Tribes of South Sudan and Cameroon

Two different countries, two different biomes. What is life like for indigenous peoples in the arid savanna of South Sudan and in the mountains and jungles of tropical Cameroon?

The journey begins with the Mundari people, for whom cattle are the center of life, wealth, and prestige - their monumental cattle camps are among the most striking images in the country, they wash themselves in cow urine and smear their bodies with ash. It continues to the mountain-dwelling Lotuko, whose lives are still shaped by age groups, traditional authorities, and the role of rainmakers. Among the Larim people we learn about pastoralists and warriors with distinctive scarification across their bodies and rituals connected to the land and ancestors. Further east live the Toposa, a pastoral people renowned for rich ornamentation, scarification, and their relationship with herds that form the basis of livelihood, family ties, and wedding customs. The South Sudanese section concludes with a journey to the remote Jiye, one of the least-known ethnic groups of South Sudan.

Cameroon offers a different climate. On the slopes of the Alantika Mountains lives the Koma people on the border with Nigeria - an area long closed due to unrest that has preserved a way of life deeply connected to ancestral spirits: naked bodies, leaf skirts, sacred dances and songs by the fire. The shaman of the Dupa people divines the future from sacred water, local women teach the making of traditional beer, and women of the Mbororo people reveal the secrets of facial tattooing. The journey also passes through the kingdom of Mboum, where there is a meeting with the local king, and ends with the pygmy Baka people, known for their smiles with teeth filed to a point.

Lecturer: David Švejnoha