The Growth and Development of the Keira Sultanate of Dar Fur.

The object of this study is to describe and analyse the main trends in the political history of the Keira sultanate of Dar Far until its incorporation into the Turco-Egyptian Sudan in 1874. In the first two chapters, after a brief description of the geography and ethnography of the Dar Far region, the early history of the area and the various traditions of origin concerning the Keira Sultanate are discussed. Chapter three outlines the early relations between the Keira royal family and the Fur tribe and the expansion of the sultanate under Sultans Sulayman and Ahmad Bukr with the subsequent struggles for power within the ruling group. The growing strength of the sultan's position vis-a-vis his chiefs is the main theme of chapter four and is illustrated in the expansion of the sultanate eastwards into Kordofan, the increasing reliance of the sultans on slaves as soldiers and officials and in the outcome of the succession crisis after the death of Sultan Muhammad Tayrab. With the consolidation of the sultan's power by the reforms of Sultan 'Abd al-Rahman, chapter five describes the establishment of al-Fashir as the capital and the sultanate's relations with the outside world. The last two chapters consider the development of court politics in al-Fashir and the rise of a new class of officials and the decline of the power of the old chiefly class and the Keira family. The sultanate's increasing isolation following the Turco-Egyptian conquest of Kordofan in 1821 and the hostile relations with the Arab tribes of southern Dar Fur are discussed. It was from the south that the final threat to the sultanate came in the form of the invasion of al-Zubayr Rahma in 1874

PVN-LOT-391-M-017

Islam's devotional and mystical tradition, Sufism (tasawwuf), is commonly cast as antithetical to Salafi Islam. Self-identified 'Salafis', with their ideological roots in anti-liberal strands of twentieth-century modernist Islam, do commonly view Sufis as heretics propagating practices wrongly introduced into Islam centuries after the time of the pious ancestors (the Salaf). Yet reformist zeal that fixes on the singular importance of the Salaf (particularly the Prophet Muhammad and his principal companions) as models for correct piety can also be found amongst Sufis. This paper calls attention to the Salafist colouration of Sufism in two areas of popular culture: television preaching and the popular religious 'how-to' books and DVDs that make the preachers' messages available for purchase. It reprises the teachings of two of the best known Indonesian Muslim televangelists, 'Hamka' (b. 1908, d. 1981) and M. Arifin Ilham (b. 1969), both of whom also happen to be champions of Sufism, and analyses the different rhetorical uses each has made of references to the 'Salaf' and the notion of 'Salafist' Islam

The archaeology of complexity and cosmopolitanism in medieval Ethiopia: an introduction

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this recordArchaeology increasingly attests the complex and cosmopolitan nature of societies in medieval Ethiopia (c. seventh to early eighteenth centuries AD). Without negating the existence of relations of dominance and periods of isolation, key emergent themes of such research are pluralism and interaction. Four religious traditions are relevant to this theme: Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Indigenous religions. This article introduces a special section of contributions on medieval Ethiopia and sets the scheme by highlighting the temporality of cosmopolitanism as episodic rather than continuous. The following articles address varied aspects of this cosmopolitanism, identifying issues of general relevance for studies of the archaeology of religion, as well as the need for further research in Ethiopia.European Commissio

African Linguistics in Central and Eastern Europe, and in the Nordic Countries

Non peer reviewe

Language endangerment and language documentation in Africa

Non peer reviewe

A distant genocide in Darfur

We are beginning to be inundated with media reports on the genocidal war in Darfur, the Sudan’ s westernmost province, an area approximately the size of France. Much is being written on what is happening on the ground (see NYT 4 and 8 May), much less about the causes. I write here as an historian of Darfur.</jats:p

A distant genocide in Darfur

We are beginning to be inundated with media reports on the genocidal war in Darfur, the Sudan’ s westernmost province, an area approximately the size of France. Much is being written on what is happening on the ground (see NYT 4 and 8 May), much less about the causes. I write here as an historian of Darfur