forthcoming.
Dreams are not made of Concrete. A long essay on migration, money, and dreams, in Juba, South Sudan. Fourth Genre. Forthcoming.
Under the soil, the people. Onsite Review 29: Geology. An essay on geology and the claims of memory. May 2013.
Influence: three and a half metaphors. An essay on the difficult of working out just who one's influences are. The Waste Books. 20 April 2013.
2012
Every thing has its own silence. An essay on sound and silence, in Marseille and Paris. Onsite Review 28: Sound. Fall 2012. You can read a version of this essay just prior to the final tearsheet here.
Islands of the Imagination. A short letter on islands. Onsite Review 28: Sound. Fall 2012.
On the road to Yei. A reportage on rubbish in Juba, South Sudan. Anthropology News. 15 October. You can read it here.
A sketch for the tent of the future. An essay on Qadhafi, nomadism, and the history of the Libyan state. Read it in Onsite Review 27: Rural Urbanism. 5 May 2012. You can read an extract here.
No lines, no peace? On the borders of Abyei. Anthropology News. 21 February. You can read the article here.
On hunting. A meandering exploration of exile, detectives, and, obviously, hunters. Originally published at The Waste Books. 13 January 2012. You can read it here. Then published as a letter in Onsite Review 27: Rural Urbanism. 5 May 2012. There is also a podcast of me reading the text, available here.
just stay put and keep quiet. An essay on the form of the camp. Originally published at The Waste Books. 13 January 2012. You can read it here. Then published as a letter in Onsite Review 27: Rural Urbanism. 5 May 2012.
2011
Moral Conquest: visiting the Wellcome Collection. A review essay about Douglas' famous phrase, "dirt is matter out of place." On-Site Review
Burning the future, which looks at the story of a mysteriously inoperative waste dump in Juba, South Sudan, is available in Onsite 26: Dirt. Fall Issue 2011. You can read the reportage here.
Self is a form. A selection of aphorisms. Hotel Amerika. Volume 10. Number. 1. Fall Edition 2011. Read them here (both of them).
Animal Cities, on urban planning in Juba. Onsite 25: Identity. Spring Issue. The magazine is available here, or you can read the article here.
Between the Red Lines, on urban planning in Oakland. Onsite 24: Migration. Fall issue. Original available here, or you can read the article here.
The Logic of Soap & A Mobile Home. (two short texts). re:site. Insert in Onsite 24. Available here in the original, (pp.6-9), or you can read them on this site. Here is the first text, about mining in Sierra Leone, and here is the second, about notions of home.
