Abiol Lual Deng (born 15 May 1983) is a
South Sudanese-American political scientist and
international relations expert.
Biography
Deng was born in
Madison,
Wisconsin on 15 May 1983 and is of
South Sudanese heritage.
Her father is Lual A. Deng, an economist and advisor to the
Sudanese People's Liberation Movement
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; ar, الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political w ...
.
She is a graduate of the
University of Virginia, where she studied for a B.A. in French from 2002 to 2005.
She studied at the
University of Paris-Sorbonne for her MPhil, graduating in 2007.
Career
Since graduation, she has worked across three continents in humanitarian assistance and conflict resolution. Her work has often focussed on issues affecting people and countries in east and central Africa and she has worked in
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
, the
Democratic Republic of Congo,
South Sudan and
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
.
She has worked in the private sector, as well as for state agencies and non-governmental organisations, such as
Médecins Sans Frontières.
Deng has a particular interest in the use of social media in conflict situations, where state media may be biased. As of 2021, Deng was working as a Global Mentor for the University of Virginia's new course on French for Global Development.
Selected publications
* Deng, A. L., 'Facts or Rumors?' ''Digital Development Debates'' (2017), 17.
* Light, E., Bacas, J. L., Dragona, D., Kämpf, K. M., Peirano, M., Pelizzer, Valentina, Rogers, C., Sprenger, F., Rowan, J., & Deng, A. L. (2018). Infrastructures of Dis/Connection: Of Drones, Migration, and Digital Care. ''Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies'', ''8''(2), 56–63.
References
External links
Interview with Abiol Lual DengUniversalizing the Discourse on Climate Change
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deng, Abiol Lual
1983 births
Living people
South Sudanese women
21st-century political scientists
University of Virginia alumni
Paris-Sorbonne University alumni
People from Madison, Wisconsin