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Post-Revolutionary Dreams: Sudan’s 2018/19 Uprising
Abstract
In this paper I present a gendered analysis of post-revolution Sudan. In my various writings on the new global insurrections and women’s participation in them, I have been relying on ideas from Bauman, Ernst Bloch, Freire, Castells, Halberstam, Sara Ahmed, and Berlant, as well as on other feminist theories and my own extensive fieldwork in Sudan. Although I have learned from a number of 20th/21st centuries’ uprisings-- the Zapatista insurrection of 1994; the 1999 Seattle anarchist revolt against the IMF and World Bank; the Occupy Movement(s) in the U.S. and Europe; the “Arab Spring” uprisings; and Turkey’s Taksim Square/Gezi Park revolt-- I have gained a great deal more from women’s activism in Sudan’s Revolution and post-Revolution. To greater and lesser degrees, all of these recent revolts have been characterized by a high percentage of youth and women and are, significantly, anti-statist, anti-authoritarian, and non-hierarchal, which some would categorize as anarchic. Including Sudan’s, these insurrections are incomplete and are engaged either consciously or unconsciously in the search for the “not-yet,” and for the whole human. Although I use ideas from these other insurrections, I emphasize Sudan’s post-revolutionary period because of some of the women activists’ creativity. Very new configurations and ideas emerged from this semi-“consummated” uprising. All signs are pointing to a continued organizing and raising of consciousness, even though we might note that activist women have been negatively impacted by the perhaps predictable divisions among the revolutionary citizens; by the old political parties edging themselves into place; by old, patriarchal leaders vying for power behind the scenes; by the Islamists at home and abroad taking notice and intervening or mobilizing to intervene; and by the military becoming impatient and acting with violence. Women’s groups among themselves are experiencing problems: some may have hived off from larger organizations; struggled with each other; and disagreed about what should be the central issues for women to address and the timing of these within the larger struggle. Women’s stances are often not aligned with the goals of the insurrection. The women who have stepped forward are from various women-dominated self-help groups and other grassroots and neighborhood committees, community advancement programs--a few of which now self-identify as feminist--and NGOs. I name the post-revolution configurations and ask what these might mean for Sudanese women and their calls for justice and freedom. Furthermore, what do they mean for feminist theory and practice?
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
None
Sub Area
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