Ordinary Sudan, 1504–2019

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This book begins with the premise that studying "exceptionally normal" individuals, as defined by microhistory, has significant implications for understanding history and politics, particularly in Sudan. It challenges a historiography focused on elite figures and international influences by highlighting how ordinary people have driven key political changes, including the 2019 revolution, and contributed to the persistence of authoritarianism. The narrative delves into the daily lives of men and women, shaped by their worries, desires, and passions. Contributions from historians, anthropologists, and political scientists, with expertise in Middle Eastern and African studies, enrich the analysis. The work intricately weaves Sudanese local experiences with broader regional and global contexts. Organized into two volumes and six thematic parts, the first addresses the relationship between archives, social history, and power, while the second examines women's agency from the Funj era to the recent revolution. Additional sections explore the Sudanese armed forces' history, urban life and leisure intertwined with queerness, labor identities amid war, and the construction of social consent under Islamic regimes, alongside the rise of alternative visions of citizenship during periods of political openness.