Object structure
Title:

Sudan’s Tea Ladies and the Legacy of Slavery

Subtitle:

Ethnologia Polona 40 (2019)

Creator:

Kurcz, Maciej

Publisher:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences

Place of publishing:

Warsaw

Date issued/created:

2019

Description:

ill. ; 24 cm

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

Sudan ; slavery ; citzy ; women ; ethnographic research

Abstract:

This paper presents the institution of roadside mini-cafes run by women – mostly poor migrants from peripheral or war-torn regions of Sudan – on Forty Days Road Street, one of the main streets of Omdurman. These cafes are not only one of the many examples of women’s informal activism in an urban environment, but also an institution in which the legacy of slavery is present. This dates back to precolonial times when the peoples of the Nile valley were slave-raiding and slave-owning. The author looks at the institution of roadside mini-cafe as something particularly important for the urban iconography of power, in which – using the terms of structural anthropology – a series of oppositions are materialised: formal/ informal, male/female, dominant/subordinate and Middle Eastern/African. The relations to slavery hidden in this particular institution help city dwellers (mostly men from the Muslim majority and Arab culture) in arranging hierarchies, rivalry and legitimating status. Gender and informality are particularly meaningful in this context as both strengthen the situation of radical inequality, intensify and constitute politics of dominance on the one hand and of subordination on the other. This paper is based on ethnographic research which was undertaken in the Khartoum agglomeration in 2013.

References:

Amir I. 2013. Identity, Citizenship, and Violence in Two Sudans: Reimagining a Common Future. New York (https://books.google.pl/books?id=zXBtAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Idris,+Identity,+Citizenship,+and+Violence+in+Two+Sudans:+Reimagining+a+Common+Future&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiy_rvw0aPdAhXDZVAKHeY_CnwQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q= Idris%2C%20Identity%2C%20Citizenship%2C%20and%20Violence%20in%20Two%20Sudans%3A%20Reimagining%20a%20Common%20Future&f=false). Access: 15.09.2018.
Bales K. 1999. Disposable People. New Slavery in Global Economy. Berkley, Los Angeles, London.
Bales K., Trodd Z. A., Williamson K. (eds). 2011. Modern Slavery. A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford (https://books.google.pl/books?id=KQzaU01lLb8C&printsec=froerkley ntcover&dq=Kevin+Bales,+Zoe+Trodd,+Alex+Kent+Williamson+2011&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIgo6Q8KbdAhXLPFAKHfM_AWgQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=Kevin%20Bales%2C%20Zoe%20Trodd%2C%20Alex%20Kent%20Williamson%202011&f=false). Access: 15.09.2018.
Bales K. 2005. Understanding Global Slavery. A Reader. Berkley, Los Angeles, London.
Barclay W. B. 1964. Buuri al Lamaab: a Buburban Village in the Sudan. N. Y.
Breidlid A., Said A. A., Breidlid A. K. (eds). 2014 (1st ed. 2010). A Concise History of South Sudan. New and Revised Edition. Kampala.
Johnson H. D. 2011 (1st ed. 2003). The Root Causes of Sudan’s Civil Wars. Suffolk.
Jok M. J. 2001. War and Slavery in Sudan. Philadelphia.
Kurcz M. 2007. Za trzecią kataraktą. Poznań, Kraków.
Makris G. P. 2000. Changing Masters: Spirit Possession and Identity Construction among Slave Descendants and other Subordinates in the Sudan. Evanston.
Munzoul A. S. A. 2011. From the Country to the Town. In J. Ryle. J. Willis, S. Baldo, J. M. Jok (eds.), The Sudan Handbook. Suffolk. 63–70.
O’Connell Davidson J. 2015. Modern Slavery. Margins of Freedom. Palgrave Macmillan (https://books.google.pl/books?id=HWekCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=O%60Connell+Davidson+2015&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixlJzh06jdAhXSa1AKHf5TCecQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=O%60Connell%20Davidson%202015&f=false). Access: 15.09.2018.

Relation:

Ethnologia Polona

Volume:

40

Start page:

277

End page:

290

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Format:

application/octet-stream

Resource Identifier:

0137-4079 ; doi:10.23858/EthP40.2019.014

Source:

IAiE PAN, call no. P 366 ; IAiE PAN, call no. P 367 ; IAiE PAN, call no. P 368 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-SA 3.0 PL license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-SA 3.0 PL] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-SA 3.0 PL license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Projects co-financed by:

Operational Program Digital Poland, 2014-2020, Measure 2.3: Digital accessibility and usefulness of public sector information; funds from the European Regional Development Fund and national co-financing from the state budget. ; European Union. European Regional Development Fund

Access:

Open

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