A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Fida J. Adely
It’s not an understatement to say that we are facing unprecedented days. We began this academic year already deep into a year of genocide in Gaza. Now, as I write, the entire population of Gaza remains under siege—cut off from food, water, electricity, and medicine for over two months—and the war’s devastating impacts are reverberating through Lebanon, Yemen, and much of the region. Meanwhile, the war in Sudan has resulted in devastating loss of human life and the displacement of over 14 million people. And while the end of the Assad regime in Syria—and the subsequent release of thousands of political prisoners—brought a great sense of relief, the ensuing instability and violence, as well as the Israeli incursion and occupation of Syrian territory, have tempered the initial joy
At the same time, we have found our core mission—teaching critical and diverse perspectives about the Arab world—under attack by organizations that want to censor such perspectives and a U.S. administration that is serving the agenda of these organizations.These attacks, especially on our colleagues and students who are not citizens, have had a chilling effect on intellectual exchange, research and dialogue. Despite Georgetown’s commitment to academic debate and freedom of expression, we are all affected by the broader campaign of repression.This hit particularly close to home with the detention of our colleague Dr. Badar Khan Suri, who has been in detention since March 17. Many in our community are advocating for his immediate release.
CCAS has risen to these many challenges by continuing to mentor and teach our talented students, and by organizing lectures, film screenings, book talks, and more. More than ever, we are partnering with diverse groups around and beyond campus to engage with broad constituencies.This year, we again co-sponsored a multi-part series on Gaza and deepened our focus on Sudan, as reflected in the thematic focus of this newsletter and in our six-part “Keep Eyes on Sudan”series. Our K-14 Outreach Program offered 17 events, including the 10th Annual Workshop on Children and Youth Literature in partnership with Howard University. For the second consecutive year, we also partnered with the Gulf International Forum to host the Gulf Studies Symposium, which brought together scholars from 24 countries.
Perhaps most importantly, CCAS continues to be a home for those who care deeply about the Arab world, and who desire justice and dignity for all peoples. Our community is a United Nations of its own kind—with our students and scholars this year hailing from Bahrain, Canada, England, Egypt, France, Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria,Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Yemen.The remarkable generosity and commitment of this community has been humbling and serves as a powerful reminder—as we approach our 50th anniversary—of what has made our Center strong.Watch for announcements about 50th anniversary events in the coming academic year!
In closing, I want to thank Rochelle Davis, who is stepping down as academic director at the end of this year, for her tireless service to the MAAS program and to congratulate Marwa Daoudy on her appointment to the position. I also want to congratulate Susan Douglass on her upcoming retirement and the legacy she has built as a leader in K-14 Educational Outreach. Finally, I want to thank the CCAS Team—Mimi Kirk, Dharini Parthasarathy, Mackenzie Poust, Coco Tait and Vicki Valosik—for their commitment and dedication. I am honored to work with such devoted individuals.
Warm regards,
CCAS Newsmagazine
The CCAS Newsmagazine is published twice a year by the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, a component of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Core Faculty
Fida J. Adely, Associate Professor and Clovis and Hala Salaam Maksoud Chair in Arab Studies; Director, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Killian Clarke, Assistant Professor
Marwa Daoudy, Associate Professor and Seif Ghobash Chair in Arab Studies
Rochelle A. Davis, Associate Professor and Sultanate of Oman Chair; Director, Graduate Studies
Joseph Sassoon, Professor and Sheikh Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah Chair
Affiliated Faculty
CORE AFFILIATES
Mohammad AlAhmad, Assistant Teaching Professor
Belkacem Baccouche, Assistant Teaching Professor
Noureddine Jebnoun, Adjunct Associate Professor
AFFILIATES FROM OTHER DEPARTMENTS
Osama W. Abi-Mershed, Associate Professor, Department of History
Mustafa Aksakal, Associate Professor, Department of History
Elliott Colla, Associate Professor; Chair, Department of Arabic & Islamic Studies
Nader Hashemi, Associate Professor; Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding
Felicitas M. M. Opwis, Associate Professor, Arabic & Islamic Studies
EMERITI FACULTY
Judith Tucker, Professor Emerita, CCAS and the Department of History
Staff
Susan Douglass, K-14 Education Outreach Director
Mimi Kirk, Associate Director
Dharini Parthasarathy, Assistant Director of Academic Programs
Mackenzie Poust, Operations and Program Manager
Coco Tait, Assistant Director of Events and Programs
Vicki Valosik, Editorial Director
CCAS Newsmagazine
Editor-in-Chief Vicki Valosik
Design Adriana Cordero, designcordero.com
An online version of this newsletter is available at http://ccas.georgetown.edu
ABOUT THE ART
The artists featured in this issue are a part of MFS Exhibited: Roots and Realities, the 2025 Sudanese art exhibition by Moving Forward Sudan (MFS). Moving Forward Sudan is a network of artists and professionals dedicated to unifying and empowering the Sudanese diaspora in the United States and abroad. The group was founded in 2013, following a rising wave of
IN THIS ISSUE
creativity and advocacy in Sudan, with a mission to build connections within the Sudanese-American community and stronger relationships with the broader American public. Based in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia), Moving Forward Sudan offers programs in art, film, mentoring, career development, and more. For more information, visit MovingForwardSudan.org
7 Authoritarian Legacies & the War in Sudan
From Promise to Precarity
On the Cover: “Moonrise”— Digital collage by Waad Husein, 2023. See more of Waad’s art on page 19 or on Instagram at @zammanik.
Also featured in this issue are artists Al Tayeb ‘Morhal’ (above center and on pages 7-9) and Abubaker ‘Bakri’ Moaz (above right and on pages 11-13).
ABOUT THE ISSUE
Keeping Eyes on Sudan
This issue spotlights the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis in Sudan and the efforts of the CCAS community to document its impact and root causes. Articles by our faculty, students, and alums examine the authoritarian legacies that set the stage for the current conflict, the challenges facing Sudanese refugees in Egypt, and a data-driven study that maps the full arc of Sudan’s 2019 revolution. One piece features a new educational website to help teachers bring Sudanese voices into the classroom. The issue also highlights a year-long CCAS event series on Sudan and includes a dispatch from an alum about her work with the Carter Center’s Sudan program. Together, these contributions reflect our community’s shared commitment to keeping eyes on Sudan and amplifying Sudanese perspectives. We hope you enjoy the issue.
Vicki Valosik, Editor
FACULTY UPDATES
New Book by CCAS
Director Fida Adely
Congratulations to Dr. Fida Adely, CCAS Director and Hala and Clovis Maksoud Chair in Arab Studies, on the publication of her new book, Working Women in Jordan: Education, Migration, and Aspiration (University of Chicago Press, 2024), which builds on her longstanding research on gender, education, and labor in Jordan. Adely’s first book, Gendered Paradoxes: Educating Jordanian Women in Nation, Faith, and Progress, was also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Prof. Killian Clarke’s research on rebel regimes was cited in the New York Times article, “Why Do Some Rebel Regimes Last When Others Fall?” (December 2024).
MAAS News (Student News)
Visiting Scholar
Prof. Marwa Daoudy was interviewed for Hidden Depths podcast, which is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, for an episode on water-driven conflict (March 2025).
Faculty Articles and Commentary
The following is a sampling of CCAS faculty articles published over the past year.
Faculty News
“At the Crossroads – Critical Perspectives on the Study of Climate Security,” Geoforum, co-authored by Prof. Marwa Daoudy, October 2024
In Working Women in Jordan, Adely considers the experiences of women who move from provincial towns and villages in Jordan to Amman in search of employment, greater independence, and mobility. Adely explores how these women navigate life in the capital: looking for work, living in unfamiliar urban neighborhoods, supporting family back home, and weighing decisions about marriage and the future. The book is grounded in the narratives of the women Adely interviewed— their aspirations, the challenges they face, and their successes.
As Adely lays out in her book, the lives of these women are shaped not only by their personal ambitions or responsibilities, but also by broader economic and social changes—including the expansion of higher education, urbanization, labor market restructuring, and shifting expectations around gender and family. Working Women in Jordan offers insight into how social and economic shifts in Jordan are experienced at the individual level, showing how young women make meaning of their choices and how their stories intersect with national development goals and policy narratives. It also raises broader questions about education, opportunity, and mobility in the region.
Faculty In the Media
Staff Updates
“Peripheral Resistance: Geographies of Occupation and Policing in Tunisia,” Journal of North African Studies, Prof. Noureddine Jebnoun and Jakob Plaschke (MAAS ’22), September 2024
“The New Rentierism in the Middle East: How Gulf Oil Wealth Has Kept Democracy at Bay since 2011,” Crown Center, Brandeis University, Prof. Killian Clarke, March 2025
Board Member Profile
“The Palestine Poster Project Archives: Still Open for History Being Made,” Palestine Poster Project website, co-authored by Prof. Rochelle Davis, February 2025
“A Blind Spot in Post-Assad Syria: The Fate of State Archival Records,” Arab Center Washington, co-written by CCAS Profs. Marwa Daoudy and Noureddine Jebnoun, January 2025
Dispatches
“A New Syria is Born: Hopes and Challenges,” Arab Center Washington, Prof. Marwa Daoudy, December 2024
Visiting Prof. Sara Vakhshouri discussed oil production cuts in Libya in an interview with CNBC (August 2024) and was featured on the Institute of World Politics podcast episode, “Powering National Security with Dr. Sara Vakhshouri” (September 2024).
STAFF NEWS
Welcome to New Staff
We’re excited to welcome two new members to the CCAS team!
Mimi Kirk (left) joined CCAS last fall as Associate Director. She previously served as Program Manager at the Middle East Studies Association and Managing Director of Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network. She is also editor of the Journal for the Study of Christian Zionism and has taught the MAAS thesis workshop for several years.
Mackenzie Poust (right), a 2020 graduate of the MAAS program, returned to CCAS in early 2025 as Operations and Program Manager. A former CASA fellow in Amman, she brings experience from a range of NGOs and academic institutions focused on the Arabic-speaking world.
CCAS Events Manager Honored with Distinguished Staff Award
We are pleased to congratulate Assistant Director of Events and Programs, Coco Tait, who received the 2024 Provost Distinguished Staff Member Award, which recognizes outstanding staff contributions across Georgetown University. Coco was honored for her leadership, professionalism, and dedication to fostering community through her work. “Coco has been a vital member of the CCAS team,” said CCAS Director Fida Adely. “In what is perhaps one of the busiest periods in the Center’s nearly 50year history, Coco has helped to shepherd a vibrant and timely events program and to build relationships with colleagues around the university and in the DMV area.”
Congratulations to Susan Douglass on Her Retirement
MAAS News (Student News)
Visiting Scholar
Faculty News
Staff Updates
After more than a decade of service, Dr. Susan Douglass is retiring from her role as CCAS Education Outreach Director. An alumna of the MAAS program (’93), Susan returned to CCAS in 2014 to lead K–14 outreach, designing professional development workshops and curriculum resources that reached hundreds of educators across the U.S. Her impact has been recognized through major university and national awards, including Georgetown’s President’s Excellence Award (2017) and the Paul S. Hanson Award from the Miami-Dade Council for the Social Studies (2018). “Susan mobilized Georgetown’s intellectual resources to benefit others,” said former CCAS Director Rochelle Davis. “She enhanced the academic and intellectual substance of our education outreach program and raised the national profile of Georgetown.” We are deeply grateful for Dr. Douglass’ tireless work and lasting contributions to our community and to the field of education! You can read a reflection from Susan on her time at CCAS on page 22.
New Book by CCAS Editorial Director
CCAS Editorial Director Vicki Valosik published her debut book, Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water (W.W. Norton, 2024), which was named to NPR’s Best Books of 2024 list, selected as an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best History Books, and recently shortlisted for the 2025 Vikki Orvice Award for Women’s Sports Writing sponsored by The Sunday Times (UK). Swimming Pretty traces the origins and evolution of synchronized swimming— from vaudeville to the Olympics—and shows how its pioneers forever changed women’s relationships with water.
Dispatches
Board Member Profile
COMMUNITY NEWS
MAAS Students Defend Theses
Congratulations to the four MAAS students who wrote and defended theses this year. They are: Alyssa Kristeller: Jews of the Barzakh: Finding Jewish Music in Bahrain
Fatima Rahimi: Meanings of “Arab” in Qatar’s Education City: Student Narratives on Transnational Belonging
Ingie Gohar: “We Run from Death, Only to Be Sent Back to Face It”: The Securitization and Socioeconomic Exclusion of Sudanese Refugees in Egypt Nourhane Kazak: Countervisuality/Counterpublics: Practices of Solidarity in Gaza and South Lebanon
Congrats to CCAS Fellows on New Appointments
for their contributions to the intellectual life of our community!
MAAS News (Student News)
CCAS Launches a Druze Student Paper Prize
This year, CCAS had the pleasure of hosting two fellows: Dr. Mariam Taher (top), Qatar Post-Doctoral Fellow, and Dr. Natalie El-Eid (bottom), American Druze Foundation Fellow. Taher, whose research focuses on security in the daily life of the Amazigh community, taught the course “Ethnic & Racial Minorities in the MENA.” Next year, she will begin a tenure-track position at Indiana University. ElEid’s work examines interdisciplinary textualizations of transnational Arab identities, cultures, and lived experiences across racial and ethnic solidarities. She taught the course “Trauma, Memory, & the Transnational Arab World” at CCAS and was recently awarded a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. Congrats to both on their new positions and many thanks
The Druze Student Paper Prize, currently in its inaugural year, will be awarded annually for an exceptional academic paper focusing on the Druze. The award, which comes with a $500 prize, is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying in the humanities and social sciences at U.S.- based institutions. The deadline is June 1, and more details are available on the CCAS website
Visiting Scholar
Faculty News
Students Olyvia Lennox and Ian DeHaven work at a book sale in Red Square sponsored by CCAS and Zeytoun (a GU-based SWANA alliance). Proceeds from the multi-week sale were donated to Khartoum Aid Kitchen and the Sameer Project, which provide vital support to those in need in Sudan and Gaza respectively.
In Memoriam: Remembering Brenda Bickett
Staff Updates
In March 2025, the CCAS community lost a cherished colleague and friend, Brenda Bickett, who served as Georgetown’s Middle East Studies Librarian for more than four decades. A dedicated scholar of both the Middle East and library science, Brenda played a vital role in shaping the University’s collections and providing expert research assistance to generations of faculty and students.
Board Member Profile
Brenda first joined Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library in 1978 as the Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies Bibliographer. Over the decades, she expanded and enriched the library’s Arabic-language holdings, as well as its collections related to Arab, Islamic, and Turkish studies, ensuring that students and researchers had access to critical scholarship and primary resources. Brenda served as the area studies librarian for CCAS, as well as multiple other departments and programs at the University, including the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, the Eurasian Studies program at the Center for Russian, Eurasian & East European Studies, the Department of Arabic & Islamic Studies, the Department of French, and the Division of Eastern Mediterranean Languages. In these roles, she provided expert research services and reference support to students and faculty, managed library collections, and created special exhibitions, strengthening the university’s engagement with Middle Eastern and Francophone scholarship.
Beyond Georgetown, Brenda was an active member of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA). She served as editor of MELA Notes from 1987 to 1991, as MELA Vice President and Program Chair in 1993-1994, and as a Memberat-Large for many years. She also contributed to MELA’s Committee on Iraqi Libraries, which coordinated responses to the destruction of libraries in Iraq following the 2003 war. In addition, she chaired the Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. Her personal research interests focused on the Arabian Gulf, particularly the Sultanate of Oman. From 1986 to 1987, she served as Monographic Acquisitions Librarian at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, further developing her knowledge and love of the region’s history and cultures.
Dispatches
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Brenda studied at the University of Texas at Austin, earning a BA in French with a minor in government in 1973. She continued her studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she earned a Master of Arts in Library Science and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies. She began her career as a cataloger at the Cleveland Public Library in 1977, working in the J.G. White Collection of Folklore, Orientalia & Chess, before joining Georgetown the following year.
Brenda’s dedication and kindness, and her many contributions to Middle Eastern scholarship, left an enduring mark on CCAS, as well as the larger Georgetown community. We extend our sincere condolences to Brenda’s friends and loved ones. ◆
Authoritarian Legacies and the War in Sudan
Decades of authoritarian rule—and the policies of Omar al-Bashir’s Islamist regime—help explain the roots of Sudan’s current conflict, argues CCAS alum Khalid Medani.
By Khalid Mustafa Medani
In the early 1990s, during my time as a student in the MA in Arab Studies program at CCAS, I published an article on the rise of political Islam in Sudan. Inspired by the late Professor Hanna Batatu’s seminal work on the Syrian Muslim Brethren, my article pushed against some of the central premises of modernization theory that were so popular at the time. I argued that the rise of Islamist politics in Sudan was due to structural factors rather than the more nebulous impacts of modernization and urbanization. The latter were often treated at the time as central factors behind rising social alienation and a search among Muslims for an “authentic” identity detached from the effects of Westernization. Scholarship on political Islam has greatly advanced in the three decades since, yet in the case of Sudan—where Islamism emerged in full force following Omar al-Bashir’s Islamist-backed coup in June 1989—the political and economic dynamics of this movement remain a powerful analytical lens for identifying the root causes of of the brutal war that broke out in 2023 and continues today.
While multiple factors have contributed to the conflict, the authoritarian policies of the al-Bashir regime—known as Tamkeen (or empowerment)— played a defining role. Tamkeen policies used four key strategies to fortify the state against insurgency and democratic uprisings: undermining the judiciary, purging and replacing the civil service with loyalists, monopolizing the economy, and expanding paramilitary militias. The latter, the expansion of paramilitaries, served a dual purpose: weakening the National Army to prevent coups from within while unleashing violence against civilians to suppress dissent across the country. In addition to these key strategies, Bashir’s regime relied on an arsenal of tactics and repressive laws to control the civilian population, including censorship, digital surveillance, torture and targeted killings.
“Can those hands bound by the shackles of war ever reach out once more for peace?” by Sudanese photographer AL Tayeb ‘Morhal’ (@altayeb_morhal)
Bashir’s military restructuring—undertaken in response to the Darfur insurgency and widespread popular protests—included transforming the Janjaweed proxy militia, which had fought in Darfur, into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). His regime placed the new organization under the leadership of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and institutionalized the RSF as an integral arm of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), creating an alliance that dramatically altered the structure of authoritarian rule and enabled the regime’s brutal campaign against civilians nationwide. Following the Sudanese revolution of 2018-19 (known as the People’s Revolution), which led to the ouster of Omar alBashir, continued protests pushed the SAF and RSF to consolidate their longstanding alliance. Then in a final bid to crush popular resistance, the two groups joined forces in 2021 to stage a coup against the People’s Revolution. Bashir’s successor, General Abdelfattah Burhan, further expanded the RSF’s presence in residential areas of greater Khartoum. This set the stage for the capital city to become the epicenter of violence when, in 2023, fighting between the two groups quickly escalated into war.
The Unravelling of an Autocratic Regime
If the designers of Tamkeen, led by the late Islamist leader Hassan Turabi, succeeded in building a
formidable, if violent, autocratic regime, its unraveling stemmed from Sudan’s long history of war and deep economic crises. The secession of South Sudan in 2011 ended a decade of oil-fueled economic growth—as most of the oil production had occurred in the south—and marked a critical juncture in Sudanese history. The sharp decline in oil revenues, which had accounted for over 95% of export earnings, weakened the Bashir regime’s patronage networks and undercut the central pillar of the Islamists’ autocratic playbook: state control over the economy. As these economic foundations collapsed, so too did the institutions of the Tamkeen state and its legitimating Islamist ideology. The post-oil economic crisis intensified social grievances and deepened inequalities between rural and urban populations, which in turn fueled both the RSF’s recruitment among disenfranchised rural youth and the mass protests that ultimately led to the revolution. What began as isolated protests in the rural periphery soon spread to Khartoum and urban areas across the country, culminating in a nationwide uprising that brought down Bashir’s regime—though many of the core institutions of authoritarian rule remained intact. The protests succeeded because of their broad geographic reach and the organizing strength of the Sudan Professional Association (SPA), which united youth activists, civil society groups, and opposition parties. Yet this unprecedented success also set the stage for a new critical juncture: the outbreak, in April 2023, of the most brutal war in Sudan’s history—a conflict driven not only by the attempt to “upgrade” authoritarianism, but to fully rebuild autocratic rule and the pillars of Tamkeen.
The Struggle to Rebuild Authoritarianism from War
By early 2023, the alliance between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces forged during the Bashir era and reinforced after the 2018–19 revolution— was rapidly unraveling. Although mass protests had compelled the two to negotiate with civilian forces over a transition to democratic rule, tensions within the military
By photographer Al Tayeb Morhal, from his series documenting the People’s Revolution in Sudan
coalition were mounting. The immediate spark of the conflict between the two groups was a dispute over security sector reform—specifically, plans to merge the RSF into the regular army, a move that would have weakened RSF leader General Dagalo’s power. After decades of intentional fragmentation of the security apparatus—a strategy led by the Islamist National Congress Party (NCP)—fulfilling the revolution’s demand for “one army, one people” (ja’shun wahid, sha’abun wahid) was bound to provoke conflict.
Yet even though the merger dispute was what sparked the outbreak of war, its deeper causes are structural and can be traced all the way back to the authoritarian legacy of the Islamist regime of 1989. These structural factors include: the formal and illicit economies upon which the Islamist regime depended (as I detailed in my 1991 article while at CCAS); the deep socioeconomic divides between rural and urban populations; and the entrenchment of multiple militia groups, now numbering over fourteen, aligned with either the SAF’s Islamist cadres or the RSF’s mercenary forces. The economic stakes for both parties are immense and help explain their intransigence in ceasefire negotiations and their willingness to prolong the war. For the SAF, particularly elements influenced by Islamist stalwarts of the Bashir regime, the goal has been to protect the vast wealth amassed under Tamkeen policies. This wealth stems from the monopolization of formerly state-owned enterprises, the trade in key commodities, and the operation of the Military Industrial Corporation (MIC), established at the height of these policies in the 1990s. During the shortlived transition toward democratic rule following the 2018 People’s Revolution, a civilian taskforce had begun dismantling Bashir-era assets acquired through state predation and corruption—a central demand of the Revolution.* The initial success of these efforts convinced many Islamist elites that safeguarding their interests would require sabotaging the transition—even going to war against the civilian population if necessary.
of 2021, over 47% of Sudanese gold—valued at more than $4 billion—was smuggled illegally, much of it controlled by Dagalo and his family. This illicit trade has funded the RSF’s expansion to a force of roughly 40,000 fighters. Thus, while Islamist figures within the SAF seek to rebuild the institutions and economy of the Bashir-era authoritarian state, the RSF’s violence and brutality stem from Dagalo’s efforts to protect and expand his personal wealth, bolstered by support from regional actors with their own geostrategic and financial ambitions in Sudan.
Violence and State Building: A New Dynamic in the War
Meanwhile, the RSF, under Dagalo’s leadership, is focused less on restoring the old state than on consolidating control over Sudan’s most lucrative economic sector: gold. Between 2012-2017, Sudan’s gold production increased by 141%, positioning the country as the twelfth largest producer globally. As
The severity and persistence of the violence stem from structural factors driving both sides to prolong the war. For the SAF, Islamist factions seek to regain political power and protect the wealth amassed during the Tamkeen era. For the RSF, Dagalo and his family aim to preserve their monopoly over Sudan’s lucrative gold trade. These motivations have shifted the conflict’s dynamics: now, rather than seeking outright military victory, both factions are engaged in rival state-building efforts in territories under their control. The SAF and RSF have declared de-facto—though not de-jure—parallel governments: the SAF in Khartoum, Central, North, and East Sudan; the RSF in the West. Each side has introduced new currencies to demarcate the economic boundaries of their “states” and have announced plans to exclude Sudanese residents in
*Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir, “Sudan task force chasing Bashir-era assets sees progress, faces criticism.” Reuters, April 6, 2021.
“Strength in crowds” by Al Tayeb Morhal
rival territories from citizenship rights and access to public goods.
The War Forward: The Enduring Legacy of Sudan’s Revolution
Despite decades of critique against orientalist and modernization theory biases, much analysis of Sudan’s war still falls back on outdated misconceptions—especially cultural essentialism and treating Sudanese institutions as “exceptions” to global patterns. Given the severity of the violence, such framing is somewhat understandable, particularly among non-regional specialists. Yet seeing Sudan as exceptional obscures the deeper historical and structural factors that align it with broader patterns of authoritarianism—though with consequences far more devastating for Sudanese society. Conventional analysis continues to privilege two overlapping narratives. The first frames the war as a center-periphery power struggle fueled by regional, racial, and ethnic grievances over decades of inequality. The second presents Sudan’s political crisis as a contest between Islamists and a secular elite for control of a predatory state. Critically, these two dominant narratives overlook Sudan’s specific authoritarian legacy.
Unlike earlier conflicts, today’s warring parties— the SAF and RSF—lack any significant constituency or legitimacy in civil society. They are waging war not against rival elites, but against a population that, through the 2018-19 revolution, overwhelmingly rejected military rule. That revolution, and the ongoing war, have reaffirmed that Sudan’s
future lies with its vibrant civil society: professional associations, trade unions, women’s groups, and especially youth-led resistance committees. Despite devastation and displacement, Sudanese grassroots movements have shown significant capacity to collaborate across ethnic, gender, and social divides in pursuit of democratic objectives. In the absence of adequate international aid, youth-led emergency response teams have, for example, mobilized mutual aid across the country. These leaders enjoy strong support among a wide spectrum of society, even as the legitimacy of political elites wanes. Youth and women’s organizations, independent scholars, artists, and those in the diaspora are working in collaboration to strengthen civil society in ways that rebuild trust, resolve conflict, and build a sustainable peace. Ultimately, understanding Sudan’s ongoing revolution and the current war requires focusing not on cultural or ideological divisions alone, but on structural factors—particularly the legacies of authoritarian institutions and the regional interventions that will continue shaping the conflict’s trajectory. Sudanese aspirations remain clear, echoing those of previous struggles—in 1967, 1985, and 2018—to achieve sustainable peace and a transition to a civilian democracy. ◆
Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani, a graduate of the MAAS program, is an associate professor of political science and Islamic studies at McGill University, where he is also the director of the Institute of Islamic Studies and chair of the African Studies Program.
From Promise to Precarity
MAAS student Ingie Gohar traces the deteriorating rights of the growing Sudanese migrant community in Egypt
By Ingie Gohar
In 2004, Egypt and Sudan signed the Four Freedoms Agreement, granting Sudanese nationals the right to freedom of movement, residence, work, and property ownership in Egypt. The agreement aimed to strengthen bilateral relations and enhance cooperation between the two countries. However, Egypt has never fully implemented the agreement in practice, and the situation for Sudanese nationals has only deteriorated over time. Following the outbreak of the current conflict in Sudan in the spring of 2023 and the sharp increase in arrivals from that country, Egypt suspended the agreement and placed new restrictions on the entry, residency, and employment of Sudanese refugees. These restrictive policies have forced many of those fleeing the war to resort to dangerous irregular migration routes, only to then encounter precarious
conditions in Egypt. Egypt’s deteriorating economy has also left much of the local population struggling to make ends meet, fueling frustration against migrants as the public—and the media—searches for scapegoats.
The war, which is being fought between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has caused mass displacement and led to a devastating humanitarian crisis. In December 2024, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that more than 12 million people in Sudan had fled their homes, with 8.8 million displaced within Sudan and 3.2 million seeking refuge in neighboring and other African countries. Egypt, given its proximity and historic ties to Sudan, has seen an estimated 1.2 million Sudanese enter the country since 2023,
“Reverse Migration 01” by Abubakar ‘Bakri’ Moaz (@ bakri.moazz), a Sudanese artist and co-founder of Zan Arts Studio. His work, which is inspired by his home near the Blue Nile, explores themes of spirituality, truth and nature. His pieces featured here were created in response to the return of some Sudanese families to their home country after facing hardship and the lack of opportunity and dignity in Egypt and other neighboring countries to which they fled the war.
with “hundreds” reportedly entering daily, as of November 2024.
Despite its initial commitment to international agreements protecting refugees, the Egyptian government’s stance has shifted as economic pressures have mounted and international support has proven insufficient. In the war’s first month— April 2023—Sudanese women and girls, boys
under 16, and men over 50 could enter without a visa, while the remaining male constituents were able to obtain visas relatively easily. But that June, Egypt abruptly announced that all Sudanese citizens would require visas. Wait times stretched to three months, forcing many to rely on brokers, facilitators who offer fast-track visa services but charge exorbitant fees that are unaffordable for many Sudanese.
As the situation in Sudan has deteriorated and Egypt’s restrictions further tightened, many Sudanese have been forced to turn to smugglers to cross the border into southern Egypt, a dangerous journey that puts them at risk of violence and exploitation. Moreover, Sudanese refugees are subject to widespread arbitrary arrests and deportations, which are backed by European Union funding that aims to curb migration to Europe via Egypt. In March 2024, the EU announced a €7.4 billion aid package to Egypt, most of it in the
form of loans intended to boost trade and stabilize the country’s economy. The deal also includes €200 million specifically allocated for border and immigration enforcement.
Those seeking to regularize their status — that is, to obtain or renew legal residency and avoid the risk of arrest or deportation—also face a $1,000 fee introduced by Prime Ministerial Decision No. 3326 of August 2023, which targets refugees with expired residency permits or those without proper documentation. Although Egypt has repeatedly extended deadlines, the decision left many in limbo and served as a justification for periodic crackdowns.
Despite the current situation, Egypt has a long history of hosting refugees. Since Egypt’s 1954 Memorandum of Understanding with UNHCR, responsibilities such as registration, documentation, and refugee status determination have largely been managed by UNHCR. This arrangement is not uncommon, and many countries without comprehensive national asylum systems rely on UNHCR to carry out these functions in order to ensure basic protections. However, last December Egypt’s parliament rushed through a controversial asylum law that gives the government, rather than UNHCR, the power to determine refugee status, which critics argue could severely undermine refugee rights. The new law marks a first step toward “institutionalizing” Egypt’s international obligations in the area of asylum and has led to refugees being granted some basic rights, such as the ability to apply for Egyptian citizenship, for the first time. But it also imposes stricter criteria for obtaining refugee status, enforces a 45-day deadline for asylum applications, permits arbitrary detention, and includes vague criteria for revocation of status or forced returns, such as committing “acts that interfere with national security or public order.” Moreover, the law restricts access to essential services and even criminalizes the unauthorized provision of assistance, such as shelter or employment, to asylum-seekers.
Even those who gain refugee status face numerous obstacles to building a stable life in Egypt, including providing education for their children. New regulations require Sudanese children to have residency permits in order to attend Egyptian schools, but at the same time, Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on secondary schools opened by the Sudanese community to fill the growing educational gap—forcing many to close. Moreover, a large proportion of those fleeing Sudan for Egypt are students or college-age youth, but those seeking to continue their
“On The Way Back 03” by Bakri Moaz
education face high tuition fees, bureaucratic obstacles, and visa restrictions. Before the war, Sudanese students received a 90 percent tuition discount at Egyptian universities, but this was recently reduced to 60 percent. In addition, foreign students face additional fees of up to $2,000, making education nearly unattainable.
The entry of refugees into Egypt, coupled with their portrayal as a financial and economic burden, has fostered a climate of hostility that aligns with the country’s recent restrictive measures. The hostile rhetoric is also fueled by government media and by coordinated social media campaigns against refugees that call for stricter measures and divert public attention away from Egypt’s systemic economic problems.
The 2023 devaluation of the Egyptian pound worsened the situation by driving up the cost of living—for Egyptians and immigrants alike—making basic necessities unaffordable to many. To cope with these rising challenges, Sudanese refugees are creating and turning to Sudanese-led support networks and community-driven initiatives, including not only schools, but also community-based organizations (CBOs) and volunteer-run associations that provide essential services and skills-building opportunities to newcomers to facilitate their employment in Egypt. These initiatives often provide the only lifeline for Sudanese refugees, who may be overlooked by larger international organizations. A few Sudanese have also opened businesses and restaurants in Egypt, catering to the needs of their community while creating spaces for gathering, networking, building connections among the displaced, and providing jobs to asylum seekers and refugees. However, economic integration remains a major challenge, as many refugees struggle with having their previous work experience and educational certificates recognized, which confines them to lowskilled, underpaid work—regardless of the professional status or skilled employment they held in Sudan.
An Urgent Need for Solutions
A lasting solution for displaced Sudanese will require coordinated regional and international action, as well as a comprehensive response that ensures humanitarian aid and protection for refugees in Egypt and neighboring countries. This should include redirecting resources to grassroots initiatives that effectively address immediate challenges. Moreover, Egypt must uphold the Four Freedoms Agreement and establish clear legal protections for Sudanese refugees. Simplifying residency procedures and access to elementary, secondary, and university education would ease burdens on displaced families, while a balanced media narrative, supported by refugee organizations, journalists, and human rights groups, is needed to counter misinformation and anti-refugee rhetoric. The United States
should press for humanitarian corridors and a roadmap for peace in Sudan, while also leveraging its ties with Egypt to advocate for fairer refugee policies and fewer restrictions on Sudanese asylees. At the same time, Egypt will need international support to address the economic challenges facing both its population and the refugees it hosts.
While international aid and grassroots efforts are important, they cannot replace the need to address the root causes of war in Sudan. Above all, the international community must listen to the Sudanese people, amplify their demands, and support their aspirations for self-governance and a peaceful and just future. Only by centering their voices can the world hope to create meaningful and lasting change in Sudan. ◆
Ingie Gohar is a second-year student in the MAAS program who conducted her thesis research on the securitization and socioeconomic exclusion of Sudanese refugees in Egypt. A longer version of this article was published on January 24, 2025 by Arab Center Washington DC. Reprinted here with permission.
“On The Way Back 07” by Bakri Moaz
Charting a People’s Revolution: Protest Data from Sudan’s Uprising
Professor Killian Clarke and alum Jérémie Langlois use protest data to reveal how Sudan’s 2019 uprising unfolded—and what it can tell us about people power and state repression.
By Killian Clarke and Jérémie Langlois
From late 2018 to 2019, a largely unarmed mass movement of Sudanese protesters led to the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir and the beginning of a transition to democracy. Though this transition was subsequently cut short by a counterrevolutionary coup, and then a collapse into civil war, the 2019 revolution nonetheless marks a watershed moment in Sudan’s history—an effort by everyday Sudanese citizens to wrest political control from entrenched authoritarian actors. At the same time, this revolution is just the latest manifestation of people power in Sudan, which has a long history of revolution, with similar uprisings ousting autocratic incumbents in 1964 and 1985.
To better understand the 2019 revolution, we collected data on the many forms of protest and political mobilization leading up to and following the overthrow of al-Bashir. The dataset includes information on when and where protests occurred, who participated, and how the state responded. It begins in mid-December 2018—when protests over escalating bread prices in the small city of Atbara escalated into direct calls for Bashir’s removal—and ends in August 2019, which marked the beginning of the formal transition to democracy. The 4,088 events we documented include protests, marches, sit-ins, roadblocks, strikes, and mass attacks. For each event, we also recorded a wide range of details about the protest itself: location, timing, number and type of participants, presence of organizations, demands, tactics, and any government response or repression. This fine-grained data offers a rich, multidimensional lens through which we were able to map the Sudanese protest movement across the full arc of the revolution.
One of the greatest challenges in collecting protest data is finding news sources that accurately and consistently provide information on these events. This is especially difficult in an authoritarian
context like Bashir’s Sudan, where few local and independent media outlets existed. Coverage by international news and wire services like AP and Reuters is insufficient, as these outlets tend to limit their reporting to larger, more violent, and urban events. To build our dataset, we therefore drew on a variety of Sudan-focused, Arabic-language sources. First, we collected events from Radio Dabanga, a Sudanese news outlet based outside the country that nevertheless provides strong on-the-ground coverage. Second, we included data from three activist-run Facebook pages that offered daily updates on demonstrations throughout much of the revolution. Finally, we reviewed several existing event catalogues and news aggregators to capture events covered in other Sudanese media outlets, such as AlRakoba, Al-Nilin, and the English-language Sudan Tribune. Taken together, these sources provide consistent and wide-ranging coverage of protests across Sudan over the full course of the uprising.
In this article, we present three descriptive figures drawn from our dataset. While our analysis is still ongoing, these visual overviews offer important insights into how the revolution unfolded—both in terms of protest timing and geographic spread, as well as the state’s response to the protests. Figure 1 depicts weekly protest counts from December 2018 to August 2019, illustrating how mobilization ebbed and flowed over time. Figure 2 adds a spatial dimension, using geocoded data to show where protests occurred across Sudan’s 18 governorates or wilayas. To highlight broad trends, we divide the revolution into four phases, which are demarcated in Figure 1 and represented in the four paneled maps in Figure 2. In Figure 3, we provide a summary of the scale and kinds of repression committed by coercive actors in response to the protests.
Protests across Time and Space
In the first phase of the revolution, spanning from
mid-December to mid-February, protests were concentrated in the “near-periphery”— the Nile corridor, including Khartoum, and the Arabicspeaking Northern and Red Sea provinces—as illustrated in he top left quadrant of Figure 2 (pg. 16). Although demonstrations had spread nationwide by late December, they intensified around January 17, which was also when the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA)—an umbrella group of 17 trade unions formed in 2012 during the Arab Uprisings— organized its first official protests. That week, SPA organizers reported that the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) agents had “unleashed a campaign of thuggery–the biggest show of intimidation to date.”1
The second phase (Fig. 2, top right) began on February 22 when a state of emergency was declared, marking a turning point in the regime’s response to protests. Bashir replaced governors and top officials with military officers, and internet blackouts became more frequent. After an initial spike in protest activity, the number of demonstrations dipped in early March. But momentum rebounded later that month after a series of demonstrations successfully “shamed” the regime into freeing hundreds of women who had been detained during protests. On April 6, activists launched a mass sit‐in outside the army headquarters in
Khartoum. After five days of sustained demonstrations against the military, General Ahmed Ibn Awuf announced Bashir’s ouster on April 11. This phase shows a clear consolidation of protest activity in the capital.
The third phase, following Bashir’s fall, saw fewer protests overall as opposition leaders began negotiating with the Transitional Military Council (TMC). Still, the SPA continued demanding full civilian rule and organizing protests, including sustaining the weeks-long sit-in at the army headquarters that had begun on April 6. As the map (Fig. 2, bottom left) illustrates, mobilization persisted throughout the country, with nearly all of Sudan’s 18 states seeing at least a dozen protests. The geographic reach of these ongoing protests, including sit-ins at regional army headquarters in several wilayas, suggests a dynamic process of coalition-building within the movement, even as the count of protest events dropped.
On June 3rd, following a week of reports of escalating state violence, military and security forces cleared the sit-in at the national army headquarters in Khartoum with tear gas, sound bombs, and vehicles. They killed at least 100 people and committed widespread atrocities, including the rape of at least 70 people and the injury of hundreds more. The massacre initiated a broader campaign of state and
Figure 1: Weekly Protest Counts, December 2018-August 2019
parastate violence across the country, which lasted just over a week but included mass murders and extrajudicial killings, rape, assault, pillaging, and the intimidation of civilians and striking workers.2
Yet this brutal crackdown sparked a powerful backlash. Weekly protests soared, and organizational solidarity strengthened in response to the violence. The fourth phase (Fig. 2, bottom right), began on June 7, with the first major SPA-led protest after the massacre. In response to the SPA’s call for “complete civil disobedience and open political strike,” weekly protests throughout the summer soared, reaching levels that had not been seen since Bashir’s ouster. This sustained mobilization gave opposition leaders critical leverage in negotiations with the military. On August 17, Sudan formally began a transition to civilian rule following a power-sharing agreement between the military and the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), a broad coalition of opposition groups formed earlier that year.
Agents of Repression
Authoritarian regimes rarely give up power without a fight, and Bashir’s regime responded to the revolution with harsh crackdowns and violent repression. More than 250 people were killed—almost all by the state—and thousands more were injured. The most brutal crackdown was the June 3 Khartoum massacre described above, but there were many other instances of repression, particularly in the early stages of the revolution before Bashir stepped down. Our dataset allows us to track not only when and where repression occurred, but also who was responsible. In addition to recording both the severity of repression (e.g., tear gas versus live ammunition) and the number of casualties for each event, we also tracked which actors were involved. Figure 3 provides a summary of repression committed by each of the five major actors: the police; the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), a powerful standalone security and intelligence agency; the
Figure 2: Location of Protests by Governorate
Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF); the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary force that evolved from the Janjaweed militias in Darfur; and unnamed state-backed thugs, known in Arabic as shabiha or beltegeyya. The figure’s left panel shows how many protest events were repressed by each of these actors. The right panel displays the total number of injuries they inflicted during protests.
The figure sheds light on how coercive authority was distributed within Bashir’s regime. Most of the repression was carried out by the police and the NISS, which were also involved in the largest number of protest crackdowns. Strikingly, the military itself played only a limited role in direct repression, despite being one of the regime’s most powerful actors. In fact, it was senior military leaders who ultimately forced Bashir from power and sidelined Salah Gosh, the reviled head of the NISS. These same generals went on to form a junta called the Transitional Military Council, assuming direct control of the country until the transition agreement with revolutionary forces was signed in August 2019.
Despite its power, the military largely refrained from deploying its own forces against protesters. This was likely a strategic choice, as direct involvement in repression could have damaged its national standing, so the generals instead asserted their authority through other coercive actors. Like other autocratic regimes in the region, Bashir’s government relied heavily on the use of state-backed thugs to supplement its main agents of repression—the police and NISS. Because these thugs had no official role in the regime, they provided the government a degree of anonymity and deniability. As the right panel reveals, however, these thugs were not involved in the most violent acts. Their primary function was to harass and intimidate protesters, spreading fear and uncertainty within the protest movement.
The final coercive actor in our data is the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group led by
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti. Formed in 2013, the RSF grew out of the Janjaweed militias that committed war crimes in Darfur during the 2000s. For Bashir, the RSF served as a kind of praetorian guard, protecting him from threats within his own security establishment. Although the RSF was not involved in as many protest crackdowns as the police or NISS, its actions were far more violent. As the figure shows, the RSF was involved in some of the most brutal repression during the revolution, including the June 3 Khartoum massacre.
Conclusion
Using our original event dataset, we have mapped the arc of Sudan’s remarkable revolutionary movement. The data traces how protests rose and fell over time—centralizing in the capital before returning to the periphery—and how they escalated and receded in response to both activist interventions and the responses of the state. Together, these patterns reveal the dynamic and iterative nature of revolution, showing how a movement that began with a scattered series of protests outside the capital ultimately toppled a long-standing dictator and set the stage for a transition to democracy. ◆
Dr. Killian Clarke is a political scientist and an assistant professor in the School of Foreign Service, affiliated with CCAS. Jérémie Langlois is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a MAAS alum.
1 Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy: The Promise and Betrayal of a People’s Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2022, p. 30)
2 Press Release from the Sudanese Professionals Association, “Complete civil disobedience and an open political strike to prevent chaos” (June 4, 2019)
Figure 3 : Distribution of Repression by Coercive Actor
Keep Eyes on Sudan
A Year-Long Series on Conflict, Displacement, and Resilience
By Coco Tait
More than two years into one of the world’s most pressing and under-addressed conflicts, Sudan remains at the epicenter of a multifaceted humanitarian and political crisis. With over 12 million people displaced—including 2 million who have fled the country—and more than 18 million in need of humanitarian aid, the war in Sudan has largely escaped sustained global attention or meaningful diplomatic engagement. The devastation has been particularly acute in Darfur, where the threat of genocide looms, and where women and girls face staggering levels of sexual violence in this conflict.
In response to this ongoing emergency, CCAS— in collaboration with Georgetown’s African Studies Program, the Conflict Resolution Program, the Gender+ Justice Initiative, and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security—launched a year-long event series that has sought to center Sudanese voices, deepen analysis of the conflict’s local and regional dimensions, and imagine more just futures. Through these public talks and discussions with scholars, practitioners, and activists, the “Keep Eyes
Hala Al Karib, and Abubakr Omer. The event set the tone for the series through its focus on the disproportionate impact of the conflict on women, the food crisis, and the ongoing displacement of Sudanese communities.
In November, the Georgetown community gathered for a screening of Goodbye Julia, followed by a group discussion. Goodbye Julia was Sudan’s official submission for the 2024 Oscars and provides a powerful lens into Sudanese society in the lead-up to the current crisis, offering space to reflect on the cultural and historical roots of conflict as well as the emotional costs of political fragmentation.
on Sudan” series has provided a platform to examine both the structural violence and the enduring strength of the Sudanese people and to elevate Sudanese voices within our community in Washington, D.C. and beyond. Most of the events were recorded and are available to watch on the CCAS YouTube channel.
The series opened in September 2024 with a virtual panel, “Mass Displacement, Food Insecurity, and Sudanese Women,” featuring Reem Abbas,
The series continued in December with “Higher Education in Times of Conflict,” a panel exploring the toll of war on universities and the academic community in Sudan. Co-sponsored by the MESA Global Academy and the African Studies Association, this event brought together scholars and educators to reflect on both loss and continuity within the educational sector. This event featured remarks from Elobaid A. Elobaid, a Georgetown professor and senior advisor to the United Nations, and Rebecca Glade, an alum of Georgetown University who authored the report “Research in Displacement: The Impact of War on Sudan’s Higher Education and Academic Research Community.”
In January 2025, a roundtable discussion titled
Speakers for the virtual event “Mass Displacement, Food Security, and Sudanese Women”
“Regional Dynamics of the War in Sudan,” investigated the geopolitical stakes of the conflict, including the role of neighboring states, the failure of international mediation, and the long history of external interference that has shaped Sudan’s trajectory. Analysts Ian Barnes, Nour Khalil, and Zeinab Mohammed Salih joined us for this discussion.
April featured two events. The first, “Teaching and Artistic Production in Sudan,” was held in collaboration with the CCAS Education Outreach program and included a presentation of a new online teaching tool on Sudan created by MAAS students (see page 20 for more). Following the student presentation, Sudanese-American artist Waad Husein discussed and exhibited her work (see above and on the cover), offering insight into how visual culture serves as a medium for documenting, interpreting, and responding to Sudan’s political and social realities.
Later in the month, “Voices of Resilience: The Struggles and Strengths of Sudanese Women Refugees” highlighted the lived experiences of Sudanese women navigating displacement and exile, underscoring both trauma and resistance
in the refugee experience. This event featured Wala Mohammed and Maha Tambal.
We hope that the “Keep Eyes on Sudan” series has served to bring attention to a crisis too often neglected while providing a platform for Sudanese agency and analysis. The events have illuminated not only the devastating toll of the ongoing conflict but also the strategies of resilience, resistance, and care that define Sudanese responses. In addition, CCAS has maintained a webpage highlighting Sudanese-led charities and vetted international efforts as a way to support and lend our platform to endeavors pursuing peace and justice. By convening scholars, artists, activists, and the broader public, the Georgetown community, in line with the Jesuit values that founded this institution, has affirmed the importance of sustained, justice-oriented engagement with Sudan. The series reminds us that even in protracted crises, there are voices to hear, histories to learn from, and futures to fight for. ◆
Coco Tait is the CCAS Assistant Director of Events and Programs.
“Zammanik”—Digital collage, 2022. By Waad Husein, who presented her art at CCAS in April and says her work represents “memories of family gatherings and the essence of Sudan.”
Teaching Sudan Through Sudane se Voices
A new website created by MAAS students is helping educators teach about Sudan and bring Sudanese voices into the classroom.
By Michael Overton
“Another
war came
crashing
down
on our
bodies.
The cut of a broken piece and the bite of a broken promise are the same except with the first one death follows and takes everyone around you.”
- From “Sudan Balady” by Emi Mahmoud
The war that broke out between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces in Khartoum in April 2023 is rooted in a larger history of colonial violence—one that led to ethnic cleansing in Darfur, the revolution that
deposed al-Bashir in 2019, and the October 2021 military coup. The current violence has, as of 2024, led to the displacement of around 9 million people, including both refugees who fled the country and those displaced internally.
Considering the terrible humanitarian crisis, Sudanese activists have fought to spread information and provide financial support for those most affected, while activists around the globe have helped in elevating their efforts. Despite their good work, many people remain uninformed about what is happening in Sudan and many teachers are unaware of the resources that could help them bring these issues to their classrooms. Last year, as part of the course “Studying the Arab World” (taught by Dr. Fida Adely and Dr. Rochelle Davis), Ingie Gohar, Shauna McLean, and I—all students in the MAAS program—teamed up in the hopes of making a project to address this gap. Our work culminated in the creation of an educational module and website titled “ Teach Sudan,” which we designed to help teachers in English-language classrooms educate their students about Sudan’s history and culture, as well as the current war and its impact on displaced Sudanese people.
The Teach Sudan website includes separate portals for teachers and students, with the former providing a lesson plan designed to meet Common Core literature, writing, speaking, and listening standards for high school students. Included in the teacher’s portal are worksheets and additional activities they can incorporate according to their classroom needs. The student portal is highly interactive and features a follow-along series of activities that lead up to the final project: to research an example of Sudanese art, culture, or activism from the site’s
resources section. “Researching contemporary media inspires students to engage with a wide variety of art and writing styles, rewarding creativity and active learning alongside skill development,” said McLean. Our team worked hard to compile a selection of movies, novels (and authors), poetry, music, Instagram pages, and websites to expose students to a diverse range of Sudanese art, culture, and activism. For example, Emi Mahmoud, whose story is one of resilience and humanity during times of conflict (and whose poetry is included at the start of this article), is just one of the Sudanese poets students encounter through the Teach Sudan lesson plan. “The foundation of active learning and participation is empathy, which necessitates the centering of Sudanese voices and experiences,” added McLean. “By allowing students to engage directly with Sudanese art through open-ended questions, they are given the opportunity to cultivate efficacy in key Common Core standards while maintaining empathy at the center.”
It was important to each of us to use our teaching module not only to expose students to Sudanese cultural production, but also to elevate the work of Sudanese educators and activists. The resources section of the Teach Sudan website points visitors to projects like Keep Eyes on Sudan, Sudan Revolts, and Sudan Speaks—all rich examples of databases or educational pages that anyone can access in order to learn about what’s currently happening. As new projects, songs, pages, and more appear, we hope to add them to our resource page for students and teachers to utilize.
This April will mark two years since the beginning of the war, and one year since the creation of the Teach Sudan website. When Dr. Adely reached out to ask the three of us if we would be interested in participating this spring in a CCAS-led workshop about Sudan for K-14 educators, we jumped at the opportunity to gain feedback from teachers on the organization and appearance of the website. Moreover, the chance to demonstrate our website to teachers is, on its own, an honor. With the increasing attacks and threats to education, paired with the critical juncture the United States has reached in the past few months, the importance of teaching about other cultures and histories, and about displacement, is more important than it has ever been. Educators
play a vital role in this regard, and as such, we want to make sure our website is something they can effectively use in order to teach empathy and critical thinking skills.
Our Youth Activism Lesson tells students, “For youth activists, art and social media each tie themselves to and strengthen the movement, while persistence keeps the ball rolling. Why not take a look at the resources provided—or better yet, at Eyes on Sudan—and see what catches your eye?” We sincerely hope that they do choose to examine these resources and expand their curiosity beyond our website, beyond their classroom, and perhaps as a result, expand their view of community. In that respect, I’d like to close with an excerpt from Safia Elhillo’s essay before/before, which she wrote after the 2023 war began:
My earliest teachers were those who walked and continue to walk beside me, who learn alongside me. In this way, my poetic lineage is situated not in the before, in the sense of being in the past. Instead, the poets I come from, are before me in the sense of being right in front of me, returning my gaze, answering my questions and asking their own. ◆
Michael Overton, originally from San Antonio, Texas, is a second-year student in the MAAS program.
The resources section of the Teach Sudan website exposes students to a wide range of Sudanese literature, music, film, and activism.
Teaching the Middle TeachingEast,the World
MAAS alum Susan Douglass looks back on ten years as Education Outreach Director and the four-decade legacy of CCAS’s K–14 outreach program.
By Susan Douglass
In 1990, I was accepted to the Master of Arts in Arab Studies program at CCAS after returning from living abroad for 12 years. I was drawn to the program not only because it was interdisciplinary and featured a strong language requirement, but also because CCAS was home to an education outreach program—founded by Zeina Azzam in the early 1980s—to help teachers deepen their knowledge of the Middle East. As a social studies teacher at the time, I understood the need for this kind of knowledge sharing and professional development within the world of education. After graduating, I applied my training at MAAS to my interest in education and began working for the Council on Islamic Education in California. I conducted reviews of textbook manuscripts for major US publishing companies and contributed to policies related to national and state academic standards. Then in the late 1990s, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Zeina and the CCAS Education Outreach program giving presentations on Islam, brainstorming topics and areas of need for educators, and contributing to curriculum materials.
The beginning of my work with CCAS coincided with major changes that were underway in the world of public education. These included the development of national teaching standards for history and area studies, the adoption of standards-based education and testing at the state level, and the expansion of religious literacy education in schools. And the field of social studies was at the center of these changes. The civilization-by-civilization model of teaching that had long been the standard in world history classrooms—often referred to as “the West and the rest”—was coming to be seen as outdated; in its place there was a growing emphasis
on examining multiple societies and eras in parallel, and highlighting global connections and exchanges. This so-called “New World History” model was embodied and codified in The National Standards for World History—commissioned in 1994 by UCLA’s National Center for History in the Schools.
These trends reshaped and reinforced the mission of university-based education outreach programs, such as the one at CCAS. Previously, outreach often meant advocating for inclusion of specific topics— such as the Middle East, its culture and history—in the curriculum. But after the new standards were developed, the goal of education outreach became to support school systems and teachers in implementing these broad, global requirements in a manner that reflected good scholarship.
When CCAS was, in 1997, awarded a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education to form a National Resource Center on the Middle East and North Africa, Georgetown joined a network of area studies resource centers acting as key bridges between scholars and educators at the K-12 and community college levels.The new national standards became a benchmark for content quality and equity as our outreach program and others like it helped teachers engage with sound scholarship and current research. Most importantly, history and geography were now taught as global disciplines, creating opportunities for transregional and interdisciplinary approaches that included literature, the arts, and the full spectrum of social sciences. We moved beyond the regional limits of traditional area studies to explore “the world in the MENA and the MENA in the world.” With support from Title VI funding, Zeina pioneered programs aligned with this vision. She organized workshops, sent MAAS students into D.C.-area classrooms to teach Arabic language and culture, and led international study trips. Through her deep knowledge, grace, and persistence, she built a loyal community of teachers who regularly participated in outreach events. I contributed to her programs as a speaker and shared curriculum development work I had done
with the World History for Us All project and with Unity Productions Foundation’s documentary films starting in 2000. A few years later I began conducting teacher outreach at a national level for Georgetown’s al-Waleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU).
After completing my Ph.D. in world history at George Mason University, I succeeded Zeina as the CCAS Education Outreach Director in 2014—with the start of my tenure aligning with the beginning of a new four-year cycle of the Title VI grant.The focus of my work over the past decade has been supporting teacher access to scholarship and helping them adopt new, engaging ways to teach our subjects. In 2019–2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, CCAS and ACMCU agreed to merge their outreach programs. Since then, we’ve developed partnerships with major school systems in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and beyond. Our hybrid (virtual and in-person) programs attract audiences from across the country. We collaborate with other National Resource Centers, co-sponsor programs such as the Teacher Book Club with the World Area Book Awards, host nationally promoted summer institutes, and meet monthly with NRC colleagues. Our partnerships extend to institutions such as Howard University, Smithsonian museums, George Mason’s Middle East Pedagogy Initiative, and various interfaith education groups. We’ve also contributed to state and district curriculum reviews and created professional development for both public and private schools.
Looking back on over 20 years of work, I believe that the most important factor in our success has been the consistent support of CCAS leadership and Board members. Even in an era of uncertain federal funding, I am confident that their commitment will continue. Education outreach remains the most vital link between scholars and pre-collegiate teachers, bringing academic expertise directly into classrooms. ◆
Dr. Susan Douglass has served as the CCAS K-14 Education Outreach Director since 2014. After a decade of service, she is retiring this June.
Opposite page: Susan Douglass leading a workshop in 2014; Top: Participants in the 2017 “World Religions Teacher Institute” on the Newseum’s rooftop patio; Bottom: Teachers gather at CCAS during the 2024 Summer Institute: “Teaching the History of Palestine and Israel in the K-12 Classroom.”
Supporting Peace in Sudan
A MAAS alum reflects on her work at the Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program
By Nisrine Hilizah
Last year I had the privilege of working with the Carter Center, a non-governmental organization based in Atlanta, Georgia that is dedicated to advancing human rights, democracy, and conflict resolution around the world. Founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the Center has become a key player in international peacebuilding.
One reason I was drawn to work at the Carter Center was because of their longstanding commitment to supporting democratic governance, peacebuilding, and stability in Sudan. The Center has been active in the country since 1986 through initiatives ranging from election observation to public health—a legacy of engagement that has taken on new urgency since war broke out in 2023. In response to the ensuing crisis, the Carter Center now works closely with local organizations that monitor the conflict and advocate for democratic accountability, helping ensure that Sudanese voices remain central to shaping the country’s future.
Among the Carter Center’s key partners is the Youth Citizens Observer Network (YCON), a youth-led organization dedicated to monitoring and reporting on the ongoing conflict. During my internship, I supported YCON as part of the Conflict Resolution Program’s Sudan Team, providing technical and administrative assistance while monitoring and analyzing political, economic, and security developments in Sudan. I compiled daily news reports from English- and Arabic-language sources to keep the team updated on the war’s rapidly shifting dynamics and humanitarian consequences. I also reviewed and synthesized YCON’s field reports—covering issues such as civilian displacement, governance challenges, and evolving military dynamics—into briefing materials that informed the team’s strategic responses. This experience reinforced my belief in the importance
of locally led initiatives and the vital role organizations like YCON play in keeping international actors informed and accountable to Sudanese realities.
Education Outreach
In the Headlines
Center. My training in Modern Standard Arabic and familiarity with Sudanese Arabic allowed me to access diverse sources, translate and analyze Sudanese media, and facilitate communication with my Sudanese counterparts. This experience sharpened my ability to interpret complex political dynamics in real time and reinforced my commitment to work that connects research, policy, and program implementation in international development and conflict resolution.
Nisrine poses in front of a quilt that depicts some of the Carter Center’s many programs across the world
The highlight of my internship was traveling to Nairobi, Kenya, for the 2024 Lead Observers Training, where I met with YCON representatives and learned about their work. These discussions gave me a deeper appreciation for the difficulties grassroots organizations face, from security concerns to resource constraints. Despite these obstacles, YCON’s members remained steadfast in their commitment to documenting the war, which was incredibly inspiring.
My experience at the Carter Center built directly on my academic and professional background. As a recent graduate of the MAAS program, I had spent years studying governance, conflict, and political transitions in the Arab world—particularly in Sudan. The intersections of civil society, state authority, and international intervention, which I explored during my graduate studies, became central to my daily work at the
One of the most significant takeaways from my time at the Carter Center was the importance of centering local voices in peacebuilding efforts. Sudanese civil society groups like YCON are not merely observers of the conflict—they are active participants in shaping the country’s future. Strengthening their capacity and ensuring their perspectives are heard is essential for any meaningful resolution to the war. I also learned how essential adaptability is in crisis-response work. The situation in Sudan changed rapidly, requiring us to shift focus frequently and reassess our approach. Learning how to navigate this level of uncertainty while maintaining analytical rigor was an invaluable professional lesson.
Faculty Research:
Ultimately, this experience reaffirmed my commitment to working at the intersection of conflict resolution, policy, and development, and it provided me with a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities of supporting peacebuilding efforts in fragile states. As someone with South Sudanese heritage, this work held deep personal meaning. It strengthened my resolve to contribute to locally driven solutions in conflict-affected areas. I look forward to carrying these insights into future roles that advance peace, justice, and sustainable development. ◆
Nisrine Hilizah, who graduated from MAAS in 2023, is a former International Program Specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce.