War and Survival in Sudan's Frontierlands: Voices from the Blue Nile

by Wendy James

Overview

This book completes a trilogy by the anthropologist Wendy James. It is a case study of how the Uduk-speaking people, originally from the Blue Nile region between the 'north' and the 'south' of Sudan, have been caught up in and displaced by a generation of civil war. Some have responded by defending their nation, others by joining the armed resistance of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, and yet others eventually finding security as international refugees in Ethiopia, and even further afield in countries such as the USA. Sudan's peace agreement of 2005 leaves much uncertainty for the future of the whole country, as conflict still rages in Darfur. The Uduk case shows how people who once lived together now try to maintain links across borders and even continents through modern communications, and where possible recreate their 'traditional' forms of story-telling, music, and song.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199298679
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/09/2007
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Wendy James is Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of St. Cross College. She has carried out research in the Sudan and Ethiopia intermittently over four decades, and has long-standing academic links with universities and other institutions in the region of north-eastern Africa. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and has served as President of the Royal Anthropological Institute. She has published widely not only on Africa but on the history and current scope of anthropology, as well as acting on various occasions as a consultant to the UN and associated agencies. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Copenhagen in 2005.

Table of Contents

Historical Introduction: The Blue Nile BorderlandsPart One: The Struggles for Kurmuk and for Chali1. Projects, Targets, and the Recruitment of the People2. Chali: Rooting up a Sleepy Village3. Chali: Front-line GarrisonPart Two: The Long Road, 1987-934. Initial Refuge at Assosa and Why it Failed5. Blue Nile South: Ethiopian Turmoil, SPLA-protection, 1990-926. The SPLA Split: Refugees on the Edge7. Escape Bac to the New Ethiopia, 1992-3Part Three: Beyond Words8. Safe Haven? Bonga Refugee Scheme9. Dance, Music, and Poetry10. Sermons, Visions, and Dreams11. Reunions, Retrospectives, and IroniesEpilogueCurrent and Future AgendasAppendix: Time Chart

Editorial Reviews

"Wendy James's book is an impressive study, based on long-term field research in the turbulent area of Southeast Sudan bordering Ethiopia and in Khartoum, and gives great insights into the experiences of the Uduk (or Kwanim Pa) people and their wider (inter)national contexts.... This monograph makes absorbing reading; Wendy James has done a wonderful job."—Jon Abbink, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

From the Publisher