This book deals with two puzzles: Who has lived on the mountain Shaybun, which has been a famous gold market in the Nuba Mountains (Sudan) until the 19th century, and why has it been deserted? The answering begins with a present ethnic group, the Shawabna, who are of unclear origin and have a contested position between the lines of being Arab or being Black African. The book does not attempt to solve the historiographical and the ethnographical puzzles, but it presents different narratives surrounding these questions, in order to keep the diversity of perspectives and to relate the historical narratives to its conditions of creation. Simultaneously the text discusses the political and scientific treatment of yet uncertain, therefore imagined resources, which is inseparable from the narrative representation of Shaybun's history.

Autorentext

Dr. Enrico Ille, geboren 1982, studierte Ethnologie und Musikwissenschaft in Leipzig und Halle. War anschließend wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Seminar für Ethnologie der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. Er lebt, arbeitet und forscht derzeit im Sudan.

Inhalt

Contents Acknowledgements III Preface V Chapter 1: Shaybun as place of the present 1 Conditions 3 Descriptions 13 Encounters 16 Chapter 2: Shaybun as place of the past 36 Chapter 3: Shaybun as place of the future 53 19th century: Joseph Russegger 55 20th century: S. C. Dunn 64 21th century: Man ur Müammad A mad 68 Chapter 4: Shawabna as Nuba and Arabs 72 Nuba and Arabs 73 Present lineages as past tribes 77 ubab 89 cAbdallab 97 Musallamiyya 102 Chapter 5: Shawabna as Muslims 105 A tribal history - Shawabna and Shaybun 105 Alliances - Shawabna, Nuba, and awazma 114 Representations - Shawabna and Tagali 119 cAbd al-cAziz Khalid (2002) 121 cAbd al-Qadir Müammad Dawrah (2003) 135 amid al-Faki cAbd al-Räman cAbd Allah (2004) 147 Chapter 6: Shawabna in (Tira) Mandi 173 The cumda 178 Institutionalized fractions and cooperation 194 Being Arab 200 Languages and names 203 Lineages, clans, and tribes 205 Historical narratives and political claims 222 Origins and migrations 226 Arrival and changes 230 Original passages 235 References 249