CULTURES - SUDANESE

Background
Sudan, located in northeast Africa has been in constant state of flux ever since its independence under the Islamic leader, Mahdi at the close of the 19th century. Only months after driving the British forces out of Khartoum and effectively unifying all of Sudan, the Mahdi died and his successor, Khalifa Abdallah, was left to deal with civil war and the threat of invasion from Britain and Egypt. The Egyptian and British alliance defeated Khalifa's forces in a battle for control of Omdurman and reclaimed control of Sudan. The two governments, signed a condominium agreement establishing joint control of Sudan.

By the end of WWII, two political parties emerged that stood opposed in their respective visions for Sudan's future. The National Unionist Party, which was led by Ismail al-Azhari, called for the union of Sudan and Egypt, while the Umma Party demanded that ties be severed with Egypt and that Sudan gain its independence.

Before independence finally came in 1956, the South was invaded by the North in 1955 as a result of disgareements at the Juba conference in 1947 to make the South part of the North. This invasion led to the formation of the Ayanya one which fought for seventeen years to free the South from Northern control.

In 1956, Sudan was again granted independence from Britain, but the country remained divided. The northern part was dominated by Muslims, while the southern half was split between Christians and African tribes. Following the expulsion of colonial rule, northern Sudan sought to unify all of Sudan under its Arab identity by invading the south effectively catalyzing the ongoing civil war.

Peace in Sudan lasted only a short time as al-Azhari was ousted in a bloodless coup in 1958. The leader of the coup, General Ibrahim Abboud, assumed power and established military rule in an effort to consolidate power. Abboud though was unable to solve the "southern problem" as the civil war in the southern part of Sudan, killed almost 500,000 people.

A tenuous peace agreement was reached in 1972 and the south was granted self-rule within the united Sudan. However, these accords failed to produce any significant changes for south Sudan. In 1975, a group that opposed the agreement led the Akobo mutiny in 1975. A few southerners fled the country to neighboring Ethiopia and formed Anyanya second also known as the APF (Anyanya Patriotic Front). The aims and objectives of this group were to liberate the South as a separate country from the North. Anyanya second fought for eight years to awaken Southerners and spread the seeds of rebellion. By 1983, in spite of his promise to allow southern self-rule, Colonel Nimeiri, who drafted the peace proposal, enforced Islamic law, sharia, on both northern and southern colonies, which resulted in a continuation of the civil war. In 1983, the war escalated again with Nimieri's proclomation and the ensuing exodus of Southern masses to Ethiopia to join the Anyanya second in the liberation effort.

Those days the Ethiopian government was under the communist leadership of Mangistu Haile-Mariam. The communist aim was to use Southerners on behalf of Eritreans who were getting support from the Sudanese government to cut Asmar from the North as a country. However, a lot of Southern politicians disagreed with the Ethiopian government on this aim. In the spring of 1983, John Garang arrived at the Ethiopian border to join the liberation. After he met with the ring leaders of the Ethiopian government, he accepted the policy of balancing these dual objectives and he became a member of the Socialist solidarity under Mangistu Haile Mariam.

Garang’s alliance with Ethiopia caused a division among the Southerners and two parties formed. The Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) formed as the military wing of Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). Garang and the SPLA were supported by the Ethiopian government, while Anyanya second without any support joined the Northern campaign. With the development of internal divisions, the war morphed into a conflict between two former allies instead of a war against the Arabs in the North. It was not until 1997 that the first peace agreements were made; a process that continues to this day. The referendum for Southern liberation was granted during this peace process with the Arab North. The former rivalry that existed between Garang and Riek Machar is dissipating as the focus has once again become freedom.

Now in 2004, the north led by President Bashier and the south led by John Garang are in discussions about signing a referendum to grant self-rule to the south. The major problem with reaching an agreement in this referendum lies over control of the Blue Nile, Abyei, and South Kardofan, which are three border regions. During British occupation, these lands were granted to the north even though the people are all African and have been fighting as allies of the south during the civil war. The north refuses to give up these lands because of economic interests there.

More than 1.9 million people (1 out of every 5 southern Sudanese person) have died in the past two decades as a result of Sudan’s civil war. This massive loss of life surpasses the civilian death toll of any war since World War II. In the first half of 1998 alone there were 70,000 deaths. The present is grim for Sudanese children too. Thousands of children suffer from Marasmus, the most severe degree of malnutrition, a condition in which children’s bodies literally feed off their own muscle until it is nearly gone. Then they die.

Immigration
The constant state of war that has ravaged Sudan for the past twenty years has driven out hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees into Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya. Tens of thousands of women and children who have been deemed “infidels,” have been captured as war booty, taken from their families and forced into unpaid labor. Over 4 million people in southern Sudan have been forced to flee their homes and have become “internally displaced.” Many have fled to the United States in search of a new life.

Education

• Although most Sudanese people live in rural areas, education is centered around Khartoum. There is a general lack of schooling in Sudan with high rates of illiteracy among the population. In public schools, students are grouped into grade levels solely on the basis of age. For example, a 15 year-old who’s never attended school before would be placed in ninth grade even though he/she might not know how to even hold a pencil.

• ESL instruction is not individualized either as the public schools often assume that students are literate in native language.

• Parents care very much about children’s education. A lack of involvement may be due to the trust that families have in teachers and in school systems.

• Limited access to books in the home. Parents may be unable to read themselves.

Different tribes
-The main tribal categories in Sudan are the Nilotics and the Bantus. Bantus account for the majority of the population in Africa as a whole, but not in Sudan. Within Nilotic tribes, the culture is very similar, even the dialects.

• Nilotics: Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk, Asholi, Anuak, Atuot

Bantus: Bari, Muru, Didinga, Kakua, Mahadhi


Family
Many children here without mother or father or both (may have been killed in the war). Large families; close knit

Cultural strategies and considerations

• Try to recruit volunteers or establish an after school program to give these students additional help. Sudanese students are very willing to stay after and school and continue learning. In San Diego, the Sudanese English Project has had enormous success in this area.

• Sudanese operate under a different time system; “African time” (culturally, time is viewed as a sequence of unfolding events) and not as regimented. Be flexible with scheduling. Remember that many new students arriving from the Sudan are not used to being in school all day and thus they may not have the attention span that their peers have. Flexibility is also important when trying to reach out to Sudanese families to schedule conferences.

• Because the Sudanese culture is so community based, teachers should promote group work to capitalize on this cultural value.

• Many immigrant students go through a silent period when they first arrive. Don't force them to speak until they are ready and make sure that you are not overwhelming them with information during this adjustment period.

• The culture is oral in nature. In general, traditionally no formal written form of language. Therefore, this lack of familiarity with any written form may make it more difficult to teach literacy. However, teachers should keep the oral nature of their learning in mind when designing instruction.

• May have been in traumatic situations (running from attacks, witnessed shootings, starvation, death). Most have lived in multiple countries.

• What seems like chaos to us is quite normal for them.

• Multilingual: Nuer is the primary language of most students; however Arabic is widely spoken as well as are the various tribal languages like Bari and Muru.

Resources
Brewster, K. Sudanese English Project: Teaching English as a Second Language. U.S.D. Community Service Learning.

Peterson, S. (2001). Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. New York: Routledge.