Economy and class in Sudan

Collection of studies on aspects of economy and class in Sudan. Ch. 1-2 by the editors develop a broad perspective on contemporary Sudan by placing current issues and events in their historical context and indicating the main lines of debate. The next chapter (L. Kapteijns and J. Spaulding) offers insights into the class structure and dynamics of precapitalist States in Sudan on the eve of foreign conquest. Ch. 4 (J. Tait) treats the Gezira Scheme and the social position and capacities of tenants. Ch. 5 (M.R. Duffield) specifies the political and economic significance of the ideology of the ‘Fallata’ as foreigners. Ch. 6 (J. O’Brien) treats the formation of a large seasonal wage labour force in capitalist agriculture and documents its effects on peasant and pastoral systems and the character of capitalist production itself. Ch. 7-9 (V. Bernal, Abdel Basit Saeed, J.C. Faris) present rural case studies analysing the social character and impact of different experiences of capitalist encroachment. Ch. 10 (Ibrahim Kursany) argues for a strategy for increased research in the rural sector. Ch. 11-13 treat key urban problems – the operation of urban labour markets (Salah al-Din al-Shazali) and the class content of ethnic networks in the towns (Sondra Hale) – and labour emigration to the Arab oil-producing States (Mohamed El-Awad Galal-al-Din). Ch. 14 (E. Gruenbaum) examines the subordination of women and the role in it of female circumcision.