Sing safety: understanding South Sudanese protection strategies through song

We advocate for ethnomusicology—the critical study of the dialogical relationship between music and the contexts that define it—as one of the research approaches that humanitarians and peacekeepers should use to better understand civilians’ self-protection strategies during conflict. Humanitarian protection strategies have not kept all civilians safe, so there is growing scholarly and policy attention to self-protection strategies. It is important that humanitarians do not simply instrumentalise self-protection strategies but understand the politics and logics behind them. This article argues that paying attention to music can help humanitarians understand self-protection strategies, especially as music can create space for discussion even about emotive or political topics that cannot be verbalised in other ways. Musicians also often have an authority that can help shape behaviour, and songs are often used to share strategies to stay safe. Music can also create important memories and social meanings around protection strategies. This article is based on research in Warrap State, South Sudan—a region that has long histories of colonial and post-colonial armed conflict, military mobilizations and aid actor interventions as well as established musical norms and evolving self-protection strategies.