This book propels Sudanese intellectuals into the global intellectual milieu and argues for their place in world intellectual history. The book explores the history and evolution of Sudanese thought, knowledge production, and cultural capital from the fifth century to the twenty-first century.

Sudanese Intellectuals in the Global Milieu: Capturing Cultural Capital propels Sudanese intellectuals into the global intellectual milieu and argues for their place in world intellectual history. The contributors posit that Sudan is currently in its most uncertain and perhaps most generative period, as the unrest, conflicts, and upheavals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries threw Sudanese intellectuals and activists into identity, economic, environmental, religious, and existential crises. Despite these crises, the unrest has created a period of knowledge production and cultural production in Sudan. The contributors to the collection are Sudanese intellectuals who explore the history and evolution of knowledge production, thought, and cultural capital in Sudan.

Section I: Introductory

Chapter 1: More than a Grain of Sand: Opening Outward—Sudanese Thought in a Globalized Milieu

Sondra Hale

Chapter 2: Capturing Cultural Capital: Where to Start, and Which Ideas Matter?

Gada Kadoda

Section II: Ghosts and Beacons

Chapter 3: Visitations: Dialogue with the Ghost of Dr. John Garang

Francis Mading Deng

Chapter 4: The Beacon: A Glimpse of Suad Ibrahim Ahmed’s Intellectual Life

Fatima Babiker Mahmoud, with an Addendum by Mohamed Suliman and Azza Mohamed

Section III: Hybridities and Ambiguities

Chapter 5: The Invention of the Northern Sudanese

Abdullahi Ali Ibrahim

Chapter 6: The Rise and Decline of the Hybridity Thesis in the Intellectual Discourse on Identity: The Sudan Example

Mohamed Abusabib

Section IV: The Production of Intellectuals

Chapter 7: Interrogating the Dilemma of Sudanese Academics: Producing Knowledge or Recycling Ideologies

Atta El-Battahani

Chapter 8: The Pioneering Women’s and Gender Studies Intellectuals in Sudan: Ahfad University for Women

Balghis Badri and Mai Izeldeen

Section V: Marginalized Intellectual Communities

Chapter 9: “Peace-building” as Thought and Practice in the Nuba Mountains before 2011

Enrico Ille and Mariam Sharif

Chapter 10: Portrait of a Woman of Courage: Awadeya Koko, Organic Intellectual

Mai Azzam and Sana Makawi

Chapter 11: Life as an Act of Resistance: On Politics and Ideas—Youth Movements in Sudan

Wini Omer

Section VI: Mahdists, Feminists, and Humanists

Chapter 12: Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi’s Intellectualism: Searching the Iceberg

Rabah Al Sadig

Chapter 13: Transforming Lives: Fatima Babiker’s Feminist Trajectories

Amani El Jack

Chapter 14: Francis Mading Deng: Ideas for Bridging Boundaries, Managing Diversity and Reconciling Differences

Daniel Jok Deng and Luka Biong D. Kuol