Customer Reviews

Not Just Child’s Play: Emerging Tradition and the Lost Boys of Sudan

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I've worked with several Sudanese men in the City of Louisville, Kentucky, as a mentor and friend. Moving to Syracuse, New York, I was afraid I'd lose my Sudanese connection, but quickly learned of McMahon's research and dedication to the Dinka and Didinga who live in Central, New York. What I found most interesting about the book was that she chooses not to focus on the harsh realities of the Sudanese Lost Boys experience, but instead digs deeply into Sudanese traditions of song, dance and art. Along her journey, too, McMahon taps into unknown territories where she's the first to point out that more research needs to occur. NOT JUST CHILD'S PLAY is a great companion piece to anyone interested in the Sudanese experience in America, the well-publicized crisis in Darfur and the American immigration process. Extremely well-versed in her academic field, she not only produces a deeply researched text, but also a cultural introduction to the years before cultural conflicts caused a historical uprooting of native people and traditions. I read this as a friend to the Sudanese community, a teacher, a student and a man very aware of today's global realities. Felicia McMahon's book is a great addition to my library.

I am delighted that the University Press of Mississippi has just released this paperback edition of Felicia R. McMahon's Not Just Child Play: Emerging Tradition and the Lost Boys of Sudan, which won the Chicago Folklore Prize last year. This outstanding study of young Sudanese immigrants' recontextualized folk traditions would be an excellent text for college courses on immigrant folk tradition, public folklore, folk art/dance, children's folklore, and related subjects; it should also be read by people who have a serious interest in young immigrants' creative adaptation to new ways of life. I plan to order this book the next time I teach my children's folklore class for undergraduates.

All author royalties for book sales will go to the Lost Boys of the Sudan. The latest issue of Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore includes an article I wrote about the book, with pictures of some of the courageous young men whose performances inspired the book's publication. Here's a link to the article:

http://www.nyfolklore.org/pubs/voic35-1-2/mcmahon.html

I highly recommend this wonderful book, which is both inspiring and rich in important information.