Who are the Darfurians? Arab and African identities, violence and external engagement |
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Authors: | de Waal Alex |
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Affiliation: | Alex de Waal is Fellow, Global Equity Initiative, Harvard University, Programme Director, Social Science Research Council and Director, Justice Africa |
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Abstract: | This article examines processes of identity formation in Darfur,now part of the Republic of Sudan, over the last four centuries.The basic story is of four overlapping processes of identityformation, each of them primarily associated with a differentperiod in the region's history: namely, the Sudanic identitiesassociated with the Dar Fur sultanate, Islamic identities, theadministrative tribalism associated with the twentieth-centurySudanese state, and the recent polarization of Araband African identities, associated with new formsof external intrusion and internal violence. It is a story thatemphasizes the much-neglected east-west axis of Sudanese identity,arguably as important as the north-south axis, and redeems theneglect of Darfur as a separate and important locus for stateformation in northern Sudan, paralleling and competing withthe Nile Valley states. It focuses on the incapacity of boththe modern Sudanese state and international actors to comprehendthe singularities of Darfur, accusing much Sudanese historiographyof Nilocentrism, namely, the use of analyticalterms derived from the experience of the Nile Valley to applyto Darfur. |
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