Who can spot the photojournalist?
IWMF Fellow Alexia Webster captures the festivities aboard a party cruise in Juba, South Sudan, for her story on youth culture in the world’s youngest country. Webster has visited recording studios, boutiques, markets, and homes for her story.
In a place riven by tribal divisions, political turmoil, and violence since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, people in South Sudan lack a sense of unifying cultural identity. As sunset cast its colors across the Nile and the “Juba Queen” drifted lazily with the river’s current, party cruise organizer Sam shouted out above the booming music: “this boat is your own country right now, and you are the citizens of this boat”.
The passengers – all members of Juba’s small economically mobile youth population – danced and laughed and waved their selfie sticks, brought together by the excitement of the moment.
-Alana Barton, IWMF