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Summary
This book illustrates that external factors, especially international political processes interacting with large-scale ecological and demographic changes, are the primary cause of problems experienced by the Masalit and other people in the Third World. The Masalit are Muslim farmers formerly independent as part of the sultanate of Dar Fur. Tully examines the local processes by which the Masalit became economically, politically, and culturally incorporated into the Sudan, and thus into a nexus of global forces.
Culture and Context in Sudan clarifies the complicated macro-micro linkages responsible for the continuing environmental degradation, increasing inequality, and cultural assimilation that is so detrimental to the people of Dar Masalit. The author analyzes new data as well as previously-existing information to demonstrate the multi-level process of change and how it determines individual choices.
"Tully provides an interesting balance between detailed description and theoretical framework. He takes a macro-global hypothesis and discusses it on the level of actual micro, or human, experience. I believe that this makes a significant contribution to the fields of both global economic study and modern Sudanese studies." -- John Voll
"This is a clearly written and well argued case study of the impact of the world capitalist system on local economy and social structure in a Third World context. The author convincingly demonstrates the linkage between the incorporation of rural communities into world systems and the development of under-development." -- Amal Rassam
"This is an original and innovative work, combining theory and data in sensible and intelligent ways, and challenging some orthodox ideas about Third World development." -- Simon Ottenberg
"Culture and Context in Sudan is a first-class, substantive economic ethnography which contributes to the understanding of a region of considerable ethnic and political complexity." --Dale Eickelman
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
Introduction
Chapter 1. World Systems and Local Processes
Chapter 2. Masalit History, Society and Culture
The Masalit and Their Neighbors
Political History and Organization
Local Social Organization
Family and Household
Summary
Chapter 3. Dar Masalit in Context: Environment, Ecology and Demography
The Physical Environment: Rainfall and Groundwater
Rainfall Trends
Desertification and the Sahelian Drought
Regional Variation in Dar Masalit
The Goz
The Far North
The South
Demography
The Research Site
Summary
Chapter 4. Production and Exchange
Introduction
The Domestic Economy
Women's Daily Domestic Activities
Women's Occasional or Discretionary Activities
Men's Domestic Activities
Agriculture
Crops
The Labor Cycle
Agricultural Soils
Land Use According to Soil Type
Other Factors
The Maintenance of Fertility
Yields and Economic Returns
Orchards and Wadi Gardens
Summary
Livestock
Manufacturing and Service Activities
Low Capital Activities
High Capital Activities
Trade
History of Trade
Market Structure
Small Trade
Merchants
Conclusion
Migration
Early Migration
Increasing Numbers of Migrants
Pushes and Pulls
Migrant Destinations and Occupations
Migration and Market Incorporation
Conclusion
Chapter 5. Assets and Resources
Land: The Development of Scarcity and its Effect on Rights
Current Patterns of Land Access and Distribution
Labor
Cash
Inequality, Past and Present
Classes, Nascent Classes, or No-classes?
Summary
Chapter 6. The Transformation of Masalit Economy and
Society
