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Sudan
Index
Distinctions may be drawn among long-settled arabized
communities, those settled in the past half century, and those--
the minority--that remained nomadic. Recently settled groups
might still participate in nomadic life or have close connections
with nomadic kin.
Formerly, where long-settled and nomadic or beduin
communities came in contact with each other, relations were
hostile or cool, reflecting earlier competition for resources.
More recently, a degree of mutual dependency had developed,
usually involving exchanges of foodstuffs.
Along the White Nile and between the White Nile and Blue
Nile, sections of nomadic tribes had become sedentary. This
transition occurred either because of the opportunities for
profitable cultivation or because nomads had lost their animals
and turned to cultivation until they could recoup their fortunes
and return to nomadic life. Having settled, some communities
found sedentary life more materially rewarding. Sometimes nomads
lacking livestock worked for sedentary Arabs, and where employer
and employee were of the same or similar tribes, the relationship
could be close. It was understood that when such a laborer
acquired enough livestock, he would return to nomadic life. In
other cases, a fully settled former nomad with profitable
holdings allowed his poorer kin to maintain his livestock, both
parties gaining from the transaction.
Arab nomads in Sudan in the early 1990s were generally camel
or cattle herders. They might own sheep and goats also for
economic reasons, but these animals were not otherwise valued.
Typically, camel herders migrated to the more arid north, whereas
cattle herders traveled farther south where camel herding was not
feasible.
The ancestors of the Baqqara tribes began as nomadic camel
herders. When they moved south to raid for slaves, they found
camel travel inappropriate, and took cattle as well as people
from the southerners. They have been cattle herders since the
eighteenth century. Their environment permitted cultivation also,
and most Baqqara grew some of their food. Camel herders, in
contrast, rarely sowed a crop, although they might gather wild
grain and obtain grains from local cultivators.
In the 1990s, the communities of arabized nomads were
similar. In principle, all units from the smallest to the largest
were based on patrilineal descent. The largest entity was the
tribe. A tribe was divided into sections, and each of these, into
smaller units. If a tribe were small, it became a
naziriyah (administrative unit--see Glossary);
if large,
its major sections became naziriyat. The sections below
the naziriyah became umudiyat (sing.,
umudiyah--see Glossary).
Below that were lineages, often
headed by a shaykh, which had no formal position in the
administrative hierarchy. The smallest unit, which the Baqqara
called usrah, was likely to consist of a man, his sons,
their sons, and any daughters who had not yet married.
(Patrilineal cousins were preferred marriage partners.) The
usrah and the women who married into it constituted an
extended family.
All divisions had rights to all tribal territory for grazing
purposes as long as they stayed clear of cultivated land;
however, through frequent use, tribal sections acquired rights to
specific areas for gardens. Members of an usrah, for
example, returned year after year to the same land, which they
regarded as their home.
The constant subdividing of lineages gave fluidity to nomadic
society. Tribal sections seceded, moved away, and joined with
others for various reasons. The composition and size of even the
smallest social units varied according to the season of the year
and the natural environment. Individuals, families, and larger
units usually moved in search of a more favorable social
environment, but also because of quarrels, crowding, or personal
attachments. The size and composition of various groups, and
ultimately of the tribe itself, depended on the amount of grazing
land available and on the policies and personalities of the
leaders.
Traditionally, a man rich in cattle always had been sure to
attract followers. The industry, thrift, and hardiness needed to
build a large herd have been considered highly desirable
qualities. At the same time, a rich man would be expected to be
generous. If he lived up to that expectation, his fame would
spread, and he would attract more followers. But wealth alone did
not gain a nomad power beyond the level of a camp or several
related camps. Ambition, ability to manipulate, hardheaded
shrewdness, and attention to such matters as the marriage of his
daughters to possible allies were also required.
In the precondominium era, leaders of various sections of a
tribe had prestige but relatively little authority, in part
because those who did not like them could leave. The colonial
authorities stabilized the floating power positions in the
traditional system. For purposes of taxation, justice, and public
order, the new government needed representative authorities over
identifiable groups. Locality could not serve as a basis in a
nomadic society, so the government settled on the leaders of
patrilineal descent groups and gave them a formal power they had
previously lacked.
Among the nomadic Kababish camel herders (a loose
confederation of tribes fluctuating in size, composition, and
location), the definition of the tribe as a single unit by the
colonial authorities and the appointment of an ambitious and
capable individual as nazir led to a major change in
social structure. Tribal sections and subsections were gradually
eroded, leaving the individual household as the basic unit, ruled
by the nazir and his primitive bureaucracy. The ruling
lineage developed a concept of aristocracy, became very wealthy,
and in effect spoke for its people in all contexts.
The administrative structure of the naziriyah and
umudiyah ended shortly after the establishment of
President Jaafar an Nimeiri's government in 1969, but the
families of those who had held formal authority retained a good
deal of local power. This authority or administrative structure
was officially revived in 1986 by the coalition government of
Sadiq al Mahdi.
Of continuing importance in economic and domestic matters and
often in organizing political factions were minimal lineages,
each comprehending three (at best four) generations. The social
status of these lineages depended on whether they stemmed from
old settler families or from newer ones. In villages composed of
families or lineages of several tribes, marriage would likely
take place within the tribe.
A class structure existed within villages. Large holdings
were apt to be in the hands of merchants or leaders of religious
brotherhoods, whose connections were wider and who did not
necessarily live in the villages near their land. Although no
longer nomadic, the ordinary villager preferred not to cultivate
the land himself, however. Before the abolition of slavery,
slaves did much of the work. Even after emancipation some ex-
slaves or descendants of slaves remained as servants of their
former masters or their descendants. Some villagers hired West
Africans to do their work. Ex-slaves and seminomads or gypsies
(halabi, usually smiths) living near the village were
looked down on, and marriage with them by members of other
classes was out of the question. A descendant of slaves could
acquire education and respect, but villagers did not consider him
a suitable partner for their daughters. Slave women had formerly
been taken as concubines by villagers, but it was not clear that
they were acceptable as wives.
Landholders in government-sponsored projects did not own the
property but were tenants of the government. The tenants might be
displaced Nubians, settled non-Arab nomads--as in Khashm al
Qirbah--settled or nomadic Arabs, or West Africans. Many of these
people used hired labor, either West Africans or nomads
temporarily without livestock. In many instances, the original
tenant remained a working farmer even if he used wage labor. In
others, however, the original tenant might leave management in
the hands of a kinsman and either live as a nomad or work and
live in a city, a lifestyle typical of Nubians.
Although all settled communities were linked to the
government, the projects involved a much closer relation between
officials and villagers, because officials managed the people as
well as the enterprise. In effect, however, officials were
outsiders, dominating the community but not part of it. They
identified with the civil service rather than the community.
West Africans working in Arab settled communities formed
cohesive communities of their own, and their relations with Arab
tenants appeared to be restricted to their work agreements, even
though both groups were Muslims. Cotton cultivation, practiced on
most of the farms, was labor intensive, and because available
labor was often scarce, particularly during the picking season,
the West African laborers could command good wages. Their wages
were set by agreements between the tenants who held the land and
the headmen of the West African communities, and these agreements
tended to set the wage scale for Arab laborers as well.
In the White Nile area, more recently settled by nomadic
groups, aspects of nomadic social organization persisted through
the condominium era. As among the nomads, leadership went to
those who used their wealth generously and judiciously to gain
the support of their lineages. In this case, however, wealth
often took the form of grain rather than livestock. Most major
lineages had such leaders, and those that did not were considered
at a disadvantage. In addition to the wealthy, religious leaders
(shaykhs) also had influence in these communities, particularly
as mediators, in contrast to secular leaders who were often
authoritarian.
The establishment of the naziriyah and umudiyah
system tended to fix leadership in particular families, but there
were often conflicts over which members should hold office. In
the case of the Kawahla tribes of the White Nile, the ruling
family tended to settle these differences in order to maintain
its monopoly of important positions, and it took on the
characteristics of a ruling lineage. Other lineages, however,
tended to decline in importance as the system of which they had
been a part changed. The ruling lineage made a point of educating
its sons, so that they could find positions in business or in
government. Although the Nimeiri government abolished the older
system of local government, it appears that the former ruling
lineage continued to play a leading role in the area.
Data as of June 1991
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