Multidimensional Change in Sudan (1989–2011): Reshaping Livelihoods, Conflicts and Identities

Based on fieldwork largely collected during the CPA interim period by Sudanese and European researchers, this volume sheds light on the dynamics of change and the relationship between microscale and macroscale processes which took place in Sudan between the 1980s and the independence of South Sudan in 2011. Contributors’ various disciplinary approaches—socio-anthropological, geographical, political, historical, linguistic—focus on the general issue of “access to resources.” The book analyzes major transformations which affected Sudan in the framework of globalization, including land and urban issues; water management; “new” actors and “new conflicts”; and language, identity, and ideology.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on the Transliteration of Arabic Terms List of Abbreviations General Map of Sudan Introduction: Multidimensional Change in Sudan 1989-2011: Insights from Fieldwork Barbara Casciarri, Munzoul A.M. Assal and François Ireton PART I: LAND ISSUES AND LIVELIHOODS IN THE CAPITAL REGION AND RURAL AREAS Chapter 1. Old-timers and New-comers in Al-Ṣālḥa: Dynamics of Land Allocation in an Urban Periphery Munzoul A.M. Assal Chapter 2. Urban Agriculture Facing Land Pressure in Greater Khartoum: The Case of New Real Estate Projects in Tuti and Abū Seʿīd Alice Franck Chapter 3. Access Strategies to Some Economic and Social Resources among Recent Migrants in the Outskirts of Khartoum : the Example of Bawga Al-Sharīg François Ireton Chapter 4. Contested Land Rights and Ethnic Conflict in Mornei (West Darfur): Scarcity of Resources or Crises of Governance? Zahir M. Abdal-Kareem and Musa A. Abdul-Jalil PART II: WATER RESOURCES AT THE CORE OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL INTERACTIONS Chapter 5. Sudan’s Hydropolitics: Regional Chess Games, National Hegemony and Local Resistance Harry Verhoeven Chapter 6. Local Management of Urbanized Water: Exchanges among Neighbours, Household Actions and Identity in Deim (Khartoum) Luisa Arango Chapter 7. Domestic Water Supply and Management in Northern Kordofan Villages: Al-Loweib as an Example Elsamawal Khalil Makki Chapter 8. Water Management among pastoral Sudanese Pastoralists: End of the Commons or ‘Silent Resistance’ to Commoditization? Barbara Casciarri PART III: NEW ACTORS, NEW SPACES AND NEW IMAGINATION ON CONFLICTS Chapter 9. Asian Players in Sudan: Social and Economic Impacts of ‘New-Old’ Actors Irene Panozzo Chapter 10. Oil Exploration and Conflict in Sudan: the Predicament for Pastoralists in North-South Borderline States Abdalbasit Saeed Chapter 11. What Place in Khartoum for the Displaced? Between State Regulation and Individual Strategies Agnès de Geoffroy Chapter 12. Activist Mobilization and the Internationalization of the Darfur Crisis Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert PART IV: RESHAPING LANGUAGES, IDENTITIES AND IDEOLOGIES Chapter 13. The Islamic Movement and Power in Sudan: From Revolution to Absorption into the State Giorgio Musso Chapter 14. Language Policy and Planning in the Sudan: From Local Vernaculars to National Languages Ashraf Abdelhay, Al-Amin Abu Manga and Catherine Miller Chapter 15. ‘One Tribe, One Language’: Ethno-Linguistic Identity and Language Revitalization among the Laggorí in the Nuba Mountains Stefano Manfredi Chapter 16. Between Ideological Security and Intellectual Plurality: ‘Colonialism’ and ‘Globalization’ in Northern Sudanese Educational Discourses Iris Seri-Hersch Epilogue. A New Sudan? Roland Marchal Notes on Contributors Bibliography

About the Author :
Barbara Casciarri is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University Paris 8. She edited with A. M. Ahmed a special issue of Nomadic Peoples 13, 1 (2009), “Pastoralists under pressure in present-day Sudan” and with M. Van Aken a special issue of Journal des anthropologues 132-133 (2013), “Anthropology and Water(s).” She also edited (with Mohamed A. Babiker) the volume Anthropology of Law in Muslim Sudan. Land, Courts and the Plurality of Practices, Brill, Leiden (2018).

Review :
“It is unusual but refreshing to have a book on contemporary Sudan that does not fixate on the previous and/or ongoing violent conflicts in that country between the north and former southern region, now the independent nation South Sudan… Each contribution is lucid and informative, so those with a special interest in this newly reconstructed country will welcome this volume…Highly recommended.” • Choice “This book is useful to those who are just beginning to learn about Sudan as well as scholars who are more experienced and want to update their knowledge about the country’s recent changes… It is a fundamental resource for those who are interested in the study of contemporary Sudan.” • African Studies Quarterly “This is an essential book to read as a background and springboard for delving into an extremely critical and complex period of modern Sudan… a landmark and ground-breaking contribution in recent Sudanese studies. It opens new paths for further research and analysis in the study of socio-economic change in Sudan, and as such it is a must-read for everyone who wishes to grasp what is happening in Sudan at present, especially for Africanist researchers and those engaged in postgraduate interdisciplinary programmes.” • Égypte/Monde arabe “There really is very little published on some of these topics, and genuine field research of the kind which has been conducted by [this] number of contributors is rare.” • Justin Willis, University of Durham “This book brings together sixteen original, detailed field studies... [which] focus on localities across the northerly provinces of the Sudan as it was constituted [in 1989–2011]… The events and processes of this ‘interim period’ following the civil war have deep roots in the past of the whole region, and continuing relevance to ‘both Sudans’ today.” • Wendy James, University of Oxford