Darfur Crisis: A Selected Bibliography: History

The cross-disciplinary dialogue fostered by Salah M. Hassan and Carina E. Ray yields a comprehensive understanding of the causes, manifestations, and implications of the ongoing conflict. Many of the contributors emphasize that despite the international attention Darfur has received, it is those within Darfur and Sudan-both in preexisting organizations and in newly formed alliances-who have taken the lead in seeking local solutions.

This book is a decisive account of a famine, and a social history of Darfur, from 1984-1985. Alex de Waal looks into the effects of disease, starvation, and offers a challenge to humanitarian efforts including a look into the survival strategies of rural people. De Waal provides a case study of the Mawashei camp, and offers a number of reasons why genocide has impacted this community. In this revised edition De Waal includes a preface that examines Darfur with regard to the government sponsored miilitia Janjaweed.

This book offers a comprehensive introductory history of the Sudan. In this updated edition, the author’s provides a general history of Sudan, beginning from the Middles Ages. One of the more appealing aspects of this edition is that it includes coverage of recent events including the civil war and the attempts to establish an Islamist state. This book highlights how the modern Sudan has been shaped by three key elements: the Ottoman Empire; British domination; and, the complex relationship between African and Arab Muslim.

This book looks into the politics of racial identity in Sudan. The author argues that neither race, nor culture is at the root of Sudan’s conflicts, but rather the “racialized postcolonial state,” which is dominated by the policy of Arabization and Isamization.

This book is the story of a Sudanese woman, Mende Nazer, who as a child was captured into slavery by the Mujahedin (Arab raiders) who invaded her village, killed adults, and captured children. The book is divided into four parts. In the first part Nazer provides a detail account of how life was before the raid, and how the people in her village lived. In the second part Nazer writes about how she and other children were stolen away into slavery. In part three, Nazer tells how she was able to escape from slavery. In the last part, Nazer writes about life as a freed person.