Abstract The toub, Sudan's most emblematic women's garment, serves as a strong and dynamic medium for expressing identity, signaling hierarchies, and preserving cultural heritage. This study explores the cultural significance of the toub through ethnographic fieldwork in the rural Mahas community of Miseeda and the ethnically diverse suburb of Soba. In Miseeda, the white toub indexes elder authority in Sufi gatherings and ceremonial supervision, while in Soba it marks professional respectability for teachers and health workers as well as solemnity at funerals. Across weddings and domestic contexts, the toub mediates relationships between kin and neighbors, its meanings read through color, fabric quality, and wrapping style. Generational shifts are visible as younger women increasingly adopt the abaya, experiment with synthetic fabrics, and integrate new beauty practices, reframing tradition as fashion. By focusing on the toub as both repository of continuity and site of invention, this research situates women's attire within the longue durée of cultural adaptation in Sudan and contributes to debates on women's agency, material culture, and sartorial authority in Africa.
Abstract Cultural heritage is central to shaping national identity and historical consciousness, serving as a repository of collective memory. Ethiopia's 1966 Antiquities Proclamation, enacted during political modernization and international engagement, marked a decisive step in heritage governance yet remains underexamined. This study employed a qualitative historical-legal approach to situate the proclamation within its broader historical, legal, and sociopolitical context. The law's preamble framed heritage protection as both a moral duty and a national obligation. It defined key terms, centralized state ownership of antiquities, and granted exclusive authority over archaeological exploration. Its state-issued permitting system underscored the primacy of public interest in protecting sites and regulating historical interpretation, affirming Ethiopia's cultural sovereignty. However, issued amid political modernization and the post–Italian invasion nation-building process, the law's practical impact was constrained by the absence of detailed regulations, limited institutional capacity, and minimal community participation.
Abstract This study examines Ethiopia's mid-twentieth-century foreign policy shift, highlighting its embrace of Pan-Africanism and proactive engagement with newly independent African states. Before the mid-1950s, Ethiopia pursued a cautious and largely detached approach to continental liberation movements, maintaining close alignment with the United States and limiting its support for anticolonial and racial justice initiatives. This position drew sharp criticism from the socialist bloc—most notably the Soviet Union, which denounced Ethiopia as an “African imperialist.” A decisive shift occurred between 1955 and 1958, catalyzed by Ethiopia's participation in the Bandung and Accra conferences. These diplomatic milestones deepened Ethiopia's engagement in Afro-Asian and Pan-African initiatives, repositioning the country as a key mediator in tribal and territorial disputes and as a vocal advocate for racial equality. Simultaneously, the scholarships initiated at the 1958 Accra conference fostered intellectual networks among African and Ethiopian students, facilitating the exchange of ideas and experiences rooted in revolutionary struggle. The paper argues that Ethiopia's foreign policy evolution from 1958 to 1963 not only reaffirmed its leadership in Pan-African discourse but also established its role as a foundational architect of Africa's postindependence political order.
Abstract The study examines the interactions and relationships between Muslims and their Christian compatriots in the province of Gondar, Ethiopia. By exploring the dynamics between these two religious communities, this research aims to shed light on the ways in which craft, in particular cloth-making, has played a role in shaping their relationship throughout history. To this end, a qualitative research method and descriptive analysis were employed. Data was also obtained through the analysis of primary and secondary source documents, as well as through interviews aimed at gathering social memory on the subject. Among the creative activities of Ethiopians, weaving, with its classical style and wonders, dates back to antiquity. However, this art has been conventionally labeled as the occupation of certain segments of society such as Muslims and the Betä Ǝsrael. However, these craft industries remain pillars of coexistence thanks to the interaction of communities regardless of social, cultural, and religious differences. The results of this research also indicate that creative technology in these fields in general remains embryonic for the fundamental reason that this sector has received little encouragement over the country's long history.
Abstract Sudan has experienced long periods of war since its independence in 1956. As a common denominator, Sudanese armed conflicts have included a deep-rooted and highly contested identity dimension in the context of nation- and state-building. The protracted conflicts have been primarily interpreted as a struggle of essentialized identities for national identity and the nature of the state and have featured a historically established cultural perception of race and accompanying social hierarchy. Scholars emphasize this attitude and social structure, manifested in identity-based marginalizing political dynamics and repressive, assimilationist, but at the same time exclusionary state policies, mainly along north-south and center-periphery divisions. Scholarly frames of analysis based on this understanding give rise to various narratives of the protracted armed conflicts that are perpetuated by their protagonists and adopted by foreign actors involved in peacemaking. This generates competing views of Sudanese wars and undermines the coherence of efforts to resolve them. The article discusses the role of the major frames of analysis and narratives emerging from them in understanding the complexity of war in Sudan. It argues that the protagonists have perpetuated competing narratives about the essence of the conflict, while external actors have selectively adopted them. This has hindered peacemaking and contributed to the persistent failure of building comprehensive peace.
