The Sudans

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

We are grateful for this unusual opportunity to consider in depth these two neighbors, born in Africa’s civilizational crucible and shaped by colonialism and the violence of anti-colonial struggles. Despite years of conflict resulting in thousands of deaths and devastating displacement of families, the world is little aware of these circumstances or why these countries are important. It is time to fill in the details. Until the 2011 independence of South Sudan, Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the seventh largest in the world. Together, the Sudans share the vast proportion of the three Niles- Blue, White, and Main- and coexist in a tough neighborhood with porous borders. Since 2023, Sudan has suffered from the impact of a pervasive and highly destructive war with no endgame in sight, disrupting life in South Sudan as well. When Sudan does get world media attention, the accompanying tagline is always “the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster.” In order to digest this enormous topic in a seminar, we will consider it in related chunks- the war, peace, mothers, brothers of the subtitle. ‘War’ refers both to the local violence of the Sudans coming of age as well as the 50+ year effort by South Sudan to reject its colonial destiny and become a nation on its own. ‘Peace’ is a theme of the intense spirituality of the region and how that impacts the politics, culture, and economies of the two countries. ‘Brothers’ ties into the peace theme as the organizational principle of religious life in the region, as well as the central role played by Sudanese families. And ‘Mothers’ indicates that we must consider the enormous role of women throughout the history and development of this region, as well as acknowledging the critical problem of the dangerous circumstances of childbirth and health in general in the region. The instructor is Professor Steve Howard, Emeritus Director of African Studies at Ohio University. He has studied and written about Sudan since the 1980s and is the author of our first reading, Modern Muslims (2016), which is available on open access. The course will focus on targeted lectures, reading, and discussion. Evaluation will be based on presentations- oral and written- and participation/contributions to our discussions.