The Darfur conflict exploded in early 2003 when two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement, struck national military installations in Darfur to send a hard-hitting message of resentment over the region’s political and economic marginalization. The conflict devastated the region’s economy, shredded its fragile social fabric, and drove millions of people from their homes. Darfur Allegory is a dispatch from the humanitarian crisis that explains the historical and ethnographic background to competing narratives that have informed international responses. At the heart of the book is Sudanese anthropologist Rogaia Abusharaf’s critique of the pseudoscientific notions of race and ethnicity that posit divisions between “Arab” northerners and “African” Darfuris. Elaborated in colonial times and enshrined in policy afterwards, such binary categories have been adopted by the media to explain the civil war in Darfur. The narratives that circulate internationally are thus highly fraught and cover over—to counterproductive effect—forms of Darfurian activism that have emerged in the conflict’s wake. Darfur Allegory marries the analytical precision of a committed anthropologist with an insider’s view of Sudanese politics at home and in the diaspora, laying bare the power of words to heal or perpetuate civil conflict.

A vivid portrait of the president of the Justice and Equality Movement in Sudan (JEM), from his beginnings as a humble camel herder to his rise a major geopolitical figure, Darfur, JEM and the Khalil Ibrahim story also offers key insights for readers interested in African governance, political systems and state formation. Activists, NGOs and anyone involved in African politics will find it indispensable in their effort to bring peace to Darfur and Sudan at large.

This is the first book of its kind on Sudan, and arguably one of the first in North Africa. We are part of an emerging, more cosmopolitan approach that calls for a reassessment of ideas about not only the concept of identities, but also about migration and technology, especially social media. Our essayists engage in redefinitions, the broadening of our key variables, the linking and intersecting of concepts, and the investigations of methods and ethics, and opt for an approach that is, at once, culturally specific to Sudan (one of the most fluid social landscapes in the world) and transnational. Our essays address the narrowness of studies of migration and note the almost total neglect in the broader Sudan literature of the rise of technology—mobile telephony and social media, in particular. Furthermore, our essayists address the near neglect in the Sudan literature of certain categories of people, such as youth, or certain diverse spaces, such as neighborhoods or gold mines. We have also been attempting to move away from the nearly stereotypic descriptions of Sudan to deal with topics that align Sudan with transnational issues and themes, knowledge production among them. This multidisciplinary collection of essays is the first comprehensive work to grapple explicitly with the question of knowledge production in such a diverse social landscape. We discuss the impact of current trends in information technology and contemporary forms of identity and mobility on knowledge production. These issues are pertinent for different sectors such as academia, government or business, and, as we demonstrate, reveal a myriad of possibilities for studying diverse population groups like youth, women, diaspora, or specific political contexts such as conflict or oppression.

This volume provides a brief overview of major factors that contributed to the famine, warfare, and Islamic extremism crisis in the African region known as Darfur. After readers are seated in the facts of the Darfur crisis, real, first-hand accounts are then shared. Readers will be moved by the story from Nadia El-Kareem, who describes a young girl who becomes a Darfur refugee. They will read the story of a Darfurian Doctor to plans to continue reminding the world of her people's suffering. Another narrative describes a close escape on the heels of a violent village attack.

I am a simple person from a simple family who was part of a simple community. I grew up in the village of Dissa in the Darfur region of western Sudan. While growing up, I didn't know what racism was and didn't differentiate between people based on their color or religion. I had no access to television or electricity, had never tasted chocolate, and my family put our money in a hole instead of keeping it in a bank. In 2003, I was forced to leave my country with other Darfuris to escape persecution. While in Egypt in 2005, I read the word refugee in a book and realized that was me. I have experienced hate and racism because I am a refugee and foreign. I have been called ponga ponga, chocolate, ashikabla, and koshi. All these terms were meant to humiliate me either for my status as a refugee or for the color of my skin. I have been put in prison for being a refugee. On December 31, 2005, in Egypt, twenty-seven people were killed in front of my eyes simply because they were refugees. This book tells my story, both the happy parts as a child and the challenging parts as a refugee. I want the world to see all of me, not just my skin or my legal status. Because Darfuri refugees aren't just a nameless mass of people. We have families, stories, lives, just like you.

Ethnic, racial, and religious groups have long been targets of violence and oppression. This volume contains previously published material, which narrates and analyzes the acts of genocide and extreme persecution committed by Sudanese government forces in Darfur. Background information and first person accounts of the events are provided as well, to give the reader a more rounded knowledge of the events. Critical information is broken out and encapsulated into charts, timelines, and graphs. Maps are provided, detailing key geographic information.

This important reference work offers students a comprehensive overview of the Darfur Genocide, with roughly 100 in-depth articles by leading scholars on an array of topics and themes and more than a dozen key primary source documents. Stretching beyond Darfur to situate Sudan within the scope of its African, colonial, human rights, and genocidal history, this reference work explores every aspect of the Darfur Genocide. Covering hundreds of years, this book explores the religious, ethnic, and cultural roots of Sudanese identity-making and how it influenced the shape of the genocide that erupted in 2004. As the first reference guide on the Darfur Genocide, this text will enable readers to explore an array of critical topics related to the atrocities in Sudan. The book opens with seven key essays collectively providing an overview of the genocide, its causes and consequences, international reaction, and profiles on the main perpetrators, victims, and bystanders. These are followed by entries on such crucial topics as the African Union, child soldiers, the Janjaweed, and the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan. Leading scholars offer perspective essays on the primary cause of the Darfur Genocide and on whether the conflict in Darfur is a just case for intervention. Expertly curated primary documents enrich readers' ability to understand the complexity of the genocide.