This book completes a trilogy by the anthropologist Wendy James. It is a case study of how the Uduk-speaking people, originally from the Blue Nile region between the 'north' and the 'south' of Sudan, have been caught up in and displaced by a generation of civil war. Some have responded by defending their nation, others by joining the armed resistance of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, and yet others eventually finding security as international refugees in Ethiopia, and even further afield in countries such as the USA. Sudan's peace agreement of 2005 leaves much uncertainty for the future of the whole country, as conflict still rages in Darfur. The Uduk case shows how people who once lived together now try to maintain links across borders and even continents through modern communications, and where possible recreate their 'traditional' forms of story-telling, music, and song.
Readership: Academics and students of Anthropology, Development Studies, Politics, Refugee Studies, and Migration. Also researchers with an interest in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Middle Eastern and African current affairs
Wendy James, Professor Emeritus, University of Oxford
Historical Introduction: The Blue Nile Borderlands Part One: The Struggles for Kurmuk and for Chali 1: Projects, Targets, and the Recruitment of the People 2: Chali: Rooting up a Sleepy Village 3: Chali: Front-line Garrison Part Two: The Long Road, 1987-93 4: Initial Refuge at Assosa and Why it Failed 5: Blue Nile South: Ethiopian Turmoil, SPLA-protection, 1990-92 6: The SPLA Split: Refugees on the Edge 7: Escape Bac to the New Ethiopia, 1992-3 Part Three: Beyond Words 8: Safe Haven? Bonga Refugee Scheme 9: Dance, Music, and Poetry 10: Sermons, Visions, and Dreams 11: Reunions, Retrospectives, and Ironies Epilogue Current and Future Agendas Appendix: Time Chart
