From the Mountains to the Plains
The integration of Lafofa Nuba into Sudanese Society
Leif O Manger
This study of the Lafofa Nuba in the Sudan is the first comprehensive analysis of a matrilineal
Nuba group. It thus fills a gap in the ethnography of the Nuba Mountains region. At the same
time, it is an important contribution to the wider theme of integration of the Nuba into
Sudanese society.
Through detailed analysis of local processes of interaction between Nuba and Arabic groups it
gives new light to concepts such as Islamization and Arabization. The local processes affecting
the economic and cultural survival of the Lafofa are presented in the context of the wider political
history of the Nuba Mountains, and the position of the Nuba in the Sudanese society.
It thus also addresses the fundamental question of how to compose a national identity in the Sudan
in which not only Arabs and Muslims feel at home, but also non-Arabs and non-Muslims.
Published by Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, P.O.Box 1703
S-75 47 UPPSALA, Sweden