North Kordofan

The recently published HRW World Report 2010 features a particular chapter on Sudan whereby the monstrous Pan-Arabist tyranny´s practices and policies are summarily exposed and utterly denounced as far as the tyrannized land of Darfur and the persecuted local Furis are concerned. Some importance is given to the growing insecurity in South Sudan.

Unfortunately, the Report does not extend the focus, as the world´s leading Human Rights NGO should have, on Kordofan, the persecuted Hausa speaking minority, and the tyrannized Nuba of Jebel Marra.

Quite regrettably, the Report does not mention the atrociously oppressed Bejas of Eastern Sudan, who stretch in the land between the Egyptian and the Eritrean borders, and from the coastlands to the Red Sea cordillera and the desert up to Atbarah and Kessala. The geo-strategic importance of the Beja country is critical for the future of the colonial fabrication "Sudan". With the ancient nation of Blemmyes – Bejas seceding from "Sudan", the Khartoum tyranny will be landlocked and therefore asphyxiated.

One has to assume that HRW tries to keep a balance in their relations with the major countries involved, China, USA, England and France, and therefore the focus is adjusted in a way not to threaten the colonial countries´ interests in the area. Human Rights become thus ancillary to political motives and tactics.

Similarly, and very deplorably, the vast territory of occupied Nubia in today´s Northern Sudan is totally forgotten within this Report. The socio-behavioural, cultural, linguistic, and political oppression of the Nubians has recently taken a new, socio-economic, dimension with the forceful relocation of dozens of Nubian villages and thousands of populations due to the erection of an otherwise useless Nile dam that will be beneficial to the monstrous, Pan-Arabist gangsters of Khartoum, and detrimental to the indigenous Nubians.
First published in the American Chronicle, Buzzle and AfroArticles on 30 January 2010

Les recherches polonaises sur les peuples et les cultures de Kordofan – l’histoire et les résultats les plus récents ::: RÉSUMÉ ::: Les auteurs présentent l’histoire des recherches polonaises réalisées sur le territoire du Kordofan à partir de la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle jusqu’au présent. Il y a deux grandes parties. Dans la première d’entre eux, nous avons présenté les silhouettes des scientifiques polonais (de ceux qui sont très connus et de ceux – moins connus) et leurs réalisations scientifiques dans le domaine d’ethnographie, archéologie, anthropologie et de démographie de Kordofan. Dans la deuxième partie nous avons présenté les résultats de la reconnaissance effectuée par l’équipe interdisciplinaire des chercheurs polonais et soudanais au Kordofan du Nord en 2010. Les auteurs qui ont participé dans cette entreprise (les représentants de l’Université d’Adam Mickiewicz à Poznań et de National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums of the Sudan), ils décrivent les résultats de leurs recherches concernant le patrimoine culturel de la région et ils montrent les possibilités de l’utiliser dans la promotion de la fréquentation touristique dans la région.

The concept of participation is a cornerstone of development and democracy discourses, but studies on participatory development rarely examine the political regimes those policies are embedded in. Yet, in authoritarian contexts, participation is ambiguous: potentially threatening-as it can be connected to democratic ideals-but also a resource-a tool for domination. Through an analysis of participatory development projects implemented in Sudan, I explore how power relations are renegotiated at the local level. Relying on data collected during fieldwork in Khartoum and the state of North Kordofan, where the projects are located, I highlight the disconnect between the discourse surrounding the participatory devices, which establishes an horizontal relationship between the citizens and the local government, and the actual practices that strengthen the latter's power. In doing so, the article challenges a linear, top-down conception of authoritarian power, and reveals the tensions that exist between institutional levels.

The aim of the article is to present the history of two centuries of the
archaeological research in North Kordofan. The particular emphasis is
put on changes in research attitude in different periods and their unquestionable impact on research methodology.

This  paper  presents  some  first  results  about  the  role  of  the  Sudanese  region  of  northern Kordofan as a region of interaction between the cultures of the Nile Valley and the Sahel zone. Until recent times, the cultures of ancient and medieval Nubia were mostly interpreted from a Nile-valley  background.  Recent  research  in  Northern  Kordofan  indicates  that  as  well  as considering lines of interaction along the Nile they have also to be seen as Sudanic states that relied on large hinterland regions and their rangeland economies. They must thus be reckoned as part of the east-western chain of state building cultures based in the Niger Valley as well as the Chad Basin. Northern Kordofan seems to be an important border zone where manifold linkages  between  the  Nile  Valley  and  its  intra-African  neighbours  are  visible  in  the archaeological record.

Basic information about fieldwork conducted in 2011.
Survey of selected fortified sites and their archaeological context. Following sites were visited: Hosh El-Sheitan, Wad Mukhtar and Hosh el-Kab (Fortresses of Sudan project).
In the second part of the fieldwork, a reconnaissance in North Kordofan state was conducted, focusing on areas around Baklai, Nurein, Suoni el-Songor and el-Grian hills.

The text is available at:
http://www.pnnarchiwum.uw.edu.pl/sezony/2010-2011/misje-polskie-sudan/159-dolina-nilu-i-kordofan-polsko-sudanski-projekt-badan-naukowych-w/

In spite of almost two centuries of archaeological research in north
Kordofan and their interesting results, knowledge of the past of this area
is in the realm of conjecture and vague analogies with the adjacent areas.
It is hard not to be under the impression that Kordofan is now located
beyond the main course of Sudan archeology, aimed mainly at research
in the nile Valley and the Eestern Sudan (areas of the red Sea coastline and Butana). In light of these facts, the main aim of this article, by
analyzing the factors shaping the overall picture of archeology Kordofan
(the previous research, perspectives and limitations of the research), is to
answer the following question: what factors directly cause marginalization
and difficulties in archaeological exploration of north Kordofan? Main
part of the article is an analysis of limitations and perspectives. Among
these two main groups, I have made the distinction between internal and
external factors. The first subgroup concerns directly archeology and its
discourse. In turn, the second group of factors refers to the phenomena
/conditions outside the discipline.