Abstracts Submitted to Sudan Studies Association
May 28-30, 2004 SSA Annual Conference



Gender and Slavery in older Sudanese History: Orthodoxy Confronts Evidence

Jay Spaulding
Kean University

Scholars who specialize in the history of slavery in Africa have  popularized one standard interpretation, highly gendered, of what the  older Sudanese experience with slavery has been. One interpretation has  come to dominate what is said about Sudan in the wider Africanist and  World Historical literatures.

Four features of this established orthodoxy merit critical attention:  Slavery and the slave trade are said to have been a regular feature of  early Sudanese history from the days of the pharaohs to the arrival of  Lord Kitchener.  Slavery and the export of slaves are seen to have been  very important economically throughout Sudanese history. Four hundred  slaves a year were exported throughout the Middle Ages under the terms  of the Nubian baqt.  Most slaves were female.

The paper offered here defends the alternative propositions that  slavery was not a matter of great economic importance until the later  eighteenth century. While the export of slaves from the Sudan does  enjoy considerable antiquity, the issue merits detailed periodization  and careful consideration of the institutions through which, at some  periods, such exports indeed took place. Examination of the  comparatively well-documented medieval Nubian baqt reveals  how  misleading and poorly grounded in evidence the standard interpretation  actually is. Primary data demand a much more nuanced conceptualization  of gender and slavery than present orthodoxy allows.
 Finding Lost Boys and Making Masculinities in a UNHCR Camp
James A.Schechter, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Colorado at Boulder

    This paper suggests that the insertion of young male refugees, putatively known as "the Lost Boys of Sudan," into a humanitarian moral order and global political economy fractures and animates normative constructs of Dinka and Nuer masculinity. I examine Dinka and Nuer diasporic, male masculinities as produced through young refugees' exposure to humanitarian programs and institutional structures in the UNHCR's Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, which are characterized by either explicit or tacit "profeminist" mandates. Examples include: Child Rights Clubs, Gender Equity; Men's Support Group for the Promotion of Gender; Peace Education, and safe houses/areas for victims of sexual and gender based violence. In addition, I review how male refugees' resettlement to the United States has inspired the emergence of a transnational courtship economy, which re-energizes customary forms of Dinka masculinity that link camp-bound and resettled refugees in cycles of gendered "competition" and "local" violence.
Slavery and Resistance: The Transformation of Southern Sudanese Societies from the 16th Century to the Present
Stephanie Beswick, Ph.D.
    Department of History
    Ball State University
Abstract:
     This presentation forms part of an ongoing monograph about the  enslavement and resistance of Southern Sudanese peoples (in the Southern Gezira,  Southern Nuba Mountains, South Sudan) from the sixteenth century to the present.  Although an internal slaving system has existed among most peoples of Sudan since  the earliest times (including those in the South), an important historical  marker began with the rise of the Islamic Sultanate of Sinnar. From this time  onwards, many Sudanese communities in the southern Gezira, the southern Nuba  Mountains and Southern Sudan have been grappling with slave raids into their  communities. The means by which each of these societies has come to terms with the  ongoing violence has changed over the centuries; some have collapsed, others  have collaborated; some have actually gained in power. Either way all these  societies have undergone a major transformation. Specifically this presentation  will compare the affect of slavery, slave raids and resistance in the  pre-colonial era with that of the devastation of the nineteenth century Turco-Egyptian  and Mahdist eras to show how all of these societies have been permanently  changed.     

 WOMEN RIGHTS UNDER ISLAMIC LAWS:  THE DILEMMA AND THE WAY OUT
Omer Elgarrai, PhD.

With the change approaching as a result of the peace negotiations between the SPLA and the government, people of Sudan especially women should be very cautious not to overlook the case of their human rights. The insistence of the government on applying Shari'a ( Islamic Laws) in the north has been for a while accompanied with a false propaganda through the official media, that the Shari'a does not contradict women  rights.

Women movements in Sudan have been in a real dilemma. From life experience they noticed the shortcomings of the Shari'a , yet at the same time they would be considered anti-religion if they demanded abolishment of these Islamic laws. Their endeavor in developing masses of women would be curtailed as being accused of supporting ideas of the foreign western countries and denying their own culture and belief. This failure of facing the Islamic laws, which characterized the activity of women movements in Sudan for decades, resulted in minimal civil achievements such as equal pay, right of election, etc.

The paper will prove that Shari'a violates women rights. By quoting the Qur'an it will show that women under these laws are subject to discrimination that makes them no more than second-class citizens. In the private sphere, men, according to Shari'a, are guardians over women who have the right to discipline them even by beating. Man can marry up to four wives and is the one who has the right of divorce. In the public sphere women have no right to compete for presidential status. They have no chance to be judges or executive leaders. In society women have to wear the Hijab (veil), never meet with men or travel alone without the company of a male.

As a way out, the paper suggested the theory of evolution of Shari'a, which has been well established by the Sudanese thinker, the late Ustadh Mahmoud Mohammed Taha. The core of that theory, which will be thoroughly discussed, is the distinction between the spirit of Islam which provides equality and is suitable to us in this era, and the letter of  Shari'a which, violates women rights, and is unstable for our time.
Culture and Identity of the Sudanese in their struggle for Work in the US
Nageeb Elgadi

This paper is a preliminarily study for the Sudanese path and struggle in the recent years in the US.  This paper is an introduction to another, in depth ongoing research. The purpose of this paper is to explore and identify the struggle, the impacts, and the obstacles that the Sudanese immigrants face in their journey of adjustment and adaptation to settle in the US.
The study will look into different dynamics that contributed to the Sudanese movement and mobilization from their homeland to come to the US seeking refuge; looking for better quality of life. The Sudanese immigrants came to the US carrying their dreams for a secure future.
 Did the Sudanese immigrants find all or some of what they were looking for?
Are they satisfied with the outcome of their journey?
Is it still valid, that the immigration to the US considered a brain drain to a country like Sudan?
Identity struggle for assimilation in the US society, should the Sudanese become American?
Is dual citizenship a relief and or solution to the Sudanese immigrants dilemma for assimilation.

 POLITICAL  ISLAM VERSUS THE SOCIETY IN SUDAN;  HOW THE   ISLAMIC PROJECT FOR RENEWAL FAILED
  Dr. Mohamed S. Hassan
                    
     For many years, the National Islamic Front (NIF) in Sudan was the darling of political Islam movements in the Arab and Islamic worls.  It was  admired because it had succeded where they had failed.  Not only did the NIF assumed power in a major country, but it has also achieved apparent successes such as consolidating its control over the armed forces, all departments of government, and imposing its idea for an Islamic economy which enabled the NIF functionaries and allies to amass huge wealth while poverty and want spread throughout Sudan.  From the beginning, the NIF leaders proclaimed their "Project for Renewal" or "Almashrou Al-Hadari: Al Islami" which represented a vision for a future Sudan based soley on a combination of religious cohortation, moralistic edicts, and demagogic rhetoric.

     This paper attempts to examine the social fortifications set up by society in the countryside as well as in cities to frustrate and defeat government programs aimed at implementation of a drastic socio-political agenda.  Herein lies the strength of Sudanese society against the state and its powers.  This social resistance, which can only be described as a "slow revolution" manifested itself in various forms.
Darfur: Dynamics Of Idiom
Ahmed Mahgoub
 
 . . Parameters, signs, and developments all indicate and featuring  Darfur's arena as  getting icreasingly open for seriouslly possible outcomes and alternatives.Such unfavourable and remorseless expectations will sound much progenstic regarding the presence of de facto power-holding central goverment conducting totalitarinanism, anti-democaracy,national trnasgression,violation of human rights and a sheer Islamo-arabian hegenomy. Nevertheless, a well-founded historical inter-darfurian conflicts should account and as well could assimilate and formulate the driving forces:
 
1/ Ecological conflicts arising de novo between agrigarians and pastorals .
 
2/ The utmost rivalry for natural resources as well the signifigance of geopolitics and fertility of the lands.
 
3/ An ongoing arbitrary and casual inter-tribal frictions with enough liability for ultimate provocation and adverse consequences .
 
4/ The impacts of ethnic and kinship differences in such precapitalistic socities of Sudan with previlance of Islamo-arab mentality and superiority.
 
5/ Vulnerability of the historically strong feelings of oppression,unjustice and uneven development conducted by the narrow-ruling social club of Khartoum and strata of the center holding the power since independance of Sudan in 1956.
 
6/ The new elemental changes regarding the wealth issue in Darfur and western Suadan in general, with special reference to the ( Oil , liveStock , economic crops and the increasing volume of inter-african trade with consequently growing regional markets and development of newly expanded merchendise strata ) , regarding as well  the obvious and  continuous dragging of such wealth to favour the centre in expense of the natives and indegeous interests .
 
7/ The transnational impacts of the political and military developments in the south Sudan and the incentiveness induced by the significant gains acheived by SPLA ( any substantial and sensible slogan raised whenever, will get it's transnational dimenssions if same conditions may apply wherever)
 
8/ Remarkable wise is the historical tendences of Darfur's people for practicing Autonomy and even full independency till 1916.
 
9/ The historical ambitions for wealth, power and tribal dominance is clearly aroused , instigated and orchestrated by the fundamentalist islamo-arabic regime, this is ultimately consistant with the regime's plan and strategy for politico-economic dominance ( the papper sort and point the factions of the conflict and the clear defamed bias and open deploy of the ruling regime to the arabs groups and so-called Junjawid against the historical natives of Darfur represented by fur, Zaghawa and Massalit tribes )
 
The above facts could rather compose, setting up and reference the reality. However in the edges of the war-torn today's Darfur society, Ideology by definition have instigated it's paramountic manipulations within and through different factions . The papper therefore will consider the dynamics of Idiom , reinforcing the social sciences at the verge of the 21th. century and above all the overwholming interpretations and conclusions of the authors who seek a major resolution for Darfur , Bijja and other marginalized teritorries within the context of democratic , united and modernized Sudan.

Mountain Men or Lost "Boys"?: Analyzing the Resettlement Process of Sudanese Refugees in Colorado
Dr. Laura DeLuca

Simon Garang, Laura DeLuca, and Kur Kur have conducted research supported by a UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program) Faculty Research Grant at the University of Colorado during the Spring Semester 2004. At the Sudan Studies conference, they plan to share their findings about the adjustment of Southern Sudanese refugees in Colorado especially of the "Lost Boys" from Sudan. We would like the listeners to gain insight into Southern Sudanese in America through using Colorado's refugees as a microcosm.  
We will address the following questions;
1.        What does it take to succeed in America?  (in terms of education, jobs, relation to law and order and
adapting to  American culture more generally)
2.        Given the above question, how are the Lost Boys in particular adjusting, integrating, and adapting in
Colorado?
3.        What were their expectations prior to arriving in the United States versus the realities they confront once they are here?
4.        How does the Lost Boys experience compare with that of other Sudanese refugees? What are the difficulties
that each group is facing in adjusting and integrating?
5.        What are some of the community expectations and responsibilities of the Lost Boys? (With this question we hope to shed some light on social relations as well as differences based on gender, age and education.)
Shaping identity and culture: The early nationalism of the
White Flag League ' Detribalized' people and the interpretations of Sudanese culture and identity in the 1920s
Elena Vezzadini

My contribution to your conference on the Dynamic of Gender and Culture in Sudan is related to one aspect of my research, namely how that social group defined by the British as 'Detribalized Negroid' conceived and shaped Sudanese nation and culture. Their ideas are particularly evident in the political works of the first nationalist group, the White Flag League and its leader Ali Abdel Latif, as expressed in the numerous articles and telegrams addressed to the British Government and newspapers from 1919 to and 1924: it is well known that numerous League members belonged to the lower class, many being "detribalized" people to which was attached a social stigma.
What I would first investigate in the paper are the ideas about Sudanese culture and nation that the group promoted: what meant for them 'being Sudanese', by what was composed the Sudanese culture, how they imagined its future developments, and also which role played in their elaborations their background of marginalization
Second, I would analyze the opposing forces put in motion by the League's creative interpretation of culture: first, the British administrators, who generally regarded this movement with great hostility, as it represented for them all that the Sudanese should NOT become; second, the Sudanese upper class composed by religious and tribal notables, who individuated in the League's discourse a potential of social destructiveness that they had to counteract at all costs. By consequence, the upper class responded to this menace offering an alternative interpretation of the categories above mentioned of nati on and culture, impregnated with conservative values shaped ad hoc.
In conclusion the Sudan emerged in the 1930s shaped by the cultural struggle of the precedent decade and the results of this battle have constituted the bulk of the conception about how should be the Independent Sudan.
"Resettlement Program and its Implication on the Institutions of Marriage and the Family: The Case of Southern Sudanese Refugees in Cairo."
Jane Kani Edward
The Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education
The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT)

Becoming a refugee involves both geographical displacement and changes in human relationships. Similarly, refugee experiences characterized by economic pressure and uncertain future usually lead to the alteration of many traditions and cultural practices of refugees. This paper examines the impact of the resettlement program for Sudanese refugees in Egypt on the institutions of marriage and the family as practiced in southern Sudan.

The deteriorating conditions in Sudan due to the civil war, coupled with limited prospects for local integration in Egypt, particularly for southern Sudanese has led the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - Regional Office in Cairo (UNHCR-RO) to promote a resettlement program, both as an instrument of protection and as a durable solution for the refugees living in Egypt.

The paper begins with a brief discussion of the conditions of southern Sudanese refugees in Cairo in relation to the refugee status determination as a requirement for resettlement. I will then illustrate how the resettlement program affected the patterns and meaning of marriage, the unity of the family and the challenges facing polygamous families. Focusing on these aspects is necessary because they are the ones most affected by the resettlement process, and the most demanding to the resettling countries. Also it is within these areas that negotiations and tensions among women and between women and men occur. The paper is based on interviews with southern Sudanese refugees in Cairo I conducted from December 2001 to January 2002.
A Man Is Not a Man without Two Wives
Jay O'Brien

This paper explores in narrative form the unexpected deep friendship that I developed with Uncle Adam, a middle-aged farmer in the small village of Um Fila on the Rahad River. The title comes from a statement made to me by Uncle Adam, husband of only one wife, as he tried to explain how plural marriage and many sons are the keys to a man's successful life. This initiates a series of conversations between us about marriage, family, gender roles, friendship and respect in our two very different cultures. His position in the village is liminal and fraught with ironies that are reflected in his wry sense of humor. Uncle Adam's compound is square where others are round; he lacks a men's house in which to receive visitors; and he enjoys an unusual companionship with his wife. He is an important source of information for me about the village and is as curious about me and my culture as I am about him and his.
The Transnational Semiotics of the Veil: A Theory about a Sign in Khartoum
Noah Salomon

    My essay will explore the cultural history of an object: a solitary billboard I encountered in Khartoum in the summer of 2003.  The billboard depicts a woman wearing the hijab (Islamic headscarf), talking intently into a microphone. The photo is flanked by the words, "the hijab: obedience to God, a symbol of purity, and a sign of modesty."  Through a careful exploration of this sign-its words, its pictures, and even its physical placement -I will reveal the complex discursive histories and religious sensibilities on which its efficacy depends.   I will argue that this sign represents not only an act of da'wa, calling women to what those who erected it see as normative Islamic practice, but also an intervention into the international debate on the legal regulation of Muslim women's dress. Through an inquiry into this Sudanese sign, which graphically indexes debates occurring not only in Sudan but in contemporary Turkey as well, I will show how discourses on the semiotics of the veil can exceed the local contexts in which they are imbedded and make active contributions into debates occurring in vastly different social and national spaces.  In doing so, both the terms of those debates and the religious practice of veiling itself are forever transformed.
Poverty and Gender in the Gezira Irrigated area, Sudan: A Household Level Analysis
Samia Elsheikh , Chamhuri Siwar, Nik Hashim Mustapha, and Abd. Ghafar Ismail  
Faculty of Economics,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Sudan has suffered from a high increase in poverty over the last decade of the last century. Both men and women suffer from poverty; however, women suffer most due to deep-rooted structured inequalities in the women' s situations and critical gender disparities.  This paper uses tenant household level data collected in October 2002 in the Gezira irrigated area to map out a poverty profile and examines the dimensions of poverty and the relationship between gender and poverty in the Gezira irrigated area in Sudan. Data were collected using cross-section survey. A total of 598 tenant households were surveyed. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistical methods. The multivariate binary logistic analysis indicates that households headed by women with low educational attainment, large number of children and small size of cultivated area are likely to be poor. The result reveals that the different roles and resources that men and women have in society are an important determinant of the nature and scope of their poverty. A major policy enhancing poverty among tenant women is the access to education, access to credit, increases the size of cultivated area and access to other basic services such as water sources and proper cooking fuel.
Key ward: poverty, Gender, Gezira irrigated area and Binary logistic regression
Ellen Gruenbaum, California State University, Fresno

"A Report from Khartoum: Rebuilding American Collaboration with Sudanese Higher Education and Research."
During the last ten years, American and Diaspora scholars of Sudan have significantly reduced our roles and connections there. But it is clear from my recent stay in Sudan (January-March 2004) that the coming year is a crucial period for offering assistance to Sudanese researchers. Research capacities have fallen dramatically, as opportunities for research have shrunk. Numerous new universities were started without much attention to quality control, leading to reduced research capacity. Also the political and economic constraints on professors have made it almost impossible for them to carry out research, as they are spending their time moonlighting and doing consultancy reports for survival. This paper reports on observations, interviews, and presentations at a two-day conference on Assessing Capacity Building Needs in Research and Training in Social Sciences and Population Studies in Sudan. Proposals and recommendations will be presented for discussion.
SPLM Local Authority Structures and Issues for Post-Conflict Peace
Adam Branch (Columbia University) and ZachariahMampilly (UCLA)

While much has been written on the organizational structure of the SPLM/A at the national level, little is known about the governance structures at the local level.  For the local population, it is this level that is of most concern.  It is also, we argue, the level at which a genuine post-conflict peace must be forged.  This paper sketches out the structures of local governance, assesses their ability to provide governance in the current situation, and discusses some issues relevant to the local government that threaten to undermine the post-conflict peace.  The research for this paper was collected in Yei and Nimule, Equatoria Province, New Sudan.
Healing the Wound in Sudan: Learning from the Truth and Reconciliation Experience of South Africa
Dr. Mohamed Elgadi (American Friends Service Committee-Philadelphia)
and Dr. Tsoaledi Daniel Thobejane (University of Massachusetts at Amherst)

Until the time when the current government in Sudan seized power in 1989, human rights activists thought that systematic and government-operated torture world-wide had been officially eradicated. Well, they were wrong.This paper is presented by two African human rights activists who survived the Apartheid torture apparatus in South Africa, and the Ghost Houses in Sudan. The paper focuses on the major "schools of torture", including the religious one that is well  represented by the current regime in Sudan. This kind of torture entails the destruction of the victim physically and mentally, and then use his/her "wreckage" or destroyed soul and body, as a model to spread fear in the larger community, and especially to anyone who dares to oppose the regime. This kind of torture has been identified by thousands who survived torture in Sudan, as the most dehumanizing form.  

The South Africa Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) model will be  discussed as a possible mechanism to address the concerns raised by torture survivors in Sudan regarding the US-brokered peace agreement. The paper will suggest specific steps for reconciliation toward healing the wounds and scars" of the survivors. These suggestions will draw on the much talked about "Truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa, and suggest a way forward in the process of healing the wounds of the nation.
 
GRUENBAUM, Ellen (California State U., Fresno). Resisters and Reformers: Ethnography of Efforts to End Female Genital Cutting in Sudan, 2004. Previous ethnographic research in Sudan in 1974-79, 1989, and 1992 revealed the multiplicity of meanings and the variety of practices of clitoridectomy, excision, and infibulation in Sudan. Several grassroots changes and public-health inspired efforts at change were beginning to affect attitudes and expectations about the forms, future, and meaning of female genital cutting. This paper offers ethnographic insights into the experiences and progress of Muslim families who resisted FGC or were early adopters of change and reports on new fieldwork (2003-2004) on the grassroots change advocates, especially those working with the Sudan National Committee On Harmful Traditional Practices and the Babikr Badri Scientific Association for Women Studies.
Sudanese Refugee Women Becoming Activists
 Magda Ahmed

In this presentation, which is based on a larger study I conducted earlier, the study intention was to understand the Sudanese refugee women's activist experiences in exile in order to explore and analyze the possibilities of introducing Popular Education philosophy and methods in their context. I will focus mainly on three issues: The first issue is the impact of exile on the Sudanese refugee women activists and the complex implications of exile on them. The second issue is how the Sudanese refugee women define activism, how they perceive their activism and what they think is the roots for their activism. The third issue is what are the different categories of activism these activists present and what are the mechanisms they developed to cope with exile.
The study this presentation is based on has been conducted with a group of twenty-two Sudanese refugee activists; fifteen of them live in Cairo Egypt and seven live in the United States.
Qualitative research methods were used including intensive one-on-one interviews and a focus group was conducted to explore and understand the life histories of Sudanese refugee women activists who live and work within their communities in Cairo Egypt and in the United States.
Construction of the Nation:  The Evidence from Postage Stamps of Sudan and Burkina Faso
 Michael Kevane
Dept. of Economics
Santa Clara University

Interest in the forging of national identities remains a topic of concern among scholars of Africa's economic decline.  Numerous studies suggest that the cause of decline lies in the poor performance of many African countries systems of governance.  Key ideas of legitimacy, accountability and developmentalism are widely discussed.  This study will examine the content of postage stamps as highly-charged signifiers of national identity.  Postage stamps, for semi-literate societies, are powerful visual images that criss-cross the territory and occasionally venture to overseas diaspora.  They are platforms for self-representation.  A comparison between Burkina Faso and Sudan, two poor Sahelian countries with large Muslim and non-Muslim populations, is instructive.
Why the Naivasha Peace Talks?  Sudan during 2001 and 2002
 Michael Kevane
Dept. of Economics
Santa Clara University

This article is a survey of events in Sudan during the years 2001 and 2002, written for African Contemporary Record.  It will offer a detailed description of major political, economic and social changes taking place in Sudan during the two year period.  The major question to be addressed is what impulses led to the reinvigorated peace talks and signing of major accords between the military regime in Khartoum and the SPLA.