Jok’s areas of specialization include security, governance, democracy and development in South Sudan and Sudan. He has also written extensively about gender, sexuality and reproductive health, humanitarian aid, ethnography of political violence, gender-based violence, and war and slavery and the politics of identity in South Sudan and Sudan.

He is the author of "Breaking Sudan: The Search for Peace" (Oneworld Publications, 2017), "Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence" (One World Publication, 2007), "War and Slavery in Sudan" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), and "Militarization, Gender and Reproductive Health in South Sudan" (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998). He also co-authored "The Sudan Handbook" (co-edited with J. Willis, J. Ryle and S. Baldo, James Currey, 2011).

Before joining Maxwell he was visiting professor of anthropology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Linacre College. He also served in the government of South Sudan as undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, 2010-13. He is the founding director of the Sudd Institute, a public policy research center. 

2016-2017       United States Institute of Peace. Monitoring the Implementation o South Sudan’s Peace Agreement. US$ 100,000

2010-2011       United States Institute of Peace. Senior Fellowship to work on “Breaking Sudan.” US$ 80,000

2005                US Agency for International Development, subcontracted by International Science and Technology Institute. A grant to investigate nutrition-based eye sight impairment in children in Sudan. US$ 56,400

2003-2004       Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars to work on “Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence.” US$ 45,000

2002, 2004      Loyola Marymount University Faculty Grants for summer research projects.
& 2005            This year’s grant makes possible the investigation into HIV state of knowledge in Sudan

2000- 2001      United States Institute of Peace Grant for support of research on “War and Slavery in Sudan.” US $ 45,000

1998- 99          Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Grant for support of research on violent aggression in South Sudan. US $ 48,000

1998-99           Loyola Marymount UniversityFaculty Grants for summer research projects

1992- 94          Ford Foundation Individual Grants for support of dissertation research in South Sudan. US$ 20,000

1991 - 92         Ford Foundation Individual Grants to attend University of California, Los Angeles.

1990 - 91         Ford Foundation-Sudanese Fellowship to attend the American University in Cairo.

1986 - 90         Egyptian Government Scholarship to attend University of Alexandria.

Books

2017 Breaking Sudan: The Search for Peace. London: One World Publications.

2011 The Sudan Handbook. Co-edited with J. Willis, J. Ryle and S. Baldo. Oxford: James Currey

2007 Sudan: Race, Religion, and Violence. Oxford, UK: One World Publications.

2001 War and Slavery in Sudan. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

1998 Militarization, Gender and Reproductive Health in South Sudan. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.

Articles and Book Chapters

2018, “The militarization of cattle raiding in South Sudan: how a traditional practice became a tool for political violence.” Wild, Hannah, Jok Madut Jok and Ronak Patel. Journal of International Humanitarian Action (2018) 3:2 https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-018-0030-y

2018, “South Sudan’s Elusive peace: Between local drivers of violence and the actions of external actors.” In Amir Idris, South Sudan’s Post-Independence Dilemmas. Routledge.

2015, With K. Menkaus and Nuur Muhamed, “East Africa: Regional Perspectives for the White Paper on Peacebuilding.” White Paper Series No. 2. Geneva Peacebuilding Platform at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland.

2015 “The Evil of Insecurity, State Violence and Impunity in the Newly Independent South Sudan.” In Encountering Evil: Anthropology and the Everyday in Africa, Walter van Beek and William C. Olsen (eds.). Cambridge University Press.

2015 “Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement and How the Nuba Mountains Were Left Out.” In Conflict in the Nuba Mountains: From Genocide by Attrition to the Contemporary Crisis in Sudan edited by Samuel Totten and Amanda F. Grzyb. London: Routledge.

2014 “Nationality and Citizenship in the “New Sudan”: A Legal or Moral Issue?” Middle East Law and Governance Interdisciplinary Journal 6 (2014) 225-249.

2014 “The Break up of Sudan and the Links that Connect the People of the two Countries.” Sudan Studies, Number 1

2013 “Power Dynamics and the Politics of Fieldwork under Sudan’s Prolonged Conflicts.” In Dyan Mazurana, et al (eds.) Research Methods in Conflict Settings: A View from Below. Cambridge, UK and NY: Cambridge University Press.

2013 “South Sudan and the Memorialization of the Civil War.” Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Policy Brief Number 11, July

2013 “State, Law and Insecurity in South Sudan.” The Fletcher Forum for World Affairs, Vol. 37:2. Summer 2013.

2013 “Human Rights Abuses Run Deep in South Sudan.” The Fletcher Forum for World Affairs, April 4^th.

2012 “South Sudan: Building a Diverse Nation.” In Sudan after Separation: New Approaches to a New Region. Edited by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Toni Weis. Berlin: Heinrich Böll Foundation.

2012 “Negotiating Security: Gender, Violence, and the Rule of Law in Post-war South Sudan.” In  Howard Stein and Amal Fadlalla Hassan (eds.) Gendered Insecurities, Health and Development in Africa.  New York: Routledge.

2012 Forward to Handbook on Community Engagement: A ‘Good Practice’ Guide to Negotiating Lease Agreements with Landowning Communities in South Sudan. David K. Deng Juba: South Sudan Law Society.

2011 “Diversity, Unity and Nation-Building in South Sudan.” United States Institute of Peace Special Report. Washington, DC: USIP.

2010 “Militant Islam, Islamic Law, and National Disintegration in Sudan.” In Andrew Murphy (ed.) Companion to Religion and Violence. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

2009 “Orphaned: the Death of John Garang and the Specter of Disintegration of Sudan.” In Francis M. Deng (ed.) The Making of a New Sudan? Asmara and Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press.

2007 “Slavery and Slave Redemption in the Sudan” In Buying Freedom: The Ethics and Economics of Slave Redemption Edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah & Martin Bunzl (eds.) With a foreword by Kevin Bales. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

2006 “Violence and Resilience: Women, War and the Realities of Everyday Life in Sudan.” The Ahfad Journal: Women and Change Vol. 23, No. 2 (December)

2005 “War, Changing Ethics and the Position of Youth in South Sudan.” In Vanguard or Vandals: Youth, Politics and Conflict in Africa. Jon Abbink and I. van Kessel (eds.) Leiden and Boston: Brill.

2005 “The Legacy of Race.” In Race and Identity in the Nile Valley: Ancient and Modern Perspectives. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban and Kharyssa Rhodes (editors). Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press.

2004 “The Targeting of Civilians as a Military Tactic.” In Coping with Torture: Images from the Sudan edited by Ann Lesch and Osman Fadl. Trenton, NJ: The Red Sea Press.

2003 “Old Weapons New Soldiers: Slavery and Jihad in Sudan’s Conflict.” In Slaavernij en Bevrijding in Oost-Africa in de 19^th eeuw. Berg en Dal: Afrika Museum.

2002 Sharon E. Hutchinson and Jok Madut Jok, “Gendered Violence and the Militarization of Ethnicity: A Case from South Sudan. In Postcolonial Subjectivities in Africa by Richard Werbner (ed). London: Zed Books.

1999 Jok, Jok Madut and Sharon E. Hutchinson, “Sudan’s Prolonged Second Civil War and the Militarization of Nuer and Dinka Ethnic Identities.” African Studies Review. Vol. 42(2): 125-45.

1999 “Militarism, Gender and Reproductive Suffering: The Case of Abortion in Western Dinka.” Africa: Journal of International African Institute. Vol. 69(2): 195-212.

1999 “Militarism and Gender Violence in South Sudan.” Journal of Asian and African Studies. Vol. 34(4): 427-42.

1999 “War, Social Transition, and Illness Conception: the Case of Tuberculosis in South Sudan.” In Sudan’s Predicament: Civil War, Displacement and Ecological Degradation. Girma Kebbede (ed.) Brookfield: Ashgate Publishing Company, pp. 62-87.

1998 Lane, S.D. and Jok Madut Jok, "Buying Safety: The Politics and Economics of Abortion and Reproductive Risk in Egypt" Social Science andMedicine, Vol. 47(8) pp. 1089-1099.

1996 "Information Exchange in the Disaster Zone: Interaction between Aid Workers and Recipients in South Sudan." Disasters Vol. 20(3): 206-215.

1995 "Dinka Women and the Future of Dinka Society" Oxford Refugee Studies Network. November, Issue 20.

2009 “Violent Political Conflicts as Impediments to the Fight Against Disease and the Achievement of Global Health.” A presentation given at 11^th Annual International Health Conference at Touro University – California, Mare Island, CA.

2009 “Sudan and the Fallacy of Nationhood: How Political Islam Threatens National Unity.” A presentation given at Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion and the Woodrow Wilson School.

2008 “Gender-based Violence and the Reproductive Health Consequences for Sudanese Women.” A presentation given at University of Michigan Center for Afro-American and African Studies.

2007 “The Reproductive Health of Internally Displaced Women: South Sudan, Northern Uganda and the Politics of Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency.” An invited lecture given at Brandeis University Department of Anthropology.

2007 “How Many Wars do I have to Fight? Sudanese women’s struggles against gender-based violence, poverty and disease in the context of the Protracted Civil Conflict.” A lecture given at Upstate Medical University and University of Syracuse, Syracuse, New York.

2006 “Sudan, the Fallacy of Post-Colonial Nationhood and the Human Rights Challenges.” A lecture given at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

2005“Slavery, Civilian Killings, and Rapes as Counter-Insurgency Tactics in Sudan’s Conflict.” A lecture given at the University of Oregon Program on African Studies.

2005 “A Crumbling Social Landscape: Sudan’s Prolonged War and the Militarization of Everyday Life.” A presentation given at a conference “States of Violence: The Conduct of War in Africa,” at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

2004 “Religion, Race, and the Humanitarian Disaster in Sudan.” A presentation given at Claremont McKenna College, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights. Claremont, California

2004 “Refugees, Militias, and the Warring Parties in Sudan’s Conflict: the Failures of International Peace Mediation. A presentation given at the Center for International Studies, Ohio University, Athens.

2004 “Promoting Physical and Human Security: What the Sudan’s Peace Process must Address.” A presentation made at Tufts University Conference “Sudan at the Cross Roads.” Medford, MA.

2003 With John Ryle and Fergus Boyle “Abduction and Slavery in Sudan.” A presentation made at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University, UK.

2003 With John Ryle “Abduction, Slavery and the Peace Process in Sudan.” A presentation given at the University of Toronto Law School. Toronto, Canada.