Comments on: Arabs, Africans, or Both… How Do the Sudanese See Themselves?

By: gutayba

gutayba — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:24:18 +0000

north is arab south isnt north are mixed with the indigenous nubains of southern egypt and northern sudan we are arabs culturally and genealogy so to simply it north are arab mixed with nubian south are pure african

By: mohammed

mohammed — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:17:00 +0000

But speaking Arabic does not make any one an Arab.I think you errored in your opinion there.Like wise speaking English or German or any European languages doe snot make you a European. I am from Kenya and i dislike to see many African loose their heritage to foreign cultures as is the case of so many African tribes in Sudan.

By: mrgololi

mrgololi — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 18:20:40 +0000

Nothern Sudanese would do anything to be Arabs. This is not only a phenomenon limited to them. Muslim groups ranging from Hausas in the west to Somalis in the east, and as far afield as in Malysia have shown a strong tendency for identifying with Arabs. As Muslim converts, these groups have concocted some genealogical line to put themselves in close proximity to the the genealogy belonging to Prophet Mohamed who happens to be an Arab. What makes the case of the Sudanese to differ from everybody is that the fictitious genealogy has become so complete that it has foreshadowed the original sudanese identity. Sudan is the cradle land of the Nilotes, and the northerns, among whom are the Nuians, belong to this group. They are not Kushitic, like the Beja who happen to be the only Kushitiuc group living in the Sudan. Though the Sudanese are not Kushtic, the Kingdon of Kushite belong to Sudan and not to people known as Kushite whose original homeland is far away from Sudan. I believe if the northern rulers were willing to embrace their real identity, half of Sudanese problems would not have been with us. Southern Sudanese whose mobilisation strategy to win support is based on the claim of fighting for liberation from the Arab domination is successful because their fight is based on the logic of “we Africans” against “them Arabs ”
I am afraid the same strategy may in future come to play a major role in shaping conflict in the south when different southern group will have to fight for political and economic dominance.
I wish southern Sudanese good luck

By: eve

eve — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:23:39 +0000

I’ve read that post by Sudanese Thinker and he sounds quite ignorant. He uses outdated (and racist) European distortions of Sudanese history and what African features look like. If I read him correctly he seemed to be implying that the variety of African features in Sudan came from the Arab admixture and that before, all Sudanese tribes looked like the Dinka or Nuer. If that’s what he is saying then he most ignorant and incorrect. You yourself chose a very stereotypical picture of an African by choosing a sweaty one with broad features in scrappy clothing. There are other Sudanese tribes that look nothing like that. That one picture does not display the diverse range of facial features and clothing in Sudan. The Beja and Nubians have narrow features similar to Arabs, but they have ALWAYS looked like that.

Yes, North Sudan is Arab CULTURALLY and some North Sudanese are mixed with Arab, but this fact should not be misconstrued into thinking that Northern Sudanese facial features came from Arabs. Most of the physical differences between North and South Sudanese are from geography. NOT from admixture. The truth is that the north is Cushitic while the South is Nilotic. The former tends to have narrow features, small heads, and wavy/curly hair like Ethiopians while the latter has broader features, full faces, a tighter, coarser hair texture, and deep dark skin. There was never a time when all Sudanese had a South Sudanese look. Those features originate from the south and have always been unique to the south. The country of Sudan, like any African country, is merely manmade lines carved into Africa by European colonial powers. National boundaries forced all these various ethnic groups to share a national identity that they originally did not have and they never looked the same. When people like Sudanese so-called-Thinker believe that all Sudanese tribes used to all look like Nilotes, then they are treating these man-made national boundaries as if they’re real; as if there was some monolithic Sudanese race that filled these boundaries when there never was a homogenous Sudanese race or bone structure.

I just want to make that clear. The blogosphere would be better off if there weren’t people like Sudanese Thinker perpetuating lies about their country and what African features look like.

To put it bluntly, Sudanese Thinker can’t think.

By: Anisa Benmoktar

Anisa Benmoktar — Mon, 31 May 2010 01:17:40 +0000

Thank you – how fascinating…

By: Nuha

Nuha — Sat, 22 May 2010 17:02:38 +0000

Loved the pictures, I am also from the ’shaigee’ tribe, I smiled at the use of ‘exotic’ to describe the mixture.
This topic has been on my mind lately and my mum made a very good point. The term ‘Arab’ refers to any native arabic speaker, regardless of their geographic location. Since arabic is the offiicial language in north sudan it makes them arab. african refers to where they are in the world. the beauty of looking at it this way is realising that there is no conflict, we are arab not because we are trying to imitate or be part of the arabs in saudi arabia/uae etc, its simply because we speak arabic