What is the Sudanese conflict?
The conflict in Sudan has a long history with political, ethnic, economic, and religious influences. We included a timeline of important political, economic, and social events in Sudan’s history here.
Why should we care?
As a result of the conflict, approximately 5.5 million Sudanese civilians have been forced to flee their homes to avoid violence. Many people have sought safety in refugee camps in Kenya (38,000) and Uganda (45,000), while others have resettled in the United States. The “Lost Boys of Sudan” is the name given to the groups of over 20,000 Nuer and Dinka boys who were displaced and/or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), in which roughly 2.5 million were killed and millions more were displaced. These people will continue to be refugees unless the powers behind external humanitarian aid address the need for internal and structural change.
What is our approach?
We first looked at popular news sources and the ways in which the general public is being informed about the conflict in Sudan. We then selected an anthropologist whose views are locally-sensitive to the Sudanese people, but who is also familiar with global politics. In our anthropological analysis, we compared the information we obtained from our news sources with the perspective of our anthropologist and ultimately reached conclusions of our own.
Images from Christopher Farber’s gallery, “Fragile Ground-Sudan.”
Guiding Question:
- Whose voices are being heard and why?