Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence [Paperback]

Jok Madut Jok (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2007

Sudan is a country in turmoil, ravaged by civil war, plagued by roaming gangs of rebel and government militia, and is rarely out of the news. Despite government propaganda, tales of state-sponsored murder, genocide and humanitarian crises are rife, and there is a real need for a measured investigation which carefully examines the causes of the troubles.In this important book, Jok Madut Jok delves deep into Sudan's culture and past, isolating the factors that cause its fractured national identity. Highlighting the Arabization of the central government in the north and the imposition of this cultural identity upon Darfur and the Christian South, Jok analyses the vicious cycle of violence and goes on to ask what can be done to improve the plight of the Sudanese people in the future.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A powerful and exhaustively documented account of the suffering imposed on the people of Sudan by successive regimes in Khartoum, and by the rebel armies that have risen up to oppose them. Vividly illuminated by detailed political analysis, it should be read by all those concerned with the future of Sudan." -- John Ryle - writer, anthropologist and Chairman of the Rift Valley Institute

"Jok Madut Jok, a Sudanese social scientist, uncovers Sudanese experiences of race, entwined as they are with attitudes towards religion, language and culture." -- Douglas H. Johnson - Editorial Director, James Currey Press and author of 'The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars'

"Masterful and intense; passionately critical and solidly informed - Jok Madut Jok has done it again with his very current and poignant Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence." -- Richard Lobban - Professor and Chair of Anthropology, Rhode Island College, and Executive Director of the Sudan Studies Association

"This is clearly a very personal account by JMJ and that is much of its strength. His inclusion of much material deriving from his direct contact with people in many parts of the country is a valuable and unique contribution to the literature on Sudan." -- Peter Woodward - Professor of Politics, University of Reading, and author of Sudan 1898-1989: The Unstable State

"In a set of skillfully argued and well-researched chapters, the author examines the role of religion, race and resource wars." -- Choice (Review for Academic Libraries), Nov 2007

"Jok Madut Jok's book is a useful guide to the multiple forces, economic, religious and ethnic, facing each other in Sudan." -- Transnational Perspectives, March 2008

A powerful and exhaustively documented account of the suffering imposed on the people of Sudan by successive regimes in Khartoum, and by the rebel armies that have risen up to oppose them. Vividly illuminated by detailed political analysis, it should be read by all those concerned with the future of Sudan. -- John Ryle - writer, anthropologist and Chairman of the Rift Valley Institute

Masterful and intense; passionately critical and solidly informed - Jok Madut Jok has done it again with his very current and poignant Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence. -- Richard Lobban - Professor and Chair of Anthropology, Rhode Island College, and Executive Director of the Sudan Studies Association

About the Author

Jok Madut Jok is Assistant Professor of History at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He has published numerous books and articles including War and Slavery in Sudan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Oneworld (April 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851683666
• ISBN-13: 978-1851683666
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > History > Africa > Sudan
  • #92 in Books > History > Africa > East Africa
  • #93 in Books > History > Africa > North Africa

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, just a few faults, June 20, 2009

By 

Michael Griswold "Michael Griswold" (Rockford, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence (Paperback)

This book will provide the reader a solid background to the conflicts in Sudan both the civil war in Darfur and the broader civil war between the North and South of Sudan. However, as much as I want to give this book five stars I just can't because Jok has a tendency to be a bit wordy. He uses a forty nine page introduction that could've easily been said in five to ten pages and some of the chapters kinda jump around a little bit to stuff that was covered in previous chapters, but it's nothing that cannot be followed simply enough. Jok does a pretty good job of boiling down a confusing conflict and explaining why any regional or international peace efforts have failed to do anything with the mess that is Sudan.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on Sudan, March 25, 2008

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence (Paperback)

This is one of the most important books on Sudan to come out in recent years and to highlight many important themes dealing with the genocide in Sudan and the earlier genocide against Christian Africans in Southern Sudan at the hands of the Islamist Arab government in Khartoum. The author dares to skewer even the international Aid organization, which he says have allowed the perpetrators of genocide to get off the hook by providing them with lavish villas. For instance over $380,000 was spent by humanitarian aid missions to renew their visas in Khartoum, money that has gone to support the genocide.

One of the great lies of the conflict is that it is due to `global warming' an excuse that lets the genocidaires off the hook by ascribing the conflict to a contest over `scarce resources' ( a similar excuse could be used about the Holocaust, since Hitler said the Germans needed `living space' an equally specious claim). This book dares to tell how the government has mass engineered the genocide.

This book begins in the 1950s with the winding down of colonialism and shows how the British betrayed the Sudan by refusing the grant the Black Christian and Animist south its right to break away from the Arab-Muslim north. Instead the British, as was their policy throughout the empire, supported the Muslim half of the country (as they did in Palestine and Pakistan).

The boo describes the religious dimension but then moves on talk about the region-ethnic-racial dimension of the conflicts. The author expertly describes rebellions among the Nubians in the North and Eastern tribes, all of whome felt the government in Khartoum did not identify with them or was pushing them off the land. This is a masterful account from an insider who truly understand Sudan and can see both the black and white of the genocide as well as the many nuances that exist in the diverse country. An amazing book.

Seth J. Frantzman

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended Read, February 25, 2010

By 

Will Jerom (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence (Paperback)

This is an exceptional book. Jok Madut Jok gives a detailed account of the politics and passions behind the conflict that has raged in Sudan for decades. I highly recommend this book as an introductory work that will tell you what has been happening there and what is happening now. I found the first several chapters to be entirely readable - and while the latter chapters get a bit "academic" in tone, the book still delivers a powerful array of information in an account that will leave you feeling - well - challenged, learned, and concerned for the people of Sudan.