Change among West African Settlers in Northern Sudan

One component of the agricultural labour force in Sudan during the colonial period was made up of the Takari, immigrants from northern Nigeria. The economic location of the Takari has changed over time and this change parallels and reflects a more general societal process of the increasing dominance of capitalist over pre-capitalist production. While the Takari were formerly manual labourers and peasant cultivators, they have now increasingly moved out of the working class and into the petty bourgeoisie during the post-independence period, becoming independent artisans, small capitalist transporters and merchants. As their form of economic integration has changed, so too have relations within their families. In addition it is possible to see a change both in the nature of the self identity of the Takari and in the manner in which they are perceived by other groups in Sudanese society. Notes, ref.