The Sudan Handbook

82 the sudan handbook

into which a person has been born. The once-commonplace T or H

shaped facial scars of Jaali men and women and the three horizontal

lines of the Shaigiya are seen infrequently today, but the candelabra

forehead marks on Dinka men from Bor, or the horizontal lines of the

Nuer are still a relatively frequent sight. (Scarification is a coming-of-age

ritual among the Nuer and the Dinka, a procedure that, for boys, follows

earlier removal of the lower front teeth.)

A particularly contentious type of body modification that is widely

practised in various forms in northern Sudan is female circumcision, or

genital cutting. Anthropological accounts of the lives of women in commu-

nities in the north stress local understandings of this practice as part of a

symbolic affirmation of female fertility, a ritual separation from the world

of men. Female circumcision is the subject of a continuing campaign in

Sudan for its abolition or modification. Male circumcision is ubiquitous

among Muslims in Sudan, and is also practised by some non-Muslim

groups in the south, where female circumcision is unknown.

In the south, although the respective roles of men and women are

closely defined by cultural practice, there is generally less physical segre-

gation in social relations. Despite extensive mixing between Sudanese

from north and south over centuries, formal unions between people from

the northern riverain areas and those from the south are not frequent.

The absence of female circumcision in southern communities is not the

only obstacle, nor even the main one. Many communities in the north, for

instance, favour marriage between certain categories of cousin; and other

biases may come into play. Within the north, unions between people

from riverain communities and those from the west, or other peripheral

regions, may not be regarded with favour by the families involved.

Peoples and Cultures of South Sudan

South of the Tenth Parallel, Arab and Islamic influence diminishes

markedly. But the peoples of the south are as varied in their ways of

life and the moral worlds they inhabit as those of the north. Until the

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors mid-nineteenth^ century^ much^ of^ what^ is^ now^ southern^ Sudan^ was^

(www.riftvalley.net).