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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Ndundeng and the 'Turuk': Two Narratives Compared |
Author: | Johnson, Douglas H. |
Year: | 1982 |
Periodical: | History in Africa |
Volume: | 9 |
Pages: | 119-139 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Sudan Great Britain |
Subjects: | African religions prophets Nuer colonialism oral history History and Exploration Bibliography/Research |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171602 |
Abstract: | The historiography of the southern Sudan has lagged behind that of the rest of Africa because, until recently, a limited number of colonial documents were the main sources available on southern Sudanese history, and these remained both unchallenged or uncorroborated by indigenous sources. Over the last ten years, however, it has become possible for scholars to collect and examine a wider variety of local materials in the southern Sudan itself. Comparison of these materials with the older, better-known, sources can help to produce the necessary creative tension for any critical advance. As an instance of this new approach, this article deals with the Lou Nuer prophet Ngundeng, who was described by Evans-Pritchard as a leader of opposition to colonial rule. This military interpretation is rejected by modern Lou Nuer testimonies, which present him as a man of peace, who denounced fighting not only among the Nuer but also between the Nuer and their neighbours. Here two narratives are compared: The report of a military patrol into Lou country in 1902 and the account of Ngundeng's son Garang of his father's response to the 'turuk'. Notes. |