[Peace-discuss] RE: Darfur talk

[Scott Edwards]

In fact, the "Arabs" in Sudan, save for a small minority, are not looked 
upon as Arabs by other Arabs. Dark-skinned, the Arabs in Darfur are Arabs by 
self-identification. With almost no exceptions, the population of Darfur is 
Muslim.

Though I fall short of endorsing them, some sociological/anthropological 
explanations for Darfur focus on the insecurity of Sudanese Arabs about 
their identity as the force behind creating in-group out-group distinctions 
that make violence aginst the out-group an identity-confirming act.

For a very good read on the history of Darfur, including a detailed analysis 
of the ethnography of Darfur (and the explotation of those identites by 
foreign actors), I recommend a book published last month "Darfur: The 
Ambiguous Genocide" by Gerard Prunier.

best,
scott

Amnesty International, US
Country Specialist for Sudan

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 22:16:03 -0600
From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Darfur talk

Thanks for the helpful summary, Mort.  Regarding "the long and
tragic history of the black peoples in Sudan" -- aren't all
the parties involved in Darfur, oppressors and oppressed
alike, black (and Muslim)?  Here much of "Darfur awareness"
(e.g., the article in the "Black History Month" issue of the
Public i) seems to suggest that blacks there are being
oppressed by Arabs, who it is implied are in some sense
non-black. --CGE