The Sudan Handbook

PeoPles & cultuRes of tWo sudans 75

way that some of the Funj peoples and others closer to the Nile came

to do. Nor did they abandon their native languages. Today, considerable

sections of the population of northern Sudan – in Darfur and elsewhere,

while practising Islam and speaking one of the Sudanese dialects of

Arabic as a lingua franca, retain their own languages. They remain cultur-

ally distinct from Arab communities living alongside or among them.

These differences may be underlined locally, in rural areas, by differences

in modes of livelihood – most Arab groups in Darfur, for example, are

primarily nomadic pastoralists; while many of the non-Arab groups are

sedentary farmers. But ethnicity and livelihood do not map onto each

other with any consistency: non-Arabs can be pastoralists; groups and

individuals of Arab origin may settle and become farmers.

Arab Identities in Northern Sudan

The historical limits of Arabization can be seen in the overall distribu-

tion of languages and cultures in contemporary Sudan. In the central

areas of northern Sudan in the Nile Valley, the great majority of the

inhabitants identify as belonging to one or another of a dozen or more

Arab tribal groups: they practise Islam, claim Arab descent and speak

only Arabic. These children of the river, awlad al-bahr, have dominated

the post- Independence state. In the far north and in the east of the

country, however, as in Darfur, non-Arabic languages are still spoken

and non-Arab identities maintained.

In the east, the Beja, an indigenous people over a million strong, who

occupy most of Red Sea State (and whose presence there is recorded

from antiquity), preserve, for the most part, clear cultural differences

from neighbouring Arab communities, whether they continue the tradi-

tional Beja life as rural camel-breeders, or live in towns such as Port

Sudan, where many have been compelled to migrate by drought. Here,

Arabic may be the language of religion, of government and commerce,

but Bedawi, the Beja language, forms the fabric of everyday domestic life.

In Nubia, between Wadi Halfa, on the border with Egypt, and Dongola to

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors the^ south,^ several^ indigenous^ languages^ are^ still^ spoken,^ at^ least^ by^ those^

(www.riftvalley.net).