My interest in Sudan dates back to 1985, when I spent a year as a research intern with PLAN International studying informal credit in the Rufa’a area of eastern Sudan (near Wad Medani). In 1989-90 I lived for a year in a small village in Kordofan, doing dissertation research. Much of that dissertation has been published as academic articles, and I co-edited a book entitled Kordofan Invaded. I have stayed active in the field, and served as President of the Sudan Studies Association (2002-2005).
My book review of Gérard Prunier’s new book on Darfur, Ambiguous Genocide, is available here as part of the Sudan Studies Association newsletter Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2005.
Research Articles on Sudan
- Sudan 2001-2002. This is a chapter for African Contemporary Record, and summarizes and interprets events in Sudan over the two year period. (Prepared November 2004)
- Extra-household Norms and Intra-household Bargaining: Gender in Sudan and Burkina Faso Develops the idea that gendered social norms may be important influences on economic activity, using fieldwork observations and data Click here for one of the graphs from the paper, showing the differential responsiveness of labor time in agriculture of Mossi and Bwa men and women, comparing households with farm equipment and those without farm equipment.. This is appeared in a volume edited by Anita Spring, Women Farmers and Commercial Ventures: Increasing Food Security in Developing Countries (Lynne Rienner, 2000, pp. 89-112)
- Titanium Hoes? Explaining Why Wealthier Farmers have Higher Yields in Western Sudan in Sudan Notes and Records Uses data from my dissertation to address the question of agrarian structure and agricultural practice, in a less technical discussion compared with my paper in American Journal of Agricultural Economics (see below).
- Kordofan Invaded: Peripheral Incorporation and Social Transformation in Islamic Africa Endre Stiansen and Michael Kevane, eds Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1998. Here is table of contents. Click here for a nice review of the book, Kordofan Invaded. The book has been translated into Arabic by the Sudan Studies Center. Click here for an image of the cover of the translated book.
- “Land Tenure and Rental in Western Sudan” Land Use Policy 1997, Vol. 14. Click on the DOI to access the article from Elsevier: 10.1016/S0264-8377(97)00011-2
- “Agrarian Structure and Agricultural Practice: Typology and Application to Western Sudan” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1996, Vol 78.
- “Local Politics in the Time of Turabi’s Revolution: Gender, Class and Ethnicity in Western Sudan” (with Leslie Gray) Africa, 1995, Vol. 65(2):271-96.
- “Village Labor Markets in Sheikan District, Sudan” World Development, 1994, Vol. 22(6). Click on the DOI to access the article from Elsevier: 10.1016/0305-750X(94)90057-4
- “Is the Sheil a Shill? Informal Credit in Rural Sudan” Journal of Developing Areas, 1993, Vol. 27.
- “For Whom is the Rural Economy Resilient? Initial Effects of Drought in Western Sudan” (with Leslie Gray) Development and Change, 1993, Vol. 24(1).
Unpublished policy ‘op-ed’ type pieces
(about the Sudanese civil war)
- Comments on the Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) development plan for Sudan (comments given at the Sudan Studies Association annual meeting, York University, Toronto, 2005; a shorter version to appear in Forced Migration Review is available here)
- Understanding Sudan- A brief introduction September 2004
- Ahem, Solving the Darfur crisis in three easy steps, September 2004
- Outrage over Darfur, 2004
- What does the civilian protection monitoring team do in Sudan? Find the government attacks civilians more than the SPLA. 2004
- Comments on the wealth-sharing agreement, January 2004
- No substitute for real carrots August 2003
- Sanctions on Sudan September 2001
- New policy for the Bush administration 2001
- After the al-shifa bombing, 1998
DARFUR
Unpublished policy ‘op-ed’ type pieces and book and film reviews
(about the Darfur civil conflict)
- Podcast on recent events in Darfur, Sept. 9, 2006, KCBS (Bay Area)
- Has Darfur been neglected? Summary of article by Alex Cobham (and here link to original article)
- Commentary on the Darfur Peace Agreement, 2006
- Understanding Darfur for Activists, a short video I made on Darfur, accessed through Google video.
- Review of Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2005) by Gerard Prunier.
- Review of Darfur: A Short History of a Long War (London, Zed Books, 2005) by Alex de Waal and Julie Flint.
- Review of All About Darfur (documentary film distributed by California Newsreel, 2005) by Taghreed Elsanhouri.
- Understanding the Darfur Catastrophe
More than 1.5 million people have been displaced by conflict in Darfur, the westernmost province of Sudan, bordering Chad and Libya… - Ahem, Three Easy Steps to Solving the Darfur Problem (satire)
There has been much handwringing in the last few months over what to do about Darfur… - Outrage Over Darfur
Sometimes scholars need to tell politicians what to do. This week such a moment arrived, because the politicians of the world are failing in their responsibilities… - John Kerry Hunger Strike (satire)
Senator John Kerry’s dramatic hunger strike, now in its 13th day, appeared to be having little effect on the situation in Darfur… - What did candidates say about Darfur?
About 2.5% percent of the words spoken in the foreign policy debate concerned Darfur…
Miscellaneous
- www.sudanstudies.org
- Bibliography on Gender and Women in Sudan (By Michael Kevane and Sondra Hale)
- Recent News from Sudan (www.sudan.net)
- Recent Reports on Sudan: ReliefWeb Home Page
- USIP – Religion, Ethics and Human Rights
- Incredible Middle East/North Africa Travel Site
- For fun, a few cartoons from Sudan (in Arabic)
- Some pictures from Sudan Studies Association annual meeting, in East Lansing Michigan, May 2001.
- John Ryle, “Disaster in Darfur”
Michael Kevane 
