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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Autonomy or Security: Negotiating family norms in Sudanese households
| Panel |
2. Representation of the African Family of the 21st Century
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| Paper ID | 684 |
| Author(s) |
Schultz, Ulrike
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | Sudanese families are complex entities. They are not only challenged by modernisation and islamisation process but serve at the same time as a symbol and marker for modernity or tradition within the Sudanese discourse on different concepts of modernity. Thereby, the way modernity is referred to in everyday life seems to be a hybrid mixture of Western and Islamic modernity. Within this process of negotiating modernity on a local level local traditions are constructed and referred to. Whereas modernity is viewed as a global concept tradition is constructed along national and local identities
Within the families, women and men, young and old family members refer to different family norms in order to open up new spaces, oblige other family members and restructure social relations. However at the same the family itself serves as a marker for modernity. Therefore people do not only renegotiate individual rights and obligations but also the Sudanese family itself is part of the negotiation process. For instance young middleclass couples try to establish their own household independent from their relatives in order to position themselves as a modern family. However this often contradicts practical issues like the need of working women to be assisted by their mothers, sisters, and in-laws.
In the context of my study family members often refer to traditional and modern concepts of family life at the same time. They emphasize the traditional Sudanese culture and traditional institutions such as female mutual aid groups and extended family values. Similar to the popular concept of modernity, tradition is a vague concept that includes elements of different sources. In negotiating and localising globalisation and modernity, tradition is invented and used as reference point.
In the paper I want to elaborate on these processes of negotiating modernity and tradition in Sudanese families. The results I will present are based on empirical research in Central Sudan conducted during 2000 2003; they are part of a comprehensive study on negotiating modernity and tradition in Sudanese families. Research sites have been lower middle class areas and squatter areas in the Three Towns (Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North). |
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