Skip to main content
Log in

Gender and alliance in central Sudan

  • Published:
Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Sudanese women have a stock of mother-in-law/daughter-in-law stories, documenting specific sources of tension inherent in this society where marriages are traditionally arranged and local endogamy is preferred within the patriline. In recent years, however, socio-economic developments within the Sudan have led to changes in both family composition and the range of opportunities available to women, which are mitigating this particular relationship and leading to new alliances between women. Drawing on data from the town of Sennar, Blue Nile Province, this paper looks at some of the factors contributing to these changes, as well as considers the various networks of relationships in which women participate when they move to an urban area.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bedri, B. 1980 Sex Socialization and Conjugal Roles in Omdurman. In Urbanization and Urban Life in the Sudan. V. Pons, ed. Pp. 629–646. Khartoum: Development Studies and Research Centre, University of Khartoum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedri, B. 1987 The Sociology of Food in the Fetiehab Area. In The Sudanese Woman. S.M. Kenyon, ed. Pp. 67–91. London: Ithaca Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beshir, M.O. 1974. Revolution and Nationalism in the Sudan. London: Rex Collings.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernal, V. 1988 Losing Ground — Women and Agriculture on Sudan's Irrigated Schemes: Lessons from a Blue Nile Village. In Agriculture, Women and Land: the African Experience. G. Davison, ed. Pp. 131–156. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernal, V. 1991 Cultivating Workers: Peasants and Capitalism in a Sudanese Village. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boddy, J. 1985 Bucking the Agnatic System: Status and Strategies in Rural Northern Sudan. In In Her Prime: a New View of Middle Aged Women. J.P. Brown and V. Kerns, eds. Pp. 101–116. Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boddy, J. 1989 Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men and the Zar cult in Northern Sudan. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. and V. Kerns, eds. 1985 In Her Prime: A New View of Middle Aged Women. Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Constantinides, P. 1977 “Ill at Ease and Sick at Heart”: Symbolic Behaviour in a Sudanese Healing Cult. In Symbols and Sentiments: Cross-cultural Studies in Symbolism. I.M. Lewis, ed. Pp. 61–84. London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Constantinides, P. 1978 Women's Spirit Possession and Urban Adaptation in the Muslim Northern Sudan. In Women United, Women Divided: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Female Solidarity. P. Caplan and J. Bujra, eds. Pp. 185–205. London: Tavistock Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffield, M. 1981 Maiurno: Capitalism and Rural Life in Sudan. London: Ithaca Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galal-al-Din, M.A. 1980 A Socio-economic Explanation of High Fertility Rates in Greater Khartoum. In Urbanization and Urban Life in the Sudan. V. Pons, ed. Pp. 606–628. Khartoum: Development Studies and Research Centre, University of Khartoum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagestaad, G.O. and B.L. Neugarten 1985 Age and the Life Course. In Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, 2nd edition. R.H. Binstock and E. Shanas, eds. Pp. 35–61. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ibrahim, F.N. 1984 Ecological Imbalance in the Republic of the Sudan, with reference to Desertification in Darfur. Bayreuth: Bayreuther Geowissenschaftliche Arbeiten.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ismael, E. 1982 Social Environment and Daily Routine of Sudanese Women. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, S. 1982 Family as Security and Bondage: A Political Strategy of the Lebanese Urban Working Class. In Towards a Political Economy of Urbanization. H. Safa, ed. Pp. 151–171. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, S. 1990 Working the Law: A Lebanese Working-Class Example. In Law and Islam in the Middle East. D.H. Dwyer, ed. Pp. 143–159. New York: Bergin and Garvey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenyon, S.M. 1984 Women and the Urban Process: A Case Study from al Gul'a Sennar. Khartoum: University of Khartoum Development Studies and Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenyon, S.M. 1991a Five Women of Sennar: Culture and Change in Central Sudan. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenyon, S.M. 1991b The Story of a Tin Box;Zar in the Sudanese Town of Sennar. In Women's Medicine. I.M. Lewis, A.al-Safi and S. Hurreiz, eds. Pp. 100–117. Edinburgh University Press.

  • Kenyon, S.M., ed. 1987 The Sudanese Woman. London: Ithaca Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khalid, M. 1985 Nimeiri and the Revolution of Dis-May. London: LPI Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeVine, R.A. 1975 Adulthood and Aging in Cross-cultural Perspective. Social Science Research Council: Items 31–32 4:1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lobban, R. 1975 Alienation, Urbanization and Social Networks in the Sudan. Journal of Modern African Studies 13 (3):491–500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lobban, R. 1982 Sudanese Class Formation and the Demography of Urban Migration. In Towards a Political Economy of Urbanization. H. Safa, ed. Pp. 67–83. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohamed-Salih, M.A. and M.A. Mohamed-Salih, eds. 1987 Family Life in the Sudan. London: Ithaca Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Neill, N. and J. O'Brien, eds. 1988 Economy and Class in Sudan. Brookfield: Gower Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pons, V., ed. 1980 Urbanization and Urban Life in the Sudan. Khartoum: Development Studies and Research Centre, University of Khartoum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rehfisch, F. 1980 A Rotating Credit Association in the Three Towns. Reproduced with postscript by S. El-Nagar. In Urbanization and Urban Life in the Sudan. V. Pons, ed. Pp. 689–706. Khartoum: University of Khartoum Development Studies and Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sylvester, A. 1977 Sudan Under Nimeiri. London: Bodley Head.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tapper, N. 1978 The Women's Subsociety among the Shahsevan Nomads of Iran. In Women in the Muslim World. L. Beck and N. Keddie, eds. Pp. 374–398. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • el-Tayib, D.G. 1987 Women's Dress in the Northern Sudan. In The Sudanese Woman. S.M. Kenyon, ed. Pp 40–66. London: Ithaca Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tubiana, M-J. and J. Tubiana 1977 The Zaghawa from an Ecological Perspective. Rotterdam: Balkena.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trimingham, J.S. 1949 Islam in the Sudan. London: Frank Cass and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Waal, A. 1989 Famine That Kills. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, A. 1965 Initiation Ceremonies. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kenyon, S.M. Gender and alliance in central Sudan. J Cross-Cultural Gerontol 9, 141–155 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00972146

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00972146

Key Words

Navigation