What you need to read & watch to understand what’s happening in Sudan today
Not enough talk about what’s happening in Sudan. In an attempt to find books to read on the historical context and events that led to the current, hugely destabilizing conflict, we picked the brain of two of our podcast guests: researcher Aida Abbashar and founding director of Confluence Advisory, Kholood Khair.
Aida shared a detailed picture of the key players, pivotal moments, and socio-political factors that have catalyzed the violence we’re seeing today. While Kholood Khair helped us go beyond the headlines to understand how civic society has been impacted by the ongoing conflict.
Both these episodes were insightful and critical starting points, but we hope they spark a further curiosity to learn more about Sudan. This reading and watching list consisting of books, novels, films and documentaries that together paint a picture of Sudan’s culture, peoples and political history. You’ll find Aida’s and Kholood’s recommendations alongside a few of our own.
Books
Civil Uprisings in Modern Sudan, The Khartoum Springs of 1964 and 1985
W.J Berridge
Did you know that Sudan’s people have successfully overthrown not one, not two, but three military dictatorships from power? This book delves into Sudan’s parliamentary periods, experience of authoritarianism, and critically, the power of its populist and civil uprisings. You’ll gain key understanding not only of Sudan’s political history, but of how this interplays with contemporary dynamics. This is an insightful resource for understanding the mechanics of popular revolt and the wider, regional political landscape.
A History of The Sudan, From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day
P.M. Holt and M.W. Daly
If you’re seeking a foundational understanding of Sudan’s history, this is the book for you. Holt and Daly offer a detailed overview of Sudan’s history, tracking the build-up to the present-day situation. Tagged as “key introductory reading for any student of North Africa”, this is a must-read if you’re not familiar with Sudan’s modern history, tracking back to the Turco-Egyptian conquest all the way through to Sudan’s civil war, the country’s oil industry, and its contemporary relationship with China and the West.
Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy, The Promise and Betrayal of a People’s Revolution
Willow Berridge, Alex De Waal, Justin Lynch
This book contextualizes the current situation in Sudan against the 2019 revolution, mapping its success in toppling Omar Al-Bashir, through to the transitional-governments, ultimately asking, “Where can Sudanese democracy go from here?” The authors give careful insight into the historical, political and social context that crystallized in 2019, highlighting weaknesses that destabilized the Bashir regime as well as the rise of the security sector.
When Peace Kills Politics, International Intervention and Unending Wars in Sudan
Sharath Srinivasan
Ever wondered why Sudan is still afflicted by ongoing war and violence in spite of Peace Agreements, transitional governments, and international intervention? In this book, Sharath Srinivasan asserts that it is actually outside intervention and peace projects that “displace civil politics and raise the political currency of violence”. Srinivasan explores the impact and legacy of the North-South peace process and its role in precipitating war and conflict.
Khartoum at Night, Fashion and Body Politics in Imperial Sudan
Marie Grace Brown
This book traces the history of Northern Sudanese women’s civic participation and how this was, inherently, a '“bodily experience”, linking women’s physical experience and interaction with political and imperial institutions specifically through the clothes they wore. Brown tracks the development of female political agency and contemporary “womenhood” as expressed ”on and through their bodies”.
Season of Migration to the North
Tayeb Salih
This classic packs a punch with an exploration of colonialism and its transformative effect on identity and culture. Salih’s novel takes a village on the Nile in the 1960s as its setting. The plot follows an unnamed narrator as he returns from his travels and studies in Europe to find a newcomer, Mustafa Sa’eed, has made a home for himself in his village. The novel culminates in a reckoning about Sudan’s encounter with the West. This book was selected as the most important Arab novel of the 20th century by the Arab Literary Academy.
Line in a River, Khartoum, City of Memory
Jamal Mahjoub
Jamal Mahjoub fled Sudan with his family in the wake of the 1989 coup. This book is a personal and sentimental reflection of Khartoum: a mosaic of memories and non-fiction, in a unique blend of travel journal and memoir that paints a vivid picture of Khartoum, past and present. Exploring themes of colonialism, religion, diversity and politics, Mahjoub weaves together a “revelatory portrait” of his country.
Hawks & Doves in Sudan’s ARmed conflict, Suad M. e. musa
This book offers analysis of the involvement of the agro-pastoral al-Hakkamat Baggara women of Darfur in Sudan’s civil wars from the 1970s through to the present day. By challenging the portrayal and perception of women as natural peace builders, passive and submissive figures, this book shows how these women were co-opted by the state government to lobby on its behalf, rally for war and advocate for peace. (Via Boydell and Brewer)
Darfur: A short history of a long war, julia flint & Alex de waal
This book offers an introduction to the history of Darfur, its conflicts and the “designs on the region by the governments in Khartoum and Tripoli.” Shedding light on stories that have not yet been told, readers begin to understand who the Janjaweed militia are, where they came from and what they stand for. The book also looks into the radical Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement.(Via Amazon)
Sudan’s “Southern problem”: Race, Rhetoric and international relations, 1961 - 1991, Sebabatso manoeli
This is a book to gain an understanding of the complex discourses and diplomacies of Sudan’s civil wars. Through the lens of racial thought and rhetoric, Manoeli explores international debates about South Sudan and its political destiny. In the context of Pan-Africanism, the Cold War and Black liberation politics, the book reveals the discursive technique both sides employed to draw out support from different audiences thus demonstrating that the “war of words waged abroad represents a strategic, but often overlooked, aspect of the Sudanese civil wars.” (Via Amazon)
Films
Goodbye Julia
Mohamed Kordofani’s film Goodbye Julia is set just before the secession of South Sudan in 2011. The premise: a Northern Sudanese woman hires a Southern Sudanese woman as her maid after causing the death of her husband. These two women become a metaphor for wider discussions around racism vis-à-vis South Sudan, division and difference, and the need for reconciliation.
Al-Sit
Al-Sit takes Nafisa – a young girl from a cotton-farming village in Sudan – as its protagonist. Though Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, her parents have arranged a marriage with a Sudanese man who lives abroad. Meanwhile, Nafisa’s grandmother, the village matriarch Al-Sit, has other things in mind for her. This short-film by Suzannah Mirghani explores womanhood, autonomy, choice and power in a modernizing world.
Help us grow this resource
As we touched on earlier, this read and watch list is meant to act as a starting point for diving deeper into the complex historical, political and social context behind what’s happening today in Sudan. We want this to become a collaborative and growing resource. So if you have any recommendations or additions you’d like to see on this list, send them our way.