The Zaghawa and the Midob of North Darfur – A comparison of migration behaviour

Two ethnic groups of North Darfur, the Zaghawa and the Midob, are being compared as regards their migration behaviour and their identification in their destination areas. Both groups have severely suffered as a result of the drought phase of the last three decades, during which more than half of the Zaghawa and Midob have migrated southwards and to the towns. Despite the similarity of the two ethnic groups, being non-Arab agropastoralists who are socially and politically marginalised both within Darfur and within the Sudan, they show marked differences in their migration behaviour and ethnic solidarity. The Zaghawa migrants are considerably more economically successful than the Midob migrants. The main reasons are: – The Zaghawa started their outmigration earlier than the Midob. Thus, they could establish ethnically-based networks in Libya and the Gulf countries, to which Zaghawa migrants can resort to make a good start in their destination areas. By the time the Midob started their migration in the 1980s, the conditions of employment in the Arab oil countries had worsened. – The Zaghawa show a strong clan solidarity. They readily lend money to young members of their clan to cover the high costs of travelling to the Arab oil countries for work, where many of them have already established themselves. – The Midob, both in the Sudan and abroad, have much less resources available. The only country open for them outside the Sudan is Libya. Lacking capital, the Midob go there on camels, mostly illegally. Having no connections in Libya, except those to other poor Midob there, they usually try to work in herding sheep and goats, which is not a lucrative profession. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Resistance and response: Ethnocide and genocide in the Nuba Mountains,Sudan

The Nuba claim that they are the indigenous inhabitants of the Nuba Mountains of the Sudan. Indigenous peoples here refers to pre-existence, non-dominance, cultural difference and self-identification as indigenous. As such the Nuba are politically and economically marginalized and suffered persecution and dominance under external and internal colonialism. Human rights abuses, including genocide and ethnocide (or cultural genocide) have persisted and the Nuba are increasingly under pressure to give up their traditional way of life, and lose access to their lands and other natural resources for immigrant Baggara and Jellaba ethnic groups are supported by the state. This paper traces the origins of Nuba abuse and oppression, and delineates their uneasy and turbulent relationship with the Sudanese state.     

Rural-urban migration and the problem of town planning —

The conurbation of Khartoum has been long the main destination area of the rural-urban migration in the Sudan. The town-planning office has become unable to provide the inmigrant masses with the least required housing infrastructure. The result is that the inmigrants have been living for some decades now in squatter areas without any right of residence. The way from the formation of a squatter settlement which is officially non-existent and illegal to a demarcated residential area is long and tedious. The author describes this process using the example of Um Badda which is a traditional destination area of inmigrants. The analysis shows that the officials of the town-planning treat the ethnic groups on unequal basis with a strong bias against southern Sudanese.     

Migration from Eastern Gezira into greater Khartoum

This paper is an attempt to investigate the role of rural-urban migration in the population integration process and national identity in Sudan. Although migration is considered as an important mechanism in integration, yet its effect cannot be easily detected if urban life fails to challenge the culture and norms of migrants. In this case study the role of migration is limited by the status of the urban and the purely traditional background of migrants. Population integration is a central issue in the Sudan with its high level of pluralism, ethnic and cultural complexity. It is assumed that migration is an essential factor to challenge such complexity. This paper is part of a research programme financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) — Identity in Africa — Processes of Development and Change — initiated and sponsored by H. Ruppert and F. N. Ibrahim, University of Bayreuth.     

The role of rural-rural migration as a survival strategy in the Sahelian zone of the Sudan —

Taking the example of Burush, N Darfur, Sudan, the authors analyse the role of migration as a survival strategy in the desertification-stricken Sahelian zone. It is being argued that the rual-rual migration plays a greater role than the rual-urban migration among the Berti ethnic group of northern Darfur. Their high mobility within their own area is part of their traditional economic pattern for coping with aridity and high rainfall variability     

Nyimang women in urban settlements

Rural-urban migration is a widespread process in Sudan. Male migration from the Nuba mountains to Khartoum already started during the colonial time. Up to the present, the percentage of women under the migrants has rapidly increased. The women follow their husbands or move together with their families to the capital. Their living conditions in Khartoum differ from those in rural areas. The migrant women have less opportunities to work outside the house or to move to other housing areas, so that they only have contacts with members of their ethnic group living in the same neighbourhood. Besides the social problems, the women are confronted with economic difficulties. Their aim, to save money for remigration, is nearly impossible to attain.     

内陆河流域城镇发展的历史过程与机制——以黑河流域为例

城市的起源与形成是一个极其复杂而漫长的过程,是诸文明要素积累凝聚、从量变到质变的过程.黑河流域的城市大致经历了五个发展阶段:秦汉以前的城市萌芽,两汉时期的奠基期,十六国时期、隋唐时期的第二高峰期,宋以后的衰落期,直到明清以后城市再度复苏.在这一变化过程中,移民屯垦、兴修水利、农牧业的消长与进退、人口迁移与聚集、地缘政治和自然环境的变化是城镇发育与成长的主要驱动力.其中,又蕴含了两个相互交错的正负效应:汉民族的西扩—统一的国家—稳定的地缘政治关系—移民屯垦—兴修水利—农业繁荣—气候暖湿—城镇发展;少数民族东进—地方割据—复杂动荡的地缘政治环境—牧业扩张—气候干冷—沙漠化扩大—城镇衰退.其实质是在特定的地理环境和民族分布格局下,对优势生存空间的争夺.     

The migration of the Danagla to port Sudan: A case study on the impact of migration on the change of identity

The study of the history and dynamics of the migration of the Danagla to Port Sudan proves that they belong to the most active groups in the Sudan. Though they have completely dropped their agricultural background and adopted an entirely urban character they still have close contacts both to each other in town and to their home land. Their migration is, nontheless, a permanent one.     

Impact of extreme rainfall in the central Sudan during 1999 as a partial analogue for reconstructing early Holocene prehistoric environments

The year 1999 was an exceptionally wet year, with severe floods in China, India and Australia and very high flow in the Nile. In Sudan, the July rainfall was unusually early and heavy, and persistent rains throughout August and early September caused severe floods in much of central Sudan, including Khartoum.The synoptic conditions historically associated with extreme rainfall events in central Sudan include a warm equatorial Indian Ocean, a strong summer monsoon over both Africa and India, a northward shift of the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone earlier and further north than usual, and the presence of deep, well-developed westerly air masses accompanied by a strong Tropical Easterly Jet that allowed more moisture transport into Africa from the South Atlantic via the Congo basin, leading to very heavy precipitation in the Ethiopian uplands and the central Sudan.The intense late wet season rains in 1999 caused a major canal in the Gezira Irrigation Area to break its banks and filled normally dry depressions between dunes with water, providing a partial analogue of early Holocene environments in this region when small groups of Later Stone Age peoples occupied the sandy ridges seasonally. Global Circulation Models cannot provide such detailed local information.     

Urbanization and desertification in the Sudan with special reference to Khartoum

Urbanization-desertification interactions in the arid zones of the Sudan represent a challenge for future management planners. Desertification leads to a considerable movement into the towns, thereby encouraging the urbanization process. However, due to the large pull effect of large urban centres which are limited in number and unevenly distributed over the area, most of the migration is oriented towards them. This tendency is strengthened, furthermore, by the present planning trends of growth pole centres. The result is overcrowding, negative over-urbanization diseconomies and more pressure on the natural resources in the immediate hinterland, thus further accelerating the desertification process. Some examples are given in the paper to show how the rapid increase of urban population and the rapid growth of urban centres have reflected themselves in difficulties in procuring wood fuel or naturally grown raw materials for traditional and small urban industries. The specific example of Khartoum, the largest urban centre in the Sudan with the highest rate of growth is treated in detail to show how rapid urbanization processes would result in intensified desert conditions and how ecological interactions and effects would be faster and more serious in a more vulnerable ecological location.     

Climatic changes,desertification and the Republic of Sudan

Meteorological data for a period of 30 to 50 years was analysed to ascertain the climatic changes in the Republic of Sudan. The study confirms that the temperatures are rising and rainfall declining. Rigorous analysis of relative humidity, clouds, rediation and evaporation also confirms the changing pattern, a trend which may accelerate environmental degradation and desertification in Sudan.The author acknowledges the assistance of Nadir Ahmad El-Agib in completing this study. He is also thankful to Dr. Ahmad El-Agib for his help in getting the Meteorological data from Sudan.     

Desertification: or perhaps not? White Nile,Sudan, 1980–92

The White Nile area of the Sudan has undergone significant socio-economic change during the 1980s as demonstrated by surveys carried out near Ed Dueim in 1980 and 1992. At first sight these changes appear to be linked directly with the reduction in average annual rainfall. This paper demonstrates that, though important, this factor is not the sole, and may not even be the main factor involved. Government investment policy and associated population movements are shown to have great significance, and cast doubt on any belief that a return to higher rainfall levels would reverse the current socio-economic processes.     

Climatic changes and desertification in some regions of the Middle East

It is generally believed that more than 100 tropical countries are suffering from desertification or land degradation as a result of climatic changes. There is also concern that the rising temperature would lead to further environmental degradation and cause economic, social and other environmental impacts (1) in the Middle East. This paper is a modest attempt to investigate temperature and rainfall data in three countries of the Middle East (Oman, Bahrain, and Sudan) to determine if any change has taken place in the weather conditions. The short term environmental impact of the GulfWar in 1991 has been included in the study.The study confirms that temperatures are rising and rainfall is decreasing in Oman (2, 3) and other two countries, leading to increasing desertification processes. Here, following Hume and Kelly (4) desertification is taken to mean degradation in dryland regions or the permanent decline in the potential of the land to support biological activity and hence human welfare. A brief geographical discussion of Oman, Bahrain, and Sudan precedes a detailed analysis of temperatures and rainfall regimen in all three countries.     

Desertification,famine, and the 1988 rainfall —

The 1988 good rainy season in the Sudan raised the hopes that desertification/land degradation and shortage of food so markedly observed in Western Sudan have been elevated. This was particularly so as large quantities of grains were produced in the mechanized rain-fed agricultural schemes in the clay plains of Eastern Sudan. But the field work carried by the author in the Umm Ruwaba district of Kordofan region in July/August 1989 shows that, although there has been some improvement in the crop production situation, desertification/land degradation and shortage of food produced locally are still prevailing in the district. The people are still living below the poverty line, but they are able to cope because of remittances from members of the families working abroad and because of donations of food by some world organizations.     

Ethno-ideological segregation and metropolitan development

The effect of ethnic residential segregation on metropolitan development and expansion is examined. The ethno-ideologically divided city is an extreme case of segregation and Jerusalem, an example of such a city, provides a good case study. Deviations from patterns of population change predicted by the theory of the urban population density gradient are analysed non-statistically using the available data. When the two ethnic sectors are treated as separate cities, these deviations do not seem to be very important and population change conforms to the model. This seen in the light of local patterns of segregation seems to imply that at the local ‘tactical’ level domination and exclusion of the other group seems to result, whereas on the regional strategic level power is shared more equally and economic and demographic factors play the major role in fashioning the distribution of population change.     

Environmental literacy in interpreting endangered sustainability: Case studies from Thailand and the Sudan

This paper examines how people explain reasons and impacts of environmental change in the low-rain savanna of the central Sudan and mountainous forest lands of northern Thailand. The explanations are analyzed by using the concept of environmental literacy, which refers to the people’s ability to grasp the environment and its interactions. The paper aims to study people’s conceptions of the environment, which compose one factor in directing their behavior. For the study, rural inhabitants in the State of North Kordofan, the Sudan, and the Chiang Mai Province in Thailand were interviewed.It was noted that an individual’s capability to understand the environment is alone insufficient to address environmental problems because the efficient alleviation of the problems requires collective actions at all levels, and because of factors beyond an individual’s control. However, the results supported the assumption that the local people have knowledge of their environment that may help in developing sustainable environmental management practices. The main advantages of using the environmental literacy concept are argued to be its dynamic and synthetic essence, its link to sustainable behavior, and wide applicability in various contexts within heterogeneous communities.     

Burning issues: Whiteness, rurality and the politics of difference

In the past decade geographers have critiqued the exclusivity of idyllic representations of rurality and sought to explore the diverse experiences of Other social groups in the countryside. This paper builds upon that small but significant strand of research which has highlighted the whiteness of representations of rurality and the consequences of this for racialised minorities. These debates have been crucially important in forwarding our understanding of racially-exclusive constructions of idyllic country living; however, it is important that academics neither assume that such ideas are forever fixed, nor that they affect all minority ethnic groups in the same ways. This paper takes both the potential power and frailty of these ideas seriously, as it examines how the concepts of race, racism and rurality are deployed by different commentators as they debate the place of one specific minority ethnic group in the English countryside. The route taken into this is a consideration of print-media reporting of events in Firle, Sussex, where, in 2003, some white rural residents symbolically purged their village of Gypsy-Travellers by burning a mock caravan complete with effigies at their annual bonfire celebrations. In conclusion, the paper challenges the relative lack of attention to these issues within the white-dominated discipline of geography, and argues that it is imperative to trace the dynamic ways in which the whiteness of idyllic understandings of the rural are reinforced and challenged through contemporary social practice.     

Geographical study of ethnicity: Comparison between downtown and suburban Chinese in Metropolitan Los Angeles

There are two main schools of theory in the history of ethnic study in the US: acculturation/assimilation, and ethnicity/pluralism. The former emphasizes ethnic groups will merge to the host society and lose their entity; the latter indicates the ethnic identity will continue to exist. This paper proposes a now model of ethnic group distribution multiple cluster to support ethnicity/pluralism theory by adding the spatial perspective. The model indicates there are both traditional ethnic enclaves in inner city and new relatively concentrated ethnic residential and business districts. Creating a new landscape of their own in suburb will help the persistence of ethnic identity. The situation of Chinese. in Monterey Park becomes a Chinese hub with strong ethnic signature and entities, which attracts more Chinese people and businesses.     

Ethnic and political identities and territorialities in the post-Soviet space

The author examines some specific features and the post-Soviet changes of ethnic and political identities. He stresses the existence of supranational, mixed, blurred and `hierarchical' identities and of the complicated overlapping of national (political) and ethnic identities. Factors influencing their evolution in the context of nation- and state-building in the Russian Federation and in the other former Soviet republics are analyzed: language policy, creation of the national informational space, invention of national myths and stereotypes, and economic leverages used by ethnic political elites.     

Local Government and Natural Resources in the Sudan: The Case of Lagawa Rural Council

Resource management, protection and promotion are very critical issues facing many parts of our rapidly changing world. In most developing countries, such issues are handled by both central and local governments, but quite often specialised government agencies are entrusted with these jobs. In Sudan, and since 1971, local government has become more involved than ever with the issue of natural resources. This research assesses the performance of a single local government unit in Western Sudan with regard to the above mentioned issues. Out of the multiplicity of resources in the council, only natural grazing is selected for the focus of this assessment study, because of its high significance in the local socio-economic set-up. A lengthy field-study was carried out to determine the resource situation and how it affects policy and control and promotion measures. This council has failed; a situation typical of most rural councils in Sudan. Worst of all, the natural grazing is deteriorating rapidly under stocking rates which exceed the carrying capacity by 49%, a fact that has already enhanced desertification.This research is partially sponsored by the UNU.