Pigs: the democratic philosophers of the medieval Sudan

African Studies Center Working Paper No. 134The pig is not a popular animal in the Sudan today, and the idea of eating one is a notion equally repugnant to most people of the north and the south. The historical record seems to indicate, however, that this has not always been the case in times past; indeed, swine are still kept by a limited number of small communities who live across a belt extending from the Nuba Mountains eastward to the Ethiopian border. The demise of a once significant domesticated animal is a theme worthy of careful historical analysis, for food - the production, distribution, storage and preparation of food - occupies a very important position in any cultural system, and a major change in the definition of what is, or is not, food, constitutes a benchmark in the periodization of social history. This study explores one such cultural watershed, in addressing the questions of when and why the mainstream of the northern Sudanese cultural community rejected the pig

The periodization of precolonial African history

African Studies Center Working Paper No. 12

Rethinking Sudan Studies: A Post-2011 Manifesto

Abstract This essay appraises “Sudan Studies” following the 2011 secession of South Sudan. It asks two questions. First, what has Sudan Studies been as a colonial and postcolonial field of academic inquiry and how should or must it change? Second, should we continue to write about a single arena of Sudan Studies now that Sudan has split apart? The authors advance a “manifesto” for Sudan Studies by urging scholars to map out more intellectual terrain by attending to non-elite actors and women; grass-roots and local history; the environment and the arts; oral sources; and interdisciplinary studies of culture, politics, and society. They propose that scholars can transcend the changing boundaries of the nation-state, and recognize connections forged through past and present migrations and contacts, by studying the Sudan as a zone rather than a fixed country. Finally, in their introduction to this bilingual special issue, they highlight the increasing relevance of French scholarship to the endeavor of rethinking Sudan Studies. Résumé Cet essai évalue la situation des « études soudanaises » après la sécession du Soudan du Sud. Il pose deux questions. La première : En quoi ont consisté les études soudanaises en tant que domaine colonial et postcolonial de recherche universitaire et dans quelle mesure doivent-elles changer, si tant est qu\u27elles doivent changer ? La seconde : Devrions-nous continuer à baser nos écrits sur un domaine unique d\u27études soudanaises maintenant que le Soudan est divisé ? Les auteurs proposent un « manifeste » pour les études soudanaises en exhortant les experts à cartographier un terrain intellectuel élargi en s\u27intéressant aux acteurs ne faisant pas partie des élites et des femmes ; à l\u27histoire de la base populaire et locale ; à l\u27environnement et à l\u27art ; aux sources orales ; et aux études interdisciplinaires portant sur la culture, la politique et la société. Ils avancent que les chercheurs peuvent aller au-delà des frontières en mutation de l\u27État-nation et reconnaitre les connexions établies grâce aux migrations et aux contacts passés et présents en étudiant le Soudan comme zone plutôt que comme un pays fixe. Enfin, dans leur introduction à ce numéro bilingue spécial, ils mettent en relief la pertinence croissance des travaux universitaires français dans le cadre de l\u27initiative visant à repenser les études soudanaises

Socialist Somalia: Rhetoric and Reality by Ahmed I. Samatar

No abstrac

A tree under whom to seek shelter: Royal justice and the right of sanctuary in sinnār

The Islamic Nubian kingdom of Sinnār dominated the northern Nile-valley Sudan from about 1500 to 1821. During the eighteenth century the government began to issue official documents in the Arabic language. Of these, about seventy are known to exist today. The present study examines an extended dispute over landholding near the Nile confluence that generated a series of official documents. Specifically, it considers a pair of unusual early nineteenth-century records that document the invocation of the right of sanctuary by the leader of the defeated party. © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden

Socialist Somalia: Rhetoric and Reality by Ahmed I. Samatar

No abstrac

A Text in an unidentified language of seventeenth-century Sinnar

Donated by Klaus Kreise